The Earth Times | Posted September 4, 2002

1. Nitin Desai, Secretary General of the World Summit for Sustainable Development, has failed to show up for so many of his scheduled appearances here in Johannesburg that some journalists have started referring to him as "the invisible Secretary General."
2. It's an old truism that politics makes strange bedfellows, but what happened here in Johannesburg last week really pushed the envelope: The US joined with Cuba in objecting to inclusion of a reference to "democracy" in the draft document. Sources said the US's objection stemmed from concern that it might offend the country's allies in the campaign against terrorism. Presumably the Cubans had reasons of their own.
3. Perhaps one shouldn't expect too much of any cafeteria located on the -1 level of a building, but the very best thing on offer at the Café Select-by a wide margin-is the mango juice on tap.
4. In the newsroom "bullpen" on the -2 level of the Sandton Conference Center, the biggest excitement of the summit's first week came on Saturday when a few reporters sitting near each other discovered they were all writing about the NGO march-and unsure about how many people had taken part. It seems that each one had been told a different number by one source or another, and the numbers ranged from 7,000 to 40,000. An old cynic seated nearby was heard to mutter: "Figures don't lie but liars will figure." To which a young woman nearby added: "Yes, there are lies, damn lies and statistics."