Thanks to an anonymous underpaid staffer at the Sun-Times, we now have a great facebook of the leaders coming to the NATO Summit this Saturday.
Did you know Zeljko Komsic, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has an average monthly net salary of just $550?
How about that Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, has his photograph shown at the end of the movie, “Borat?” Also, he apparently likes aubergine purple taxis.
Or that M. President Francois Hollande of France’s former partner and mother of his four children is Segolene Royal (she was lost to Nicholas Sarkozy in the last election)!
Sadly, leaders from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania were not interesting enough to deserve a “Fun Fact!”
On a serious note, people matter. We often think about multilateral negotiations as a massive processes of thousands of bureaucrats over many months. This is true. However, once these summits commence, the specific individuals will determine success or failure. NATO is a consensus-based organization. One no vote is the same as 28!
Andrew Levin 