|
|
Change Your Life! |
Fidel’s fidelity & Putin put in others time |
|
News
|
|
|
September 8, 2000
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Despite a small protest, demands for his arrest and a snub by New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Cuban President Fidel Castro has been relaxed during the U.N. Millennium Summit. In fact, he has been downright playful. As he was about to address world leaders on Wednesday, Castro took a moment to make fun of his reputation as a long-winded orator. Whipping out a huge white handkerchief, he placed it over the lights designed to warn speakers they are approaching their five-minute limit. Laughter erupted across the auditorium, and the leaders applauded again after the speech when he removed the handkerchief before stepping down from the podium. As it turned out, he didn't even need the handkerchief. To the astonishment of many, he kept to the time limit. Apparently nonplussed that he has not been invited to some of the fancier social gatherings in town being enjoyed by his counterparts, Castro has kept his own social calendar, mainly with leaders of the Third World nations he champions. He held talks with leaders from China, Vietnam, Senegal, Malaysia. And on Wednesday evening he dined with his friend and closest political ally in Latin America, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, at Cuba's U.N. Mission. Chavez' wife and daughter also came. ---- THE BIG BOYS: The line-up of speakers at the Millennium Summit was decided by lottery - and Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn't happy with his slot on Wednesday afternoon. U.S. President Bill Clinton was speaking Wednesday morning. So were Chinese President Jiang Zemin, French President Jacques Chirac, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. So Putin asked Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides, who had a coveted morning slot, if he would switch to the afternoon. "The big boys were speaking in the morning, and naturally he wanted to speak with the big boys," Clerides said. "I said, `all right' ... because I didn't want to make the effort in the morning. It's easier after a good lunch with a few drinks - much better." "Words flow easier," the Greek Cypriot leader said with a big laugh. ---- SQUARING A CIRCLE: It was billed as an informal roundtable discussion among 50 world leaders. But the table was a squat rectangle and the talk was anything but free-flowing. Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, who chaired the three-hour session, said he had a hard time establishing eye contact with many of the participants seated around the elongated piece of furniture. However, there was an upside. "The media was not allowed in and they (the leaders) were able to speak candidly," Goh said. ---- TOASTING IDEALISM: U.S. President Bill Clinton, making his farewell appearance on the international stage, quoted the great Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes in paying tribute to Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a Millennium Summit luncheon. Clinton recalled that Cervantes, the author of "Don Quixote," once said "every man is as heaven made him - and sometimes a great deal worse." That provoked a burst of laughter from the more than 150 world leaders dining in the Delegates Lounge overlooking New York's East River. "Mr. Secretary-General, you are a man as heaven made you, and sometimes a great deal better," Clinton continued. "Some have called your hope and optimism, your lofty goals, idealistic. I say, good for you. Unless we first imagine the world we want to build, we cannot achieve it." That provoked a resounding round of applause.
|