HIS tone was direct but friendly. “Hello, hello, hello,” he greeted us all, as he entered the room. Seven journalists from a selected number of countries, who had been waiting at the hall of Cairo University in Egypt, stood up to welcome him.

Barack Obama had just completed his speech at the university hall, attended by about 3,000 people, most of them students. The US President spoke about Egypt, the Islamic world and the possibility of pea