Recently news on television has been dominated by the happy smiling face of Ingrid Bettancort who was being held as hostage by the FARC terrorists in Columbia for the last six years. France had never given up on efforts to get her released and President Sarkozy seemed to make it a personal mission. Before that Sarkozy got Chad to release over hundred members of an NGO who were accused of trying to kidnap local children and smuggle them into Europe. Although convicted by a Chadian court of a grievous offence the government was forced to release them. This shows that western governments place enormous value on each of their citizens, a lesson lost on third world leaders. Leaders of third world countries build palaces for themselves, travel in huge cars and like to show themselves as Gods dispensing alms to their naked and hungry populace. They think that by showing how people bow and scrape in front of them their prestige is somehow increased. They do not realise that they are seen as cheap thugs and held in the deepest contempt by the western leaders. The indictment of Omar Bashir of Sudan at the International Court of Justice is an example. Regardless of all the slogan shouting by his supporters he has been badly humiliated. Similarly the Indian government has been slapped in the face by dirty Chinese chappals. Not a single member of the government has been invited to the Beijing Olympics, only Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. When will they ever learn.