By Benjamin Schuman-Stoler Well, it's not as if the United Nations Durban II conference against racism was ever going to avoid controversy. The primary storyline going into the conference was the contentious--if not by any means surprising--abstention by the United States and Israel (as well as Canada, Italy, Germany, Australia, and Holland).  But news has just come out about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech earlier today that we must post first. JTA has the scoop on the speech, which occurred a few hours ago, in which European diplomats walked out in protest: In a speech at the U.N.-sponsored anti-racism conference in Geneva, the Iranian president first blamed the West for injustice, then went on the offensive against Israel, calling it the “racist perpetrators of genocide.” “Under the pretext of Jewish suffering, they have helped bring to power the most oppressive, racist regime in Palestine,”...

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