Why are Third Worlders so enamored of New York and Washington?
Having been a columnist for Newsweek International for 18 years, I would suggest this to fellow G2K list members: Don't take the magazine's selection of "leaders to watch" too seriously.
The choices are made quite arbitarily and, I submit, often without genuine in-depth knowledge of various regions. To name only one person -- Mohsen Kadivar -- in a region of more than 300 million people is actually quite capricious. Surely there are other men and women who might qualify for the moniker of "leaders to watch."
Newsweek selection raises a larger question of the influence that Western -- and specifically US -- media organization wield around the world. If, say, the Times of India, or the Gulf News (of Dubai) comes up with a list of "leaders to watch," it's unlikely that the selections would be taken very seriously around the world. It just so happens that the Times of India has a daily circulation of more than two million. newsweek International's circulation is barely 200,000, and that, I think, is charitably put.
Still, here we are, quoting Newsweek International. Isn't it time that the developing world shrugged off the hegemony of Western media? Of is it that we of Third World origin are too enamored of being "noticed" by media mandarins in New York and Washington?