When asked whether Iran’s President Mahmud Ahmadinejad who had threatened to “erase” a UN member state, namely Israel, off the map, d’Escoto stated there was a difference between rhetoric and practice. “Words don’t kill,” he said of Iran’s ruler. Given Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions and the purported threats by the regime to attack Israel, not sensing the emerging nuclear danger could be argued as a sin of omission. But then d’Escoto took the tried and true tactics of saying the UN would hold an interactive dialogue on the atrocities committed in Gaza.

“I don’t hate Israel,” Rev. d’Escoto later reassured his audience.

D’Escoto was no less forthcoming when he exclaimed that there was “opportunity for real change” in U.S. foreign policy. “Ideas ingrained for years in the conscience of the United States were a political handicap that must be overcome.” Dealing then with the upcoming Durban conference on Racism he lamented that the United States will not attend “because of Israel.” Exactly, and neither will Canada, Italy and the Netherlands among others in protest to the crude anti-Western and anti-Israel prejudices which will flow in that forum.

Taking a sideswipe at Washington, d’Escoto supported Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s recent characterization of the United States as a “deadbeat” debtor to the UN. This awkward choice of words, used by Ban Ki-moon during comments before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington, did little to endear the UN to Americans and was probably, to be fair, a linguistic slipup by the Korean Secretary General. Yet, Miguel D’Escoto, not missing a chance to chastise the U.S., eagerly endorsed the jibe.

Without question the United States remains the single largest financial contributor to the UN budget. In 2008 Washington was assessed for 22 percent of the budget or $453 million for the year. Japan is the second largest contributor. Yet, both the U.S. and Japan have serious budget arrears. For the record, Father d’Escoto’s Nicaragua is assessed for 0.002 percent or $36,581.

Amazingly d’Escoto went to political bat for the Omar al-Bashir’s regime in Sudan stressing that the recent arrest warrant for the Sudanese leader was “unfortunate” as it deepened the perception that international justice was “racist.” He stated that International Criminal Court (ICC) rulings dealt with African leaders. This is nonsense. The ICC in the Hague has indicted three African dictators; and just across town in the Hague, the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia has indicted, convicted, and jailed scores of Serbian and Croatian war criminals.

D’Escoto added that the West “was notorious” for getting involved in things it did not understand. He stressed that the African Union had felt it would be better to put the Bashir issue “on the back burner” as to give time for peace initiatives to work. One could argue that case, but wouldn’t this policy equally allow more time for Bashir’s Janjaweed militia and the Sudan military for their sordid ethnic cleansing in Darfur?

Just to be balanced, he then took a swipe at former President George W. Bush. D’Escoto echoed a theme he raised weeks earlier at a Teheran press conference,

“If justice is to be exercised, those who have committed the most and greatest crimes, including George Bush who has done great crimes in other countries, should be tried.”

No doubt the Ayatollahs were pleased with the sublime wisdom of Father d’Escoto.

Miguel d’Escoto who gleefully courts controversy, evokes precisely the dated image most delegates and staffers at the world organization would rather forget. Using the far left imagery of the Marxist Sandinistas, d’Escoto allowed onlookers a tour d’horizon into a UN time capsule, circ about 1979.