World Leaders are Color Blind

Jihad Khazen

Al-Hayat 23/09/2005

I believe that world leaders are color blind. Defective political vision is worse and many leaders suffer from that as well, but i noticed at the U.N. summit in New York that all the leaders failed to see the red light which told them that their five minutes of fame are up. Each would continue oblivious to the red light under his nose while I could see it from 20 rows back. They obviously think that the future of the world as we know it depends on the tidbits of wisdom that they pass on to us ingrates.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias, a well-known opponent of U.S. policies world-wide, spoke for five minutes, then another five and still five more. Finally, Assembly President Jan Eliasson sent him a note with one of the ushers. Chavez turned to the rostrum and asked: When George Bush spoke yesterday for 24 minutes did you send him a note? He rejected the U.N. Summit's document, and asked the world to reject it with him. He said it was imposed in the last five minutes by the hammer of a dictator.
There is always someone at the General Assembly to provide the entertainment to the otherwise august body. Last year it was Robert Mugabe of Zambia who said that delegates were acting like George Bush was God and Tony Blair his messenger.
The fireworks usually came from Fidel Castro who was always entertaining, but Cuba was represented this year by Ricardo Alacron de Quesada, president of the National Assembly of People's Power, who delivered a monotonous speech that put many of the listeners to sleep.
Still, the U.N. is very democratic; the prince of Monaco speaks as much, or as long, as the prime minister of India, and Bahrain was followed by China. And I doubt that the reader has heard of many countries equally represented at the world body: Tuvalu, Timor Liste, Vanatu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Kiribati, Micronesia (which votes with the U.S. and Israel forming a formidable bloc), Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands and so on. By comparison, countries like Lesotho, Surinam and the Holy See become great powers.
Kiribati has still to catch my eye as I am sure it is a beautiful place somewhere. President Anote Tong, however, caught my ear as he spoke in detail about investment, the environment, peace, terrorism, international organized crime, reforming the world body and expanding the Security Council. What would the world do without Kiribati. No offense intended as the world is doing fine thank you without 22 Arab countries.
Now I pose the one million riyal question to the reader: who is the president of Indonesia? I am glad you did not risk going back to 32,000 riyals. The answer is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. So after Sukarno, the non-aligned movement and Bandung, after Suharto, we have Susilo.
As i attend the annual General Assembly session as a delegate rather than a journalist, I move about Arab delegations in the big hall but mostly sit with the Lebanese. This year I was saddened at the sudden passing away of Ambassador Sami Qurunful. I found Ibrahim Asssaf acting in his place, helped by Majdi Ramadan as counselor. There was also a budding diplomat Karine Kalloustian who otherwise is working for a doctorate at Purdue University. If she becomes rich and famous in later years I hope she would remember that I was the first to put her name in print.
The young and enthusiastic Lebanese team makes up for the unfortunate view. Because of the alphabetical order the Lebanese delegation is always behind the Israeli, whether we end up right, left or centering the hall. It is not nice trying to see a speaker and seeing with him the back of Silvan Shalom's neck. I think he is losing his hair and being the one and only Arab peacenik I don't wish him to lose anything else. The Israelis might have thought this year that we would speak to them, considering the changes in Lebanon. Only after peace.
I won't talk today about the speeches. Al Hayat has had an exhaustive coverage of the political events. The length of some speeches is another matter. We calculated the Crown Prince Sultan would speak at about five p.m., but we were still waiting at six, then at 6:30. He finally spoke at about quarter to seven, or the next day in Saudi Arabia. He was still luckier than Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed who followed Ariel Sharon and told the truth as Sharon would never recognize it.
In English they say "luck of the draw" and a lucky country at the General Assembly would precede a big country like the U.S. But it is out of luck if it follows a big country as the hall empties quickly and the unfortunate leaders ends up addressing his own delegation. I followed Arab speakers regardless of their position on the list but would add to them Prime Minister Said Musa of Belize. He is of Palestinian origin, from Bireh near Ramallah.
If nothing else, the assembly session is educational and I learned there that the full title of the Sultan of Brunei is His Majesty Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan and Yang Di Pertusan of Negara of Brunei Darussalam. Why not? If I had half his money I'd insist on a title twice as long. My personal observation about member states is a variation on an old adage that the smaller the country the longer the national anthem. My observation is that the smaller the country the longer the title of its leader. So Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was represented by His Excellency the Honorable Ralph Everada Gonsalves, Prime Minister, minister for Finance, planning economic development, labor, information Grenadines and legal affairs Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Maybe there isn't enough population to fill all these posts.
The annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly provides an opportunity to meet Arab and world leaders under one roof. At times the meetings start before you get there. This year, and for the second year running, I found myself sharing a flight from London to New York with the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. This gave me the opportunity for a long talk with him about Arab, especially Palestinian affairs. I doubt that he could have spared me an hour on the ground. I followed his busy schedule in New York and am glad I don't have to work as much.