conuly | (no subject)

Is it just me, or do we have a particularly awful crop of world leaders right now? I mean, as near as I can tell, if I can recognize their name, I don't like them. Cameron is meh, Netanyahu kinda needs to shut up already (I'm starting to get hivey every time I see his name in print, which is often), Merkel constantly seems to me to be making the situation (whatever situation) worse, not a fan of Modi, and the less said about Erdogan, the better. (And let's not mention Putin, shall we? Damn, too late, already did.)

And those are just the ones that readily spring to mind. I am not a happy world citizen right now.

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We have a climate-change-denying, refugee-abuse-condoning, anti-marriage-equality monster for PM. He has legendary rants about the evil of wind farms, and once he ate a whole raw onion in front of reporters.

I am not sure he's human, actually.

Oh yeah, Australia, I forgot about him. Remembered as soon as you commented, though, didn't have to check to make sure you really are Australian.

I'd certainly use a stronger word than "meh" ;0)

Given that the list includes Putin and Erdogan, I had to ration out my emotion. And over on DW I was reminded of Tony Abbott, climate change denying jerk that he is.

Well, yes. And obviously you're exposed to a lot less of it than I am. On the other hand, if you're upgraded to "meh" only because of the context of Putin, that's still a pretty damning condemnation I suppose.

Yeah, I mean there's not a one of them I'd trust as far as I could throw them. Even in the US, I still don't hate Obama (because I realize nearly all alternatives were awfuler, and also that Congress screwed up all the things he's tried to do that I like), but I am extremely disappointed in him.

And usually there's at least ONE world leader I can say "Well, look, $COUNTRY has its shit together!" but this time? It'd be nice if Putin was an aberration on the world stage, but is he really? Or is it a matter of degree instead of kind? (Well, I've answered that question satisfactorily in my own mind, anyway.)

Edited 2015-09-05 15:12 (UTC)

I dunno, Pope Francis seems to be OK. For a pope, anyway. But you're right, that's the only one I can think of that doesn't make me facepalm. If you count him as a world leader, that is!

Can't think of any non-meh alternatives to Merkel, though, TBH. I'm not a fan, but the opposition is just as shitty, so yeah...

Francis is better than his predecessor, and he's much more photogenic. Seriously, he's freaking adorable, which is a weird thing to say about a pope, but there it is.

However, "better than the last guy" is about as stellar as my recommendation gets.