"Global equations undergo changes, this is their nature"
About this Quote
“Global equations” is the kind of technocratic metaphor that lets a politician sound both inevitable and innocent at the same time. Ahmadinejad isn’t talking about math; he’s talking about power arrangements - alliances, sanctions, oil markets, wars, public opinion - and he frames them as if they were neutral variables in a natural system. That phrasing does quiet rhetorical work: it treats geopolitical order not as something built (and enforced) by states, but as something that simply evolves. If “change” is nature, then resistance to change becomes unnatural, even irrational.
The intent is elastic. It can be read as reassurance to domestic audiences that pressure from abroad is temporary and survivable: the system is shifting, and history is on our side. It can also be read as a warning to rivals: the old formulas won’t hold, so plan accordingly. Ahmadinejad’s larger political brand often hinged on confronting Western dominance and elevating Iran’s standing; “equations” casts that confrontation as a structural correction, not a provocation.
Subtextually, it’s an attempt to launder ambition through inevitability. By avoiding named actors - the United States, Israel, the EU - he sidesteps direct escalation while still signaling a worldview: the post-Cold War settlement is contingent, and those who benefited from it are on the defensive.
Context matters because Ahmadinejad spoke in an era of post-9/11 intervention, nuclear brinkmanship, and intensifying sanctions. In that climate, calling geopolitics a changing equation reads less like analysis and more like a claim on the future: the constants are being rewritten, and Iran intends to be among the authors.
The intent is elastic. It can be read as reassurance to domestic audiences that pressure from abroad is temporary and survivable: the system is shifting, and history is on our side. It can also be read as a warning to rivals: the old formulas won’t hold, so plan accordingly. Ahmadinejad’s larger political brand often hinged on confronting Western dominance and elevating Iran’s standing; “equations” casts that confrontation as a structural correction, not a provocation.
Subtextually, it’s an attempt to launder ambition through inevitability. By avoiding named actors - the United States, Israel, the EU - he sidesteps direct escalation while still signaling a worldview: the post-Cold War settlement is contingent, and those who benefited from it are on the defensive.
Context matters because Ahmadinejad spoke in an era of post-9/11 intervention, nuclear brinkmanship, and intensifying sanctions. In that climate, calling geopolitics a changing equation reads less like analysis and more like a claim on the future: the constants are being rewritten, and Iran intends to be among the authors.
Quote Details
| Topic | Change |
|---|
More Quotes by Mahmoud
Add to List
