In the classic film ‘Casablanca’, Rick Blaine drunkenly ruminates on Ilsa’s appearance at his saloon. “Of all the gin joints in all the world”, Rick slurs, “she walks into mine”.
Well, I’m having a Rick Blaine moment. I’m squinting (not slurring) long and hard at our new president’s choice of ‘firsts’. Let’s see, of all the leaders in all the cities in all the world, his very first call was to . . . . Abu Abbas, ‘leader’ of Fatah. From the London Times:
President Obama placed the Middle East at the forefront of his first hours in office yesterday as he sought to make good on his promise of “ushering in a new era of peace”.
In a flurry of telephone calls from the Oval Office, he reached out to leaders in the region and vowed to engage immediately in pursuit of a permanent Arab-Israeli settlement.
The spokesman for President Abbas revealed that Mr Obama had told the Palestinian leader that their conversation was his first with a foreign statesman since taking office. Mr Obama also spoke to President Mubarak of Egypt, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, and King Abdullah of Jordan.
To be fair to the president, he did talk with the leaders of Israel, Egypt and Jordan, but why call the PLO first? Of all the people in the world to call – and considering the symbolism involved – why would he call Abbas first?
And now, here’s another ‘first’: his first television interview is with . . . . Al Arabiya. Again, of all the networks in all the world, he picks Al Arabiya. From ABC:
As special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell heads off to the region to begin work on negotiating a cease fire between Israel and the Palestinians, President Obama has sat for his first formal TV interview with the Arabic cable TV network Al-Arabiya, ABC News has learned.
The interview was taped this evening and is set to air at 11 pm ET, as Mitchell is in the air and on his way to the region.
Based in Dubai, Al-Arabiya estimates that it has a potential audience exceeding 23 million in the Gulf region.
And what is Al Arabiya? Based in Dubai, the network was created in 2003 and is partly owned by Saudi-controlled Middle East Broadcasting Center. It bills itself as a direct competitor to Al Jazeera with a more ‘moderate’ voice.
Perhaps. But of all the networks in all the cities of all the world, why pick them?
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