Secretary-General Ban Preaches to the Hollywood Choir While Tripoli Burns

Brett Schaefer / February 23, 2011

As Middle Eastern and North African governments totter and fall, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has his sights set on the real crisis: getting Hollywood to produce more films on global warming. As reported in the Guardian:

Ban has been on the phone to Gaddafi and other leaders in the Middle East from Hollywood, where he is trying to raise the profile of climate change and – who knows – maybe pitch a movie.

You might think that Secretary-General Ban’s priorities are a bit backwards. Perhaps he could fit in a phone call to Hollywood while engaging in direct diplomacy to stop Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi’s effort to violently repress his citizens? Is Ban relying, instead, on the efforts of UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Aisha Qadhafi ? She is the Colonel’s daughter. That gives her access, of course, but raises certain, ahem, questions about conflict of interest. (more…)