Summits, a Queen, and a Drama Queen

I never thought that watching summits could be nauseating but it was, thanks to the U.S. and British media which focused on the "Obamarama" and frenzied over Michelle touching the Queen of England. Then, there were the tedious analyses about the President sneezing during a press conference, the Queen flirting with him, and the comparison between Michelle and Jackie Kennedy (amongst other juicy stories), giving the infamous tabloids of London enough material for several weeks.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama called the G-20 summit in London a "turning point" in the effort to reverse the global economic meltdown and praised the nations' joint efforts as a historic step on the road to stability.

"I think we did OK," Obama said. "The document that has been produced, as well as the concrete actions that will follow, reflect a range of our priorities. ... Overall, I'm pleased."

Now, the Treasury Department can print more money, and we can all forget about the global crisis. The demonstrators in London, labeled "anarchists" by several media pundits and kept at bay from where the world leaders were meeting, can all go home and eat cake.

This was not the only summit that was full of drama; more agonizing than watching the G-20 summit was keeping tabs on the Arab League's summit in Doha.

There were no queens to gossip about there; however, there was one drama queen, the Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi.

The "brother leader," as he likes to be addressed, stormed out of the summit after denouncing the Saudi king and declaring himself "the Dean of Arab rulers". The Libyan leader disrupted the opening of the summit by taking a microphone and criticizing King Abdullah, calling him a "British product and American ally". When the Qatari Emir tried to quiet him, Qaddafi, the current African Union chairman, insisted he be allowed to speak, saying, "I am an international leader, the Dean of the Arab rulers, the king of kings of Africa and the Imam (leader] of Muslims, and my international status does not allow me to descend to a lower level".

Later, Qatar's Emir brought the Colonel and the King together for a reconciliation meeting. They kissed and made up for the time being.

Meanwhile, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt is a no-show two summits in a row, without any official explanation. Jordan's King Abdullah reportedly went home early because he was upset that he wasn't met by the Emir of Qatar at the airport, and Sudan's al Bashir, who defied an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court in The Hague by flying to Qatar, received overwhelming support by the attendees.

Next year's summit is scheduled to be held in Tripoli, Libya. That should be entertaining.

Jamal Dajani produces the Mosaic Intelligence Report on Link TV.

Comments

[alexa07]

Jamal,
Don't you also think it is significant that at the Doha summit there were a number of leaders from Latin America? Several articles on the Al-Jazeera English website speak to this, & state the importance of links being formed & strengthened between the two world blocs, outside the control of the USA or Europe. It is not as unlikely as many would think. As AJE stated, many Arabs have migrated to various countries in Latin America in the last century & now form concentrated populations in the area. Further back there is also a common cultural heritage in Moorish times before the New World was settled. I hope that President Obama's policies in the Middle East appreciate the changing world scene & reevaluate strongly USA interests in the world. Congress ALSO needs to understand & appreciate how the rest of the world sees us & our albatross ally Israel.

[Jamal Dajani - Huffpost Blogger]

You are right. This was a very significant summit which will help strenghthen ties between Latin American countries and the Arab world. It deserves its own blog.

[alexa07]

Jamal, Thanks for responding to my message & anyone who isn't watching your Mosaic program on Link TV on a daily basis is missing out!

[DaisyDooks]

King of African Kings?! I just choked. An Arab as the leader of the African Union is a joke. Shame on those so-called African leaders.

[jad114]

I know what you mean-- but many African countries are part of the Arab League (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Djibouti, Eireteria, Comoros, Somalia) I may have missed one or two.

[moflard]

So if Europe elected a black person as the high poobah of the EC, should they be ashamed too?

You may not like Qaddafi, but Libya amongst other Arab nations is actually IN Africa (check in an atlas if you don't believe me), so why shouldn't they be part of an African Union?

[joz22]

Bad boy Jamal! You are gonna upset the "Dean of the Arab rulers, the king of kings of Africa and the Imam of Muslims.: Shame on you!

[Jamal Dajani - Huffpost Blogger]

Not planning a trip to Libya in the near future.

[cohen238765]

Aside from the Europeans and the press going gaga over the Obama, What did th G-20 summit really achieve? Can someone explain. Thank you.

[joz22]

Simon Johnson a professor at MIT gave this good assessment:

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/why-the-g-20-was-a-success-obamas-initiative/

[deepfreezevideo]

Jamal, your political and economic lens needs some sharp focus adjustment on the European side I'm afraid.
There were indeed "anarchists" present at the protest rallies over the G-20 meetings, and there have been historically in nearly every G-20 meeting ever held. This isn't an opinion, it's well documented fact.
Not ALL of the protesters were anarchists however, and the even deeper mystery is the unraveling of the origins and funding of SOME of the anarchists, who appear to be well placed agitators paid by several government intelligence services, including our own American FBI and CIA.

So, what we have here is not a monolithic "Black Bloc", as some in the anarchist movement would like to have us believe, but a rather speckled and mottled array of paid agent provocateurs mixed in with some plain old dark garbed radicals who do not believe in governments or currencies, with the ratio of radicals to provocateurs in question, and finally, some plain old regular folks who are opposed to the economic and political nature of the G-20 conference and globalism itself.

You appear to pop the pimples of the Euro press and perhaps rightly so, but you're also paying close attention to the boils on the faces of the Middle Eastern counterparts, so this is not a wholesale criticism of your column, just a request that you look deeper into the socio-political history of the player nations and their constituents in the G-20 side of the drama.

[justice2008]

Many of the demonstrators carried signs that showed legit demands. Few anarchists can easily ruin it for everyone and steal the show.

[Jamal Dajani - Huffpost Blogger]

I do agree that there were anarchists as is the case in most demonstrations; however, the vast majority of the demonstrators were not and expressed legitimate concerns.

[leonardox1]

Well after all said and done and the hype about the G-20 and all the promises unemployment is now at a 25 year high!

[newsjunkie5]

Does anybody out there know why Mubarak didn't show? I haven't been able to find anything online explaining why he has been MIA to the last two summits.

[justice2008]

I know for sure that Mibarak does not like the Emir of Qatar and vice versa. Also Mubarak has a problem with Al Jazeera.

[newsjunkie5]

makes sense...thanks for the info justice2008. i appreciate it.

[newsjunkie5]

This is hilarious...better than any tabloid or magazine show in the US. Truthfully, I wish I could have been at the summit in Doha...just for the entertainment factor. I find Qaddafi's lunacy quite amusing...does that make me crazy?

[jad114]

The Arab summit sounds more entertaining. Why wasn't it covered on US media. It is a perfect fit for tabloid journalism. Andreson.

[newsjunkie5]

I couldn't agree more...who needs the Queen & the Obamas when you have QADDAFI!