Street-level diplomacy

Bottlenecks and gridlock outside, rabid anti-Americanism inside—as the 61st UN General Assembly opens, a city and a president come to grips with terrorists and fanatics | Mindy Belz

NEW YORK CITY — Not since Nikita Khrushchev beat his shoe on the desk 46 years ago have UN delegates absorbed such a high-level tirade. "And the devil came here yesterday," Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez told dignitaries gathered for the opening of the UN's 61st General Assembly, a reference to President George Bush. "Yesterday the devil came here. Right here." He paused to cross himself. "And it smells of sulfur still today."

Mr. Chavez, seizing the podium a day after Bush and more than two dozen other heads of state addressed the general assembly on Sept. 19, broke open the frosty tension that was felt in the hall as Bush and his allies square off against those who oppose the war on terror. "The hegemonic pretensions of the American empire are placing at risk the very survival of the human species," said Chavez, who took on the UN as well: "Let's be honest. The UN system, born after the Second World War, collapsed. It's worthless."

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September 30, 2006, Vol. 21, No. 37

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