My Iranian friend Bozorg Sharafedin, a newspaper editor in Tehran, has written about Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia University:
While many Iranians feel ashamed and humiliated after Ahmadinejad’s scandalous speech in Columbia University, a new wave of propaganda has been started inside the country praising the president for his new international achievements. Even while I am writing this commentary, the First Television Channel of Iran is replaying the censored copy of the lecture to prove the popularity of Ahmadinejad in the world. Of course many reformers has called Ahmadinejad’s lecture a disgrace for Iran but their voice is too weak to be heard…
Today Kayhan (the official newspaper of the government and the conservative party) published a picture of mass protests against Ahmadinejad in the NY. But the first title of the newspaper was: “Shock in NY; The Logic of Iran Enlightened”.
By the way, Ahmadinejad with his “Cheshire cat smile” (as Tony Karon has described him in TIME) gained what he wanted from this meeting: the victory of being on the stage, having microphone for the best part of an hour, becoming the first news of Yahoo and the 7th top searches of the day.…
Of course, the US Senate is far more interested in threatening Iran.