Replies

2005 : ( THE ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS SETS UP A SECRETARIAT IN NY OF 20 "EMINENT PERSONS" INCLUDING IRAN'S KHATAMI--SEE IQBAL RIZA) With Riza as special advisor, the Alliance in 2005 set up a secretariat in New York, and enlisted a founding panel of 20 "eminent persons" to further shape its agenda. This group, heavy on eminences from Islamic states, included Iran's Khatami--proposer of the original Dialogue. The "inclusive" list also featured one member from China, one from India, a left-wing American rabbi, but--apparently a bridge too far--no one from Israel.
To support this group, Kofi Annan sent a fund-raising letter to various ambassadors to the U.N., decrying a "widening gap" among Western and Islamic societies and blaming this on "extremists in all societies." Having thus underscored moral equivalence as the basis of the Alliance, Annan explained that a trust fund had been set up to bankroll its activities and invited contributions. From all but a few, the response was, to put it kindly, lukewarm. As of mid-2006, only 10 of the U.N.'s then 191 member states (now 192) had chipped in, for a total of roughly $3.7 million--the top donors being Spain, Qatar and Turkey, as well as $5,000 apiece from Oman and Syria.----- "Freedom's Edge: The U.N.'s 'Alliance of Civilizations'," BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

2006 SUMMER : (NY : THE ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS CONVENES A MEETING TO WHICH IRANIAN KHATAMI IS INVITED— See CAIR) Also in 2006, the Alliance proved especially handy to Iran—which was presented with a U.N. Security Council deadline of Aug. 31 to end its uranium enrichment program. About the same time, the Alliance was convening a meeting in New York, to which Khatami was invited. Khatami’s U.N.-sponsored entry into the U.S. became a springboard for Khatami to embark on a two-week speaking tour of American cities, during which he denounced America and was a guest at a fund-raising dinner in Washington for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. From U.S. soil, thanks to an Alliance entry ticket, Khatami served broadly as a prominent spokesman for Iran’s interests—just as Iran was thumbing its nose at U.S. efforts, via the U.N. Security Council, to put a stop to Tehran’s pursuit of nuclear bomb fuel.
-—— “Freedom’s Edge: The U.N.’s ‘Alliance of Civilizations’,” BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

[MY NOTE; HE MET WITH CODE PINK, OBAMA BUNDLER JODIE EVANS ON THIS TRIP, DIDNT HE?]