Ahmadinejad speaks at Columbia

Samanth reports on Ahmadinejad’s speech at Columbia University.

Ahmadinejad’s dissembling, and Columbia’s reluctance to push him beyond a point for answers, did nothing to change any minds or opinions on the day. As an exercise in academic freedom, the event may have been priceless, but it did little to broaden anybody’s knowledge of him or Iran. That and the media’s cloudburst of criticism are perhaps definite signs that American opinion about Iran has already been shaped and solidified beyond repair.