Football Game vs Nuclear War Fears: Iraqi Diplomat in the UN

As the United Nations continues General Assembly meetings until the 27th of September, a photo that showed a member of the Iraqi delegation during a speech delivered by the Prime Minister of New Zealand triggered anger amongst Iraqis, who took to social media to express dissatisfaction with the Iraqi diplomat.

Also ReadSex, Fraud and Abuse: Iraqi Defense Minister Implicated in Swedish Scandal Amid Political Unrest

As per the photo widely shared online, the Iraqi diplomat who was a member of the Iraqi delegation to the United Nations General Assembly meetings was watching a football game while on his laptop.

Translation: "The Iraqi Forigen Ministry confirms it's taking "needed steps" against an Iraqi diplomat who was busy watching a football game during the UN General Assembly Meeting. This is a natural outcome of the quota political system when people are selected based on considerations that are not relevant to competency or skills."

Online commentators noted that the speech he ditched to watch the football game was the one delivered by the Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern who was highlighting the globally growing fears of a potential nuclear conflict in Europe, especially with the increasing challenges Russia is facing in Ukraine.

Iraqi social media users condemned the photo and demanded the launch an immediate investigation into the photo.

Translation: "Most of Iraq's corruption is caused by the poor picks of those in power."

Some people pointed to the fact that the Iraqi diplomat who did not pay full attention to his job is paid by the Iraqi government and taxpayers' money to travel to New York and represent Iraq, a country facing a number of crises, both political and economic. Some also blamed the country's mounting corruption on the negligence and lack of work ethics by many Iraqi politicians, as in the UN football incident.

According to some comments, the man appearing in the photo might be the Iraqi Minister of Planning, Dr. Khaled Battal Al-Najem. Meanwhile, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced starting an investigation, without disclosing his name and occupation to the public.