But wasn’t that  a doozy of a World Leaders Forum? We had autocratic thugs, alleged autocratic thugs, cruel and petty dictators, and, for variety’s sake, the visionary leader of an up-and-coming democracy. This’ll be a tough one to top. But don’t worry, John Coatsworth: you won’t have to to resurrect Hitler to make next year’s WLF as action-packed as this one. All you have to do is choose from Bwog’s WORLD LEADERS WISHLIST!:

Here are 20(ish) leaders we’d like to see squirming uncomfortably at next year’s Forum. Because if you can get Ahmadinejad to speak here, you can get anyone to speak here.

In no particular order:

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia: Africa’s first woman president. Also

the first president in post-civil war Liberia.

Paul Kagame, Rwanda: Former head of the RPF and “hero” during the Rwandan civil war. Now either Africa’s most dynamic leader or a dictatorial autocrat, depending on who you ask. Has the very tough job of making sure Rwanda doesn’t lapse into another genocide.

Monmohan Singh and/or Sonia Gandhi, India: Gandhi is the most controversial person in India; Jeffrey Sachs once credited Singh for rescuing the country through his program of economic liberalization.



Tzippi Livni, Israel: Foreign minister and probably the future prime minister of the most controversial county in the world.

Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan: One of the worst dictators on earth, and a one-time close friend of the United States. Also hasn’t come clean about a Tiananmen-square like massacre a couple of years ago.

Sheik Mohammad bin Rashid, Dubai: Dubai is prosperous, stable and successful in a part of the world that generally isn’t. Why?

Felipe Calderon, Mexico: Mexico’s big, and close by and shit. That and immigration. 

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran: since we invited the president of Iran, we might as well meet the guy who’s probably got the more legit power in the country.



Mahmoud Abbas, Palestine: Peacemaker or panderer? And if he is a panderer, exactly who is he pandering to? The WLF would be a great venue for us to find out.

Nicholas Sarkozy, France: He’s gotta be better than Jacques Chirac. Or at least we can hope so. 

Abdullah Gul, Turkey: The first person with a politically Islamic

past to become elected  president of a country founded on strict secularism. Need we say more?



Alvaro Uribe Velez, Colombia: With drug cultivation rampant and paramilitary stalking the countryside, Colombia is a perfect basket case. We’d be interested in seeing what Uribe plans on doing about this.



Elias Antonio Saca, El Salvador: Tiny, oft-ignored El Salvador has been in the news because of the fearsome and ever-expanding Mara Salvatrucha gang. And with the

complete dollarization of El Salvador in 2004, it’d be worth giving

the Latin American country a look.

Raul Castro, Cuba: Is Fidel still alive? Raul probably won’t tell us, but maybe he would.

Angela Merkel, Germany: Best thing that happened to climate change since Al Gore, and recipient of The Rub.

Nestor and Christina Kirchner, Argentina: Hooray for South American politics! And nepotism!

Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan: Loose nukes, radical Islam and a certain man currently hanging out in a cave in Waziristan make Pakistan a vital spot. And by this time next year, the exiled Bhutto might be back in charge of it.

John Howard, Australia: Bwog thinks we could really use an update from down under.

Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia:  So how’s that proxy war in Somalia going, Meles? Yet another U.S.-propped dictator with pseudo-imperial ambitions.

King Jigme Wangchuck, Bhutan: Bhutan is the world’s only medieval-style Buddhist theocracy. That’s umm…cool.

George W. Bush, United States: Brazenly provocative; also exhibits many of the signs of a cruel and petty dictator. And worst of all, he’s a Yale alum.