Strange Things Can Happen at U.N. Debate

Seats for the United States delegation are empty as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan) (Peter Morgan - AP)

Across the street from the U.N., hundreds of protesters gathered to espouse a variety of causes, with each group separate from the others by lines of wooden sawhorses. Pakistanis and Iranians demanded their leaders resign, while Thais called for Thaksin's ouster (apparently unaware of the turmoil in Bangkok).

Diplomats waged battles of a different sort during their speeches. The most theatrical was President Evo Morales of Bolivia, who brandished a tiny coca leaf before the hall to hammer home his longtime argument that coca has many uses besides cocaine.

"It is not possible for the coca leaf to be legal for Coca-Cola but illegal for other consumers in our country and throughout the world," said Morales, who presumably did not declare the leaf to customs when he arrived in the U.S.

Then there was that strange beige chair. There it stood, looking almost lonely, next to the podium in the cavernous General Assembly hall, as the presidents spoke. When they were introduced, they would sit in the chair and wait to be formally called to the podium. Once they finished, they would sit back in the chair for a few seconds and wait to be escorted away.

"It's like the on-deck circle," said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Sitting in the chair is the right only of presidents. Once prime ministers started speaking late in the day, the chair was silently and unceremoniously taken away.

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Associated Press reporters Paul Alexander, Anna Dolgov and Edith M. Lederer contributed to this story.