I can't help thinking what a shame it was that instead of ending up with Farid Zakaria, Ahmadinejad (henceforward «An», to stay with his Iranian nickname) should manage to get his interview with that old simpleton, my dear Mr. Larry King.I really don't feel like getting into the painful details of how Larry King was twisted and manipulated by An, but I do want to reflect back here, for those who don't have access to the Iranian world, the fact that Iranians are terribly disappointed with what happened on that show, and the way An was handled by Larry -or rather, the way Larry King was handled by An.
An was treated with much more respect, courtesy and kindness than he either deserved or called for in that session. He took over that session. He decided what he wanted to say and what he did not want to speak about, he decided which issue, how long, and in what terms will be addressed, and worst of all, he basically managed to get away from this unique opportunity by simply repeating the same nonsensical allegations and deceitful claims that he has always said. Way to go, Larry.
What a shame. Really. As a matter of fact this whole show and the way it unfolded has been perceived so bizarre and unexplainable by Iranians that they have actually opted for conspiracy theories to explain it. It goes like this: since Obama so badly wants (needs) to be on Iran's good side, and since the Islamic Republic has (again) a few American hostages, Larry King had been given the mission of making Iran and its An 'look good' and in charge, and in a good light. That's why, for example, the setting was literally so warm and cozy looking, so 'warmly lit' and intimate. That's also why Larry King had to absolutely avoid asking the 'real' questions in a 'real' way. He avoided trapping An in his own confounded and deceitful arguments (which, as far as the Iranian's are concerned, would actually be a very easy thing to do), and he avoided making any serious challenges to his outrageous claims during the show. The whole thing, in other words, was a set up to make An look good.
No, I personally don't subscribe to that conspiracy theory, otherwise I wouldn't have called Larry King an old fool, would I. But yes, I do think this was a terrible waste of American resources to the advantage of a literally delirious, murderous and deceitful despot who is on such shaky grounds at home, yet seems to be desperately needed to be perceived as more stable than he is in American media and its naive audience (why? I don't know). That is a waste of resources, but worse, that amounts to using of American resources against the very spirit of humanity and democracy in another country -once again.
I don't know whether to blame Larry King or the CNN for their awful choice of having the wolf interviewed by a lamb. But this was certainly a disgrace, and a great loss for anybody who cares an iota about basic human values or has a democratically oriented vision for Iran.
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