I wish I could hear about...

I was having a discussion with a bunch of friends last night and the latest topics in the news came up - Ellen's dog and Hillary Clinton's laugh. I noted that CNN international gave better news than the local CNN network and told them that if they wanted to watch real news, CNN international is definitely a better source. By no means am I saying that it is the standard bearer. To the contrary, their standard has gone down. I can think of three very current issues that are actual news (and very relevant to America) not being covered by the local news networks:

1. The new agreement in the European Union that will significantly change the workings of the bloc. It is a reform treaty known as the "Lisbon Treaty", signed by all the members last week. According to Gordon Brown, there are significant policy changes on the table that may come as early as December. I seriously doubt that, given the bungling bureaucracy that the EU is, but the members seem determined to get this right. More so after the constitutional issue that fell flat on its face.
   
   
2. Condoleezza Rice's seventh - yes, count that, seventh trip to the middle east this year. This is beyond "shuttle diplomacy". To me, this is "desperately fishing for a legacy diplomacy". Every time the messes created by dubya get too overwhelming, the Israel - Palestine conflict gets attention. This is the ever reliable scape goat of this administration's foreign policy. The newest contraption of this policy - a summit in Annapolis, already doomed to fail because the framework cannot be agreed on by the two parties.
   
   
3. Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart mentioned it, but no one else. Not a peep has been said in the mainstream media about it. I am referring to the book by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt about the Israeli lobby in the United States and its effects on foreign policy. I have no first hand knowledge of what the book says and will reserve judgement. The authors however are being dissed and condemned for writing a book that does not take too kindly to its subject. I know, from the interview of one of the authors on "The Colbert Report" that the book narrates a view that is not consistent with majority American opinion and therefore has not been given any coverage.
   

What a pity that Britney Spears' underwear seems to get more attention.