Back in Davos
Globophobe has been absent for some time, but now that we are back in Davos for the 39th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (the 12th time we have attended), we are once again online. Right now, we are watching a session entitled "The New US Administration: Can It Meet the Expectations of the World?" This panel discussion is being filmed by CNN for broadcast "as live" for a program called "Dateline Davos: Obama's World", which is hosted by Christiane Amanpour.
Who is on the panel? There are six leaders: Mohamed M. ElBaradei, Director-General of the Internatonal Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Bernard Kouchner, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of France; Manouchehr Mottaki, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Raila Amolo Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya; Abdul Rahim Wardak, Minister of Defence of Afghanistan; and Hoshyar Zebari, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq.
To be sure, an interesting mix of political leaders. But why the focus on the Middle East? Why no leader from Asia east of Afghanistan? The most important bilateral relationship in the world is between the US and China - so why no Chinese panelist? What about Japan? India? Yet again, we see the media's narrow coverage of US foreign policy. American media outlets like CNN focus on American involvement with the countries of the Middle East and maybe Europe, but do relatively little on economically and politically more important relationships in Asia. Odinga seems to be just an afterthought to round out the panel. Forty minutes into the session, Amanpour has only conversed with him for a few minutes at the start of the program. Most of the rest of the time has been spent on discussing Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Arab-Israeli conflict. We guess that must be what CNN considers to be "Obama's World".
Who is on the panel? There are six leaders: Mohamed M. ElBaradei, Director-General of the Internatonal Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Bernard Kouchner, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of France; Manouchehr Mottaki, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Raila Amolo Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya; Abdul Rahim Wardak, Minister of Defence of Afghanistan; and Hoshyar Zebari, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq.
To be sure, an interesting mix of political leaders. But why the focus on the Middle East? Why no leader from Asia east of Afghanistan? The most important bilateral relationship in the world is between the US and China - so why no Chinese panelist? What about Japan? India? Yet again, we see the media's narrow coverage of US foreign policy. American media outlets like CNN focus on American involvement with the countries of the Middle East and maybe Europe, but do relatively little on economically and politically more important relationships in Asia. Odinga seems to be just an afterthought to round out the panel. Forty minutes into the session, Amanpour has only conversed with him for a few minutes at the start of the program. Most of the rest of the time has been spent on discussing Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Arab-Israeli conflict. We guess that must be what CNN considers to be "Obama's World".
posted by globophobe at 29.1.09
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