Der Spiegel, a German magazine, has published a truly fascinating interview with Iranian president Ahmadinejad. Since I have no idea whether he speaks German, I’m assuming that his portion of the published interview (here) underwent two translations: Farsi to German, and German to English.
Even allowing for translation, though, there is some truly strange thinking going on, much of it around the Holocaust and Israel:
Ahmadinejad: Look here, my views are quite clear. We are saying that if the Holocaust occurred, then Europe must draw the consequences and that it is not Palestine that should pay the price for it. If it did not occur, then the Jews have to go back to where they came from. I believe that the German people today are also prisoners of the Holocaust. Sixty million people died in the Second World War. World War II was a gigantic crime. We condemn it all. We are against bloodshed, regardless of whether a crime was committed against a Muslim or against a Christian or a Jew. But the question is: Why among these 60 million victims are only the Jews the center of attention?
SPIEGEL: That’s just not the case. All peoples mourn the victims claimed by the Second World War, Germans and Russians and Poles and others as well. Yet, we as Germans cannot absolve ourselves of a special guilt, namely for the systematic murder of the Jews. But perhaps we should now move on to the next subject.
Ahmadinejad: No, I have a question for you. What kind of a role did today’s youth play in World War II?
SPIEGEL: None.
Ahmadinejad: Why should they have feelings of guilt toward Zionists? Why should the costs of the Zionists be paid out of their pockets? If people committed crimes in the past, then they would have to have been tried 60 years ago. End of story! Why must the German people be humiliated today because a group of people committed crimes in the name of the Germans during the course of history?
The German people are humiliated today? I’d ask if he’s being serious, but I think I know the answer… (Does somebody have some input for me there?)
You really must read the entire interview – both pages. I came away with enormous respect for Der Spiegel’s interviewers, who somehow managed to keep the discussion going in the face of Ahmadinejad’s um….. interesting thoughts. His apparent view of the world (and in particular, Europe) is beyond strange, and the theme travels throughout the interview.
Polimom’s not sure, actually, what to make of this, overall, other than he’s quite unhinged in a few places. It’s interesting, but his attempts at emotional manipulation were exceedingly transparent; I found myself continually shaking my head in disbelief.
Ahmadinejad is, however, adept at the politician’s time-honored art of the non-answer, and he gave a wonderful demonstration of it on the subject of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
That’s unfortunate, because as unlikely as it was that he’d give a straight answer to a magazine, we already knew what he thinks about Israel.
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Captain Ed at Captain’s Quarters has more thoughts.