Political Geography

Mexico

federal republic

leader: Enrique Peña Nieto 

• hasn't been in office for long
• oldest of 4 siblings
• came from a middle class family 
• graduated as a lawyer 
• his wife died as a epileptic episode in 2007 
• he told many people to call him the Teflon candidate because nothing seemed to stick with him (trouble doesn't seem to stick with him)
• had two affairs and kids with different women 
• hes like the JFK of Mexico 
• his wife Monica and him had three kids 

China:

Communist state

Leader: Xi Jinping

• highly educated 
• only received one vote against him 
• married to a famous Chinese singer 
• they have a daughter who is attending Harvard University in the US
• china is a communist state 
• china has control of all the cell towers 
• blocked google 
• he holds a high rank of army general in 1987
• he was the son of the man that founded the communist 

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India

federal republic

Leader: Pranab Mukherjee

• he was rated as one of the best finance ministers of the world in 1984 and was adjudged the best parliamentarian in 1997
• had a conflict with Idira who was assassinated 
• taught political science at the Vidiyanagar College 
• worked as a journalist 
• wrote many books
• hes one of the best finance ministers in the world 
• taught science at Vineyard College  

Afghanistan

Islamic republic

Leader: Hamid Karzai

• he can speak many different languages 
• he emerged as a resistance leader under Taliban rule 
• he warned the US that the Taliban were connected with al Qaeda and that they were planning to attack the US
• 5 different languages

Germany

federal republic

Leader: Joachim Gauck

• The Chancellor is Angela Merkel 
• Angela Merkel graduated from University pf Leipzig in 1978 
• she is more important 
• has a degree in physics and physical chemistry 
• earned a PhD in quantum chemistry 
• has been chancellor since November 2005 
• has the top spot on the FORBES list of Most Powerful Women In The World
• he warned us about the attacks of 9/11 
• he is married but doesn't own any land or money 

UK

Constitutional monarchy and Commonwealth realm

Leader: David Cameron

• also Queen Elizabeth 
• David is the Prime Minister of the whole UK
• Queen Elizabeth fell in love at the age of 13
• shes been on the thrown for 60 years 
• David is the youngest Prime Minister 
• David has had a very fortunate life 
• his first son had a very sick life and only made it to 6 years old 
• his sons name was Ivan 
• David rides his bike to work
• youngest prime minister in over 200 years (hes 43)
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France

Republic

Leader: Jean-Marc Ayrault

• headed by Francois Hollande 
• hes for gay rights and tried to push it into France
• married for 30 years with 4 kids then divorced 
• no previous experience in a national government position 
• was a child of parents with totally different political views 

Brazil

Federal republic

Leader: Dilma Rousseff

• had cancer multiple times 
• was tortured for many years 
• married multiple times and divorced twice 
• degree in economics 
• she went to prison 
• the torture didn't make her crack or break down completely 
• divorced a couple times
• has a degree in economics 
• she underwent chemotherapy 

Venezuela

Federal republic

Leader: Nicolas Maduro Moros

• Venezuela has a lot of oil
• the man before Moros (Huge Chaves) wanted to get into a fist fight with President Bush 
• Moros used to be a bus driver 
• after Chaves won third term in October 2012 he was picked to serve as vice president 
• Chaves died on March 5, 2013 from Cancer Moros took over 
• hes only been in office for about 6 months 

Saudi Arabia

Monarchy

Leader:  Abdallah bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud

• he was the 10th son 
• he is 93 years old 
• he has 22 children 
• he has many wives
• he had the youngest child when he was 79
• he is worth approximately 21 billion dollars 
• probably got his money from oil 
• he was in the national guard 
• in March 2008 he visited Pope Benedict in the Apostolic Palace 
• in 2011 he granted women the right to vote and run in future municipal elections 
• he was in the National Guard 

Iran

Theocratic republic

Leader: Hassan Rouhani

• also ruled by supreme leader Ali Hoseini-Khamenei 
• married to his cousin who is 6 years younger than him 
• when he was younger he too part in street protests against the US-backed Shah of Iran 
• was elected President of Iran in 1981 
• he took part in street protests against 
• has been supreme leader for about 24 years 
• he did not want to be like Ahmadinejad 

MAHAMOUD AHMADINEJAD

• he was crazy and radical 
• he told people that the holocaust did not happen and they were lies 
• thinks that Israel should not exist and the Jews should be taken out and forced to live somewhere else or be killed 

Israel

Parliamentary democracy

Leader: Shimon Peres prime minister is Binyamin Netanyahu  being head of Israel is one of the hardest jobs in the world  they have had armed guards on every flight going in and out of their country  Netanyahu lived in the US as a child and his brother was killed  Peres was given the Nobel Peace Prize  he was born in Belarus he was fled to Palestine in 1934 to escape the persecution of Jews he was given responsibility for securing the military equipment for Israel  he organized Israel's nuclear program  while being Israels Minister of Foreign Affairs he was in charge of the Israeli negotiations  he started peace talks with the Palestinians  BINYAMIN NETANYAHU  his brother was killed in July 1976 in the course of the Entebbe Operation  KNOW: WHAT LEADERS REVOLTED AGAINST THEIR GOVERNMENT  THEOCRACY- GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION ARE ALIKE