UGLY AMERICAN OF THE WEEK - No its not Bush

[FishForLunch]

So much for Sen. Joe Biden's audition as a future Secretary of State. At least if you ask the Iranians.

Last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Biden agreed to serve as a host and leading U.S. representative at a dinner with senior Iranian government officials. WEF staff contacted Biden's staff and said later that Biden or at least his aides took an active interest in coordinating the planning for the event.

Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi was the highest-ranking Iranian official present at the event. Which is more than can be said for his U.S. counterparts; for the first hour and half of the dinner others had to lead the discussion, because Joe Biden was a mysterious no-show.

Just as well, because the evening never got on the right footing. Wine was served -- much to the outrage of the Iranian guests -- then all alcohol was removed. Soup spoons were removed -- not for religious or any other reason, apparently -- leaving guests to twiddle their thumbs while their soup got cold. Then it was discovered by the Iranians that the main course featured non-hallal meat.

And through all of this, there was no Joe Biden to calm nerves or build bridges.

"It was pretty bad from what we heard after the fact," says a U.S. attendee to the Davos conference. "Emotions were running extremely high. The Iranians felt insult had been heaped on insult. They were particularly offended that the hosts appeared to know so little about basic Islamic dietary law."

Once the serving miscues were resolved, it was pile on the Iranians time again, but this time dealing with the serious matter of Iran's nuclear weapons program, which Kharrazi predictably denied was a weapons program at all.

Finally, as the tense discussion appeared ready to, well, explode, Biden showed up with this wife Jill, who was dressed in what was described in press reports as "figure-hugging leather pants" and a tank top. Again, the Iranians, who no doubt ogled a bit, were insulted.

The dining disaster was the talk of Davos, though got comparatively little coverage here in the United States. "This kind of thing could have happened to anyone, but the fact that it happened to Biden is just too rich," says a Republican congressional staffer who traveled with his boss to Davos. "The Biden people were pushing this dinner as a very high profile thing, then all of sudden they are trying to kill any story they can."

[Mavdog]

uh, Biden was a guest at the dinner, not the host. Nice try at character attacking tho...although woefully inaccurate.
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The Times of India Online
Meal from hell: US-Iran dinner diplomacy

REUTERS[ MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 2005 11:21:15 PM ]
DAVOS (SWITZERLAND): Call it the meal from hell.

A World Economic Forum dinner designed to promote dialogue between Iran and the US on Friday night began with a comic strip series of diplomatic and gastronomic blunders, and ended with a sharp exchange over nuclear weapons.

With Iran's vice-president and foreign minister in the room, the organisers began by announcing that they had disinvited Swiss cartoonist Patrick Chappatte, one of the listed panelists, because the issues were too serious.

The star guest, US Senator Joe Biden, ranking Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, was missing. The organisers kept saying he was on his way.

Moderator David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist, apologised for the fact that wine had been served, upsetting the Muslim guests. Waiters cleared the offending glasses.

They also removed the menus since the hotel had planned to serve non-hallal meat, breaching Islamic dietary rules. Even the soup spoons were withdrawn — erroneously, it transpired.

One participant asked whether different cultures could not tolerate each other's customs. Foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi responded that tolerance was fine, but it did not mean people should not respect each other's religious values.

If wine was served, his delegation could not participate in the meal, he said.

The questioning quickly focused on Iran's disputed nuclear programme and the risk of a US or Israeli military strike on its atomic facilities. Kharrazi swore anew the programme was purely for peaceful, civilian purposes, contrary to US and Israeli charges that it is a front for a secret drive to build nuclear weapons.

The minister insisted Iran had every legal right to develop its scientific potential, including by mastering the enrichment of uranium, a process that can help make a bomb. "We want to be independent. That's why we developed our nuclear technology. It has become a matter of national pride," he said.

Asked whether it might be in Iran's national interest to foreswear nuclear enrichment rather that risk isolation, tougher economic sanctions and military action, he said maintaining scientific self-sufficiency was one of Tehran's highest goals.

Perhaps feeling the atmosphere was becoming too heated, hotel staff opened the windows, sending a blast of icy alpine air (outdoor temperature -15ºC) through the room.

Biden finally arrived an hour and 20 minutes late, having gone to the wrong hotel. His wife's figure-hugging leather pants and a top that left her arms bare from the shoulders were in stark contrast to vice-president Masoumeh Ebtekar's all-enveloping chador, although both wore black.

Biden, who had a long private meeting with Kharrazi at Davos last year, said Washington should join three major European nations in trying to negotiate a deal under which Iran would end nuclear enrichment in return for security and economic benefits.

He cast doubt on Kharrazi's assurances, saying he could understand why there could be consensus in Iran on the need for nuclear arms because it lived in a dangerous neighbourhood.

Here's the Forum webpage:

WEF link

[FishForLunch]

You are right, Bush must be the ugly american of the week always.

[Mavdog]

if you say so...