"A Petty and Cruel Dictator"

Those were the words of Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, as he introduced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before a controversial lecture hosted by the University back in 2007. The event was just one stop in President Ahmadinejad's whirlwind visit to the State's that fall; the primary purpose being his address before the UN's General Assembly.

Ahmadinejad returned in 2008 to somewhat less fanfare, but 2009 may be a different story altogether:

With weeks to go until a U.S. deadline for opening talks, a spokesman for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that he plans to travel to New York to give a speech during the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 23. The announcement came as international pressure continued to build for sanctions unless Iran is willing to negotiate over its nuclear program.

The visit will roughly coincide with a Sept. 15 deadline set by the White House for Iran to respond to an offer to open talks on the nuclear issue. It will be Ahmadinejad's first visit to a Western country since the country's June election, which was officially declared a landslide in his favor but which the opposition contends was stolen. The vote led to weeks of demonstrations, with dozens of protesters dying after security forces violently cracked down. President Obama condemned the violence but stopped short of siding with opposition demands that the election be annulled.

Bollinger's words have proven rather prescient in light of the post-June 12 upheaval in Iran. Will we see a repeat of the 2007 circus in New York as a result?