"It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals"
About this Quote
A blunt complaint dressed up as principle, this line targets the modern world order at its soft spot: the handful of countries that get to say no for everyone else. Ahmadinejad is pointing straight at the UN Security Council veto system, where five permanent members can block action regardless of broad international support. The phrasing matters. "Not just for a few states" frames the veto as an illegitimate privilege, not a legal mechanism. "Sit and veto" paints it as lazy obstructionism, a posture rather than a responsibility. "Global approvals" implies there is a coherent, democratic world consensus being stifled - a clever rhetorical move that lets him speak as if he represents the silenced majority.
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.
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 |
More Quotes by Mahmoud
Add to List
