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Ahmadinejad Blames Liberal Capitalism For World Suffering

NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- With protestors demanding his arrest outside the United Nations, inside Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told world leaders to make plans for a new world order.

If you like speeches with equally large amounts of hyperbole and irony, Ahmadinejad doesn't disappoint, reports CBS 2's Don Dahler.

"The demanding liberal capitalism and transnational corporations have caused the suffering of countless women, men and children in so many countries," Ahmadinejad said through a translator Tuesday.

This from a man whose government is widely regarded as one of the world's worst when it comes to human rights. The man who famously declared Israel must be "wiped out from the map." The same man who Tuesday spoke about good relations between nations.

"People and nations seek their eminence, dreams and aspirations in having amicable relations and fair cooperation, and look for their identity through co-existence with others," Ahmadinejad said.

While the Iranian president talked inside about the undemocratic and unjust global decision making bodies, presumably referring to the very one he was addressing, voices outside continued to be raised in opposition to his presence.

"I object to his being allowed into the United States. There should be an international arrest warrant for him, and he should be brought to trial and locked away for his crimes against humanity," said Yaakov Keermaier, president of the New York Board of Rabbis.

"We have to vanquish evil. To allow evil to exist is not tolerable. It's evil!" added Rabbi Jonathon Pearl of Astoria.

Not that Ahmadinejad would ever hear them. He travels in armor plated SUVs. His hotel is blocked off from the street by sanitation trucks and police cars, with heavily armed guards and metal detectors at every entrance. In addition to secret service agents, 30 NYPD officers have been assigned to protect arguably one of the most hated men in the world.

Ahmadinejad was speaking at the UN anti-poverty summit and his speech was sparsely attended.

This Thursday President Barack Obama will address the UN about eradicating world poverty, just as a new report will be released saying more Americans live in poverty than ever before.

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