Clear the Air
President Obama met with his Russian counterpart in Lisbon in a spontaneous attempt to clear up issues of contention. It was touted as quite successful. That's good. The meeting lasted 15-20 minutes. Well, world leaders are busy. That's probably 2 weeks in our own time. BUT---important issues can get cleared up in 15 minutes? Wow. When world leaders meet with the Pope those meetings are usually 15 minutes too. Given the speed at which aging Popes communicate, this seems more like a 5 minute meeting. But afterwards the press release always reports that they discussed world peace, world hunger, the economy, refugees, all the wars going on, terrorism, etc. Really now, isn't this a bit of a stretch? I am trying to think when any of these issues took a positive turn after any such a meeting. On NEw Year's Eve the Pope always prays for world peace. I kind of want someone else to pray for this next year, God doesn't seem to be listening too much to the Pope. I think maybe the Pope should switch his communication carrier.
In my life it often took hours for the simplest issues to be resolved at a meeting. Of course these weren't meetings between Heads of State, more a meeting of Air Heads. I think maybe we need one of these time express meetings between the leader of North Korea and the President of the U.S. Maybe add an extra minute, make it a 16 minute meeting. I would take the minutes: "You know, my good friend, if you stopped your program to have nuclear weapons, the world would be a more peaceful place and we could be best of friends." " I know, my friend, but Saddam didn't have nuclear weapons and look what happened to him. It seems he kind of needed them." "Well, the past is past, and you are so old and sickly that you get a pass. Let's make a deal, you stop trying to build weapons of mass destruction and we will stop invading sovereign foreign countries. We kind of need that money now for other things at home". "I see your point. Well if a huge statue of ME and MY SON soon to be President, can be erected in countries across the globe and the US build military bases in this country to ensure he cannot be overthrown, we have a deal." "Perfect my friend, we have that kind of deal with Saudi Arabia, the issue is done with. Our time is up, let's get the photo opp. and press release over with."
Ladies and Gentlemean: The leaders of North Korea and the U.S. met today to resolve important issues between the two countries. The issue of nuclear weapons programs in North Korea has been resolved. The meeting commenced at 1:00 PM and finished at 1:16 P.M.
