How Many Leaders do you Know?

[bcholmes]

So I caught a bit of news, and saw Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (talking about Japan's role with respect to "comfort women") and I thought: "Japan has a new Prime Minister?" So, off to Wikipedia: sure enough, as of September 26th, 2006, Japan has a new Prime Minister.

Then I was thinking: how many world leaders can I recognize? I can at least recognize the leaders of the G8 countries (although I'd probably fumble the name of the Italian Prime Minister if he's out of the news for a bit). I'd also recognize (but might fumble names) for Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, John Howard, Jalal Talibani, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il, Rene Preval, and I'd fumble a bit before remembering Mahmoud Abbas' name. I knew that Vicente Fox and Ariel Sharon had been succeeded, but couldn't recognize or name their successors without looking them up. Nor would I have been able to name Mandela's successor of the last seven years. I could name Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, but not Prime Minister Balkenende.

I know essentially no African political leaders, few European leaders (especially in Eastern Europe), and only one South American leader. Hm.