An Indian fast-food outlet has named itself after Mahatma Gandhi and features a caricature of his face in neon lights. Tacky? Certainly. Only in America? Only in Australia, actually, or at least that’s what a major cable television channel would like to suggest.

I saw this story about nefarious goings-on in Melbourne, and the indignation of a Gandhi family member, while sitting in a Singapore hotel room. It was one of only a handful of reports mentioning Australia that I encountered during a month overseas. It doesn’t take long after leaving Australia’s shores to be reminded just how inconsequential one member of the ‘coalition of the willing’ really is on the world stage. I was struck, too, by how much less attention terrestrial and cable television in Asia paid to the US than does the Australian media. In four weeks, a few news topics pertaining to Australia attracted the attention of the international media that I encountered: floods in northern New South Wales; a rally protesting against the federal government’s industrial relations plans; the women’s cycling tragedy in Germany; the world champion Australian poker player; and, of course, the Ashes series.