Worst-Dressed World Leaders

Painful insults abound in leaked cables

(NEWSER) - The fallout from the WikiLeaks release of US embassy cables is only just beginning, but one thing is clear: there are going to be some seriously embarrassed diplomats. Some insults to world leaders, as collected by the Telegraph:

• Nicolas Sarkozy: The French president is an "emperor with no clothes," with a “thin-skinned” and “authoritarian” manner.
• Angela Merkel: The German chancellor "avoids risks and is rarely creative."
• Moammar Gadhafi: The Libyan leader can't travel without what one diplomat described as his “voluptuous blond” Ukrainian nurse.

Time for America to start flexing its muscles instead of making deals

(NEWSER) - Neoconservatives are making a comeback and it's about time, writes Bret Stephens. They're back "because Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il, and Vladimir Putin never went away," Stephens writes in the Wall Street Journal, and because the world wants America to use its strength to stop Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs in light of the failure of President Obama's "shambles" of a foreign policy. More»

The power of petro-czars has slumped as oil prices have fallen

(NEWSER) - There is one silver lining to the global recession: The economic and political fortunes of America’s oil-rich antagonists have been tarnished, Rana Foroohar writes in Newsweek. Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez have all been humbled by the falling price of oil, which has plummeted to $37 a barrel from from $147 last summer. More»

Outspoken response to a warning from Russia

(NEWSER) - In a cantankerous press conference today, President Bush warned that Iran risks starting World War III if it develops nuclear weapons. His remarks came as reporters sought his reaction to Vladimir Putin's comments, after meeting with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday, that the West should not only rule out military action against Iran, but stop talking about it, the New York Times reports. More»

Russian president backs Iran at regional summit

(NEWSER) - Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran continued yesterday with a regional summit and a not-so-veiled warning against American action in Iran. A day after dismissing reports of an assassination plot against him during the trip, Putin met with leaders from Iran and other nations on the Caspian Sea. "We should not even think of making use of force in this region," Putin cautioned. More»