Updating My Blog

Today in class we had a really long mod so we got a lot done. We updated our blogs on all of the leaders of the 12 countries we looked up. We then went through a power point and took notes and facts on each of the leaders.

 

Hamid Karzai – backround

·         He emerged as a resistance leader under Taliban rule and worked to undermine the regime

·         He is well versed in several languages including native Pashto, Persian, Hindi, French and English

·         Several times in 2001, Karzai warned the united states that the Taliban were connected

Brazil – Dilma Rouseff

·         She opposed Brazil’s military dictatorship of the 1960’s and 70;s and served three years in prison, were she was repeatedly tortured

·         She has been divorced twice

·         She has a degree in economics, and now rules the country with the eight- biggest economy in the world

·         She underwent chemotherapy for lymphoma in 2009, and is now in remission

China – Xi Jinping

·         Xi Jinping is the son of revolutionary veteran Xi Zhongxun, one of the Communist Party’s founding fathers

·         He married folk singer Peng Liyuan, who also holds the rank of army general, in 1987 to many in china, Ms. Peng was the better- known half of the couple before Xi Jinping became leader of the communist party

·         The couple have a daughter who is studying at Harvard

France – Francois Hollande

·         Hallande has no previous experience in a national government position

·         The mother of his four children is Segolene Roysl, with whom he shared 30- year relationship

·         He was born in 1954 in the city of Rouen to an extreme- right physician father and progressive social worker mother

Germany – Joachim Gauck, Chancellor Angela Merkel

Angela

·         Graduated from University of Leipzig in 1978 with a degree in phyics and physical chemistry; earned a PhD in quantum chemistry from the Germany Academy of Science in Berlin in 1986

·         Has been Chancellor since November 2005

·         Merkel has earned the top spot on the FORBES List of Most Powerful Women In The World for eight of the past 10 years

India – Pranab Mukherjee

·         He taught Political Science at the Vidiyanagar College, and worked as a journalist before entering politics

·         Mukherhjee was rated one of the best finance ministers of the world in 1984 and was adjudged the best parliamentarian in 1997

·         He had a conflict with Rajiv Gandhi(who took over as Prime Minister from his mother Indira after she was assassinated in 1984) and started jis own party- Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress

Iran – Khamenei and Ruhani

·         Theocratic republic

·         In 1963, took part in street protests against the U.S. backed Shah of Iran. After the uprising was quashed, Khamenei was exiled. Khmenei was imprisoned multiple times and, in 1975, was internally exiled to a remote region in southeastern Iran

·         Was selected President of Iran in 1981 and re- elected in 1985.  Became Iran’s Supreme Leader in 1989

·         Hasan Ruhani

·         Has held several parliamentary posts, including deputy speaker and has also served on the Supreme National Security Council

·         Was just elected President of Iran – June 2013

·          He has been openly critical of the outgoing president, saying Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s “careless, uncalculated and unstudied remarks” have cost the country dearly.

 

Israel – Peres and Prime Minister Netanyahu

Peres

·         Shimon peres was born in Belarus. His family fled to Palestine in 1934 to escape the persecution of Jews

·         When Arab forces launched their attack on the new state of Israel in 1948, Peres was given the chief responsibility for securing military equipment for Israel from abroad

·         Later he organized Israel’s nuclear program and is regarded as the father of Israel’s atomic bomb.

·         As Israel’s minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres was in charge of the Israeli negotiations during peace talks with the Palestinians. In the autumn of 1994 he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with his own Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat