INBOX: A transcript of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres' speech at the 'United Against Hate' event reacting to the Pittsburgh massacre.
This is a striking passage not only for what it says but also what it stops just short of saying.
This is a striking passage not only for what it says but also what it stops just short of saying.
The first half of this passage warns about the "roots of neo-Nazism growing," referring the white supremacist gangs in Charlottesville chanting "blood and soil."
Guterres notes their goal is to "penetrate the mainstream" so that their "idiot ideas" become the "new normal."
Guterres notes their goal is to "penetrate the mainstream" so that their "idiot ideas" become the "new normal."
Whether these ideas have done so already, and through what conduit, Guterres diplomatically refrains from saying.
In the second half of that passage, Guterres lauds @HIASrefugees - the object of the domestic terrorist's paranoia and hatred - as the "most fantastic humanitarian organization I have ever met."
High praise from the secretary-general of the world's leading international body.
High praise from the secretary-general of the world's leading international body.
What Guterres does not mention is that the shooter's paranoid theory about HIAS echoed the "racist hoax" propagated by Trump and top GOP officials on the caravan, as @AdamSerwer noted in The Atlantic. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
Guterres' references to Charleston and HIAS are pointed but restrained. The second half of the speech appears to by diplomacy-by-subtweet.
