Okay, So Maybe He's Not a Neville...

In an unexpected display of grit, Ban Ki-Moon launched a verbal cannonade on his Iranian hosts, condemning their Holocaust denial and cartographical mischief (they want to redraw the world's map to exclude Israel).

Great. Kudos. Go Ban!

It would have been nice, though, had he been able to actually say the word "Iran" during his comments, and had he stiffed the mullahs altogether by staying away from their triumphalist soiree.

Reuters, naturally, is most concerned about the accuracy of Ban's words:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly denied the Holocaust and this month described Israel as a "cancerous tumor". In 2005 he caused uproar by being quoted as saying that Israel should be "wiped off the map".

Persian language scholars say a more correct translation of his comment would read: "Israel must vanish from the page of time."

Potato; potahto.

Update: From today's Toronto Sun editorial:

What possible "diplomatic engagement" -- those words come from a UN spokesman -- could Ban possibly pursue that would make countries such as North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela suddenly start listening to reason?

It's Mission Impossible.

With the summit held in Tehran, it will be nothing more than a six-day orgy of western hatred, and Ban will be the high-profile eunuch giving it legitimacy.

Surely the man cannot be that thick.

Even if given the benefit of the doubt, it is difficult to understand how Ban could have announced his intention to attend this hatefest on the very day the Security Council heard a top-level report exposing Iran's complicity with Syria in the wholesale murder of its people. But he did.

Not so difficult to understand, really. He's the head of the UN, which, sad to say, is morally bankrupt.