"It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals"
About this Quote
The subtext is transactional. Ahmadinejad isn't merely offering constitutional reform for the planet; he's defending Iran's room to maneuver against sanctions, investigations, and enforcement. When the Security Council becomes the bottleneck, the veto-holders become the villains, and any pressure on Iran can be narrated as great-power bullying rather than international alarm over Tehran's policies. It's populism at the geopolitical scale: the people are "the world", the elites are "a few states."
Context is doing a lot of work. In the 2000s, amid nuclear disputes and US-led interventionism, criticizing the veto let Ahmadinejad fuse anti-Americanism with a broader anti-hegemony pitch that resonated in parts of the Global South. The line works because it converts a procedural gripe into a moral indictment - and because it invites listeners to confuse fairness with alignment.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud. (2026, January 16). It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-is-not-just-for-a-few-states-to-sit-and-veto-105014/
Chicago Style
Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud. "It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-is-not-just-for-a-few-states-to-sit-and-veto-105014/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-is-not-just-for-a-few-states-to-sit-and-veto-105014/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
