(Newser)
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continued his media blitz yesterday, giving the AP an interview in which he touched on all the usual topics: Israel, Iran's nuclear ambitions, Syria. The subject closest to his heart, however, was the "new order" he envisions—in which, surprise, surprise, the US plays a lesser role, and all nations are equal (except Israel, of course). This new order would "institute fairness and justice," the Iranian president said. "Now even elementary school kids throughout the world have understood that the United States government is following an international policy of bullying. I do believe the system of empires has reached the end of the road. The world can no longer see an emperor commanding it."
Ahmadinejad, who is in New York to address the UN General Assembly this morning, mostly dismissed questions about his country's nuclear ambitions, though he said he is still open to talks. "Everyone is aware the nuclear issue is the imposition of the will of the United States," he said. "I see the nuclear issue as a non-issue. It has become a form of one-upmanship." Bill Clinton, for one, isn't buying it: The former president sat down yesterday with CNN and said he doesn't trust Ahmadinejad's insistence that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful. "What they're really saying is, in spite of the fact that we deny the Holocaust, that we threaten Israel, and we demonize the United States, and we do all this stuff, we want you to trust us," Clinton said. "They don't have a tenable position."
