Ahmadinejad: Capitalism Faces Defeat

Last Updated 1:03 p.m. ET

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says capitalism is facing defeat, and called for an overhaul of the "undemocratic and unjust" global decision-making bodies.

In a speech on the second day of a U.N. anti-poverty summit, the Iranian leader called on world leaders, thinkers and global reformers "to spare no effort" to make practical plans for a new world order.

"Ahmadinejad at the U.N. anti-poverty summit, said that hegemony of the worlds powers — as well as capitalism — are close to an end as they face defeat, and he seized the moment to condemn the undemocratic international economic and political institutions — a clear reference to the very world body to which he spoke," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk.

"Combined with his comments this week that 'the future belongs to Iran,' he is sounding a clarion call for the U.S. to recognize Iran as a major power, a theme he underscored last year at the U.N. as well," Falk reports.

Ahmadinejad's Statement to the U.N.

Ahmadinejad blamed the governance structures of decision-making bodies in international economics and politics for most of the plights confronting humanity today, and said that "the demanding liberal capitalism and transnational corporations have caused the suffering of countless women, men and children in so many countries."

"The world is in need of an encompassing and, of course, just and humane order, in the light of which the rights of all are preserved and peace and security are safeguarded," he said.

Ahmadinejad also said that in the new millennium, "we need to revert to the divine mindset, to our true nature for which man was created and indeed, to the just and fair governance," calling it a prerequisite and a guarantor for realizing "justice, love and security" in society.

"Now that the discriminatory order of capitalism and the hegemonic approaches are facing defeat and are getting close to their end, all-out participation in upholding justice and prosperous interrelations is essential," he said.

He said such a new governing order is "an introduction to the bright destiny of mankind as promised by God, all prophets, the righteous and the saints which will occur by resurrection of the promised one along with the Jesus (peace be upon them). Let us join hands and make the Third Millennium the one in which all the good deeds and beauties prevail and justice is uphold [sic].

"Let us make God content by founding compassionate coexistence throughout the world," the Iranian president added.

Speaking before the U.N. anti-poverty summit, Ahmadinejad never mentioned the Millennium Development Goals, the U.N. targets set by world leaders in 2000 to combat global poverty by 2015.

"The U.N.'s assessment of the Millennium Development Goals is that the anti-poverty benchmarks have gotten a mixed report card," Falk said. "That is, the world is on track to halve the percentage of the world's desperately poor, but the IMF chief said that the economic crisis and a rise in food and fuel prices has derailed momentum."

Ahmadinejad's speech was sparsely attended. A spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Canadian diplomats at the United Nations boycotted Ahmadinejad 's speech, as many Western diplomats have in recent years whenever he addresses the General Assembly.

Cannon's spokeswoman, Catherine Loubier, said Canada was part of today's boycott, which is intended as a show of protest against Iran's human rights record and controversial nuclear program.