Burying the lede

More bad journalism, this time from the AP:

Iran's leader sparks Western walkout at UN meeting

Why is this story important? It's not because Ahmadinejad gave his typical anti-semitic stump speech, or that the Israel refused to attend the conference, or that tomorrow is Holocaust Remembrance Day.

It's not even the fact that the people of Iran seem to be catching onto Ahmadinejad's act, meaning he could be in trouble in this summer's elections. (Ok, that one is pretty big - a return of the moderates who were ousted in 2004 could signal a sea change in the one country in the region with even small semblance of progressive, democratic thought.)

No, the real story comes all the way at the end.

Speaking directly after Ahmadinejad's speech, Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store said the Iranian leader's comments "run counter to the very spirit of dignity of the conference."

Ahmadinejad "has made Iran the odd man out," he said.

See, by boycotting the conference and bringing the likes of Canada, Germany, Italy and a few others with us, the US has forced the EU to (finally) publicly acknowledge Ahmadinejad's regime for what they are.

WHICH IS THE CRUCIAL FIRST STEP TO ACTUALLY RESOLVING ANY OF THE PROBLEMS WE'RE FACING THE MIDDLE EAST.

Caps are for anyone from the AP who might be reading this and, presumably, missing the point. I'd draw it in crayon if I could.

So yeah, today was a big day and the Obama Admin played it just right. After 8 years of playing it retarded, it's nice to see us acting like grown ups.

Hopefully the rest of the world will continue to fall into step.

EDIT: Obviously related content.