Just wondering … do the images really tell us what is going on?

A couple of days ago, the Atlantic's Robert Wright wrote:

I wonder if national leaders are more sensitive to international shaming now than they were back before electronics made the world seem small. Or maybe it's just that the things they're ashamed of are harder to cover up; the images coming out of Homs [in Syria] must make it harder for Russia to walk away. (In 1938 Chamberlain famously described turmoil in Czechoslovakia as "a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing." Today you couldn't say that about Papua New Guinea.)

I'm not so sure about that.

Environmental leader Bill McKibben's outfit, 350.org, has urged us to speak out against the recent coup that forced Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed from office.

President Nasheed was the first democratically elected leader of his country and a global voice for action to address the climate crisis.

I'm inclined to believe 350.org on this -- they seem a responsible organization. But I sure am not going to pretend I have any idea what is going on the Maldives.

India is a lot closer by and has strategic interests in the Indian Ocean island nation. But this Indian newscast seems only slightly more informed than I feel I am.