The festivities begin at 11am. I’m lowering my expectations, actually. Ahmadinejad has chickened out:

There won’t be a confrontation on the General Assembly lunch menu today because the Iranian president has decided to skip it – passing up his best shot at ambushing President Bush with an impromptu debate.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has challenged Bush to a debate, and when the U.S. President turned him down, he suggested he would dog Bush at this week’s General Assembly.

…It’s not clear why Ahmadinejad is passing on the lunch, which Fidel Castro once successfully used to shake hands with former President Bill Clinton. Chances that the two men will bump into each other in the halls of the UN have been lessened by the fact that they are speaking nearly eight hours apart.

Bush is scheduled to speak at 11:30 a.m. discussing the war on terror, Iraq and Iran’s nuclear ambitions…Ahmadinejad will address the gathering between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., according to the UN.

President Bush’s prepared remarks will issue a challenge: “The world must stand up for peace.”

Watch out for the weasel Chirac:

Ahead of what is now certain to be a contentious meeting with President Bush today, President Chirac of France reneged on his previous support for a united international approach to halting Iran’s nuclear program.

In two interviews on the eve of his trip to Turtle Bay to attend the U.N. General Assembly, Mr. Chirac threatened to restart negotiations with Iran. His comments called into question the united position of the five permanent members of the Security Council and Germany, whose foreign ministers had said that unless Iran suspended enrichment by the end of August, the council would consider punitive measures.

The NY Daily News gives Ahmedinijad a Bronx cheer and rightfully calls out the CFR:

Dignitary that he is, Ahmadinejad is set to address the UN this evening. This would be the UN that appears to have no particularly large problem with President Mr. Ahmadinejad despite the fact that he: a) has openly defied every Security Council call for compliance with its peacemaking wishes, b) continues to assert that Iran is divinely entitled to secret nuclear programs that UN inspectors aren’t permitted to inspect and c) just this week warned the UN that it had better not be “hostile” as he comes visiting.

Well, we don’t imagine that the General Assembly will be too visibly hostile at that. We suppose that President Mr. Ahmadinejad will be giving all us infidels a good scold, and we suppose he might get a standing ovation from some quarters. What he won’t get is any sense that he needs to fret too much about the possibility of sanctions. If he often looks to be enjoying himself, there’s a reason.

Repellent as it is to have President Mr. Ahmadinejad among us, it’s the price we pay for being the site city of the, you should pardon the expression, world peacemaking body. If the UN wants to give a speaking invite to a man who regularly spits in its face, well, there’s not much to be done about diplomatic courtesies. Far less comprehensible is the Council on Foreign Relations’ willingness give him a platform and the credibility that the organization bestows.

The thing is, we’re stuck with President Mr. Ahmadinejad. We try to be polite. Welcome to New York, you medieval goon.

The NYSun says arrest Ahmadnijehad.

The NYPost puts the heat on Sudan:

As President Bush addresses the United Nations today, the focus, rightly, will be on Iran’s nukes and the War on Terror.

The president will reiterate the need for the world body to act on, rather than just talk about, these critical issues.

But there’s another issue, too, on which the United Nations must act: genocide in Sudan. If it doesn’t, the toll could be worse than in Rwanda a decade ago – a point made by the 30,000 people who rallied in Central Park last weekend (and thousands more in 30 other cities).

The mandate expires this month for the African Union peacekeeping troops now in Sudan. The risk is that they’ll leave with no U.N. forces to replace them – even as a cease-fire between government and rebel forces teeters on collapse…