>I agree, but the real point is that it was not as if the Networks
>didn't know there was donna be a war in an arabic speaking
>nation.....good business sense would have all of them with (some)
>arab speaking reporters trying to break stories...given that they
>have had six months run up time for this war....tsk, tsk, tsk,
The NY Times has had only a handful of fluent Russian speakers in its Moscow bureau for years & years, and Moscow has long been an important assignment. I think the reason is that they don't care what ordinary people think or talk about - all that matters is what the local elite (which speaks English) and the U.S. embassy thinks.
Doug