Oh American..

[DinoDoc]

You broke international law. Well done.

We're under no actual obligation to let the man into the country.

[kentonio]

Actually yes you are. That is why this is an issue.

[DinoDoc]

No, we aren't. Otherwise there would be an actual consequence to this action rater than sound and fury signifying nothing of substance.

[kentonio]

Of course there are consequences of this. You're in breach of agreements you made to provide visas to other countries UN representatives. They won't be the kind of consequences that will make the earth shake, but it'll almost certainly result in a rebuke from the UN, and a drop in other countries perception of US trustworthiness.

Do you not see how incredibly stupid this is? This guy was a translator during the hostage crisis. His role in that was utterly inconsequential, and in the years since he's been a respected diplomat. All you've done here is given the Iranian hardliners an easy goal, make America look petty and silly and weakened the UN at a time when we all really need the UN functioning at it's strongest.

[DinoDoc]

Of course there are consequences of this.

Will there be anything other than sound and fury from the parties involved? If not, I couldn't possibly bring myself to care less about the nature of this obligation.

All you've done here is given the Iranian hardliners an easy goal,

We weren't going to get a nuke deal regardless of this event.

weakened the UN

The UN is weak by the desires of its membership and very structure. This event has no effect on that.

[regexcellent]

That's ok, the other 195 countries in the world will consider it an event, but as long as you guys don't, that's what matters.

Don't worry though, it'll quickly be forgotten as everyone get's distracted by the NSA choosing to exploit Heartbleed while leaving computer systems around the world vulnerable.

Yeah except the NSA didn't actually do that.

[kentonio]

Will there be anything other than sound and fury from the parties involved? If not, I couldn't possibly bring myself to care less about the nature of this obligation.

Why would you? Like too many Americans you never really care about how your country is perceived abroad. As American power continues to wane, you'll soon find out how big a mistake that is.

We weren't going to get a nuke deal regardless of this event.

Obviously nukes are the only thing important about Iran..

The UN is weak by the desires of its membership and very structure. This event has no effect on that.

The UN is in theory capable of huge influence. For a while now however, the US has been undermining the UN while simultaneously falling back on its powers whenever it suits. This is just another one of many such events.

[kentonio]

Yeah except the NSA didn't actually do that.

So after they've been caught lying about all the other stuff, you now believe them on this because.. they say so?

[regexcellent]

The UN has less power than a little league baseball coach, and whatever power it does have wasn't diminished by us telling the Iranians that they'll have to pick a different ambassador. Cool your jets.

[kentonio]

You are completely ridiculous.

[regexcellent]

The fact that you are worked up about us refusing entry to a terrorist, meaning that the Iranians have to find one other person among their 77 million people to travel to NYC, is astounding.

[kentonio]

How exactly is a man who acted as a translator for hostage takers (who also weren't terrorists incidentally) a terrorist?

Also, who exactly the **** are you as a country to decide who another country can nominate to an international body? Would the US accept another country blocking it's nomination?

[regexcellent]

They can name him to the body, we're not stopping him, we're just exercising our national sovereignty by deciding who gets to enter our country (like, deciding who gets to enter your country is the definition of national sovereignty)

And it really doesn't matter. We don't want him here, so they have to send someone else. I'm sure they can find someone.

[DinoDoc]

Why would you?

I'd care if anything at all of any real consequence were going to come from this. They have to pick a diplomat unconnected to the 1979 Hostage Crisis. BFD.

Obviously nukes are the only thing important about Iran..

Well the guy's pick and their actions in Syria tells me they aren't terribly interested in discussing the support the regime is giving to terrorists either.

The UN is in theory capable of huge influence.

In theory communism might be a workable system for a Nation-State. We happen to live in a world where practice > theory though.

[kentonio]

They can name him to the body, we're not stopping him, we're just exercising our national sovereignty by deciding who gets to enter our country (like, deciding who gets to enter your country is the definition of national sovereignty)

And it really doesn't matter. We don't want him here, so they have to send someone else. I'm sure they can find someone.

No they don't have to send someone else. They've already said they won't, because America will not dictate to them who they can and can't have as a representative to the UN. Instead they're going to use it as a tool to push hardliner propaganda at home (hurting US interests in the rising moderate movement) and take it up with the UN and use it as a tool for swaying other nations against the US.

Really clever. At least the former ambassador to Australia, the EU, Belgium and Italy isn't going to pose any danger to the US of A. You can sleep safe at night now..