ALEKSANDR LUKASHENKO He’s president of Belarus again, winning 75 percent of the vote on Sept. 9. An impossibility, cry his critics. His biggest opponent, the international press, has barely noticed.
GARY CONDIT Recently on the brink of disappearance himself, the congressman and former boyfriend of a missing intern has just been appointed to a subcommittee on terrorism and homeland security.
THABO MBEKI Remember AIDS and South Africa’s efforts to conceal the crisis? Turns out the government has been sitting on data estimating that AIDS will kill one in seven South Africans by 2010.
ROBERT MUGABE Zimbabwe’s megalomaniacal president pledged to put an end to his government’s illegal land seizures last month. Instead, Mugabe cut negotiations short and seizures proceed apace.
JACQUES CHIRAC Instead of being pilloried with corruption allegations in the news, Chirac is appearing “presidential.” Meanwhile, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin takes the heat for the economic effects of the attacks.
RUDOLF SCHARPING Germany’s Defense minister was getting ravaged by the press for jaunts (in his government plane) to visit his mistress. But no one wants to replace their defense man now.
