Jalal Talabani - President of Iraq

[{nF}remix]

If you don't know him, hes a kurd and the founder of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

INFO

I suggest watching the clip: "Iraq's West Wing" on the front page of cnn.com for an insight on his personality, etc.

So what do you guys think, its interesting because he is a kurd and that he is trying to unite the shiites and sunnis, who both disregarded the kurds in Saddams reign.

Do you think he is up for the job? It seems that both shiites and sunnis like him, and kurds adore him. I myself think he will be a good president and bring peace to Iraq hopefully.

[Kanaric]

I think its good that a kurd is president of the country. They are the most "agreeable" people in the country, heh.

[Tiwaz]

Shias and sunnis like him? Since when?

My rather cynical extimate is that he is popular with kurds, shias tolerate him as long as he has no power and sunnis... Most likely do not like him.

Investment hint, if you can invest in stocks of every non-ME oil producer. When Iraq charade ends up in war and oil supply from ME starts to get hiccups those stable oil sources will make lots of money.

[Erik]

You have to remember that in Iraq's new political system the Prime-Minister has more power than the President.

The President has a mainly symbolic function as head of state, just like the Monarchs in Europe.
The Prime-Minister is the head of government, just like the prime-ministers in Europe.

The Shiites are the biggest party in the Kurdish/Shiite coalition, so naturally they get to deliver the Prime-Minister.
The Kurds came "second" so they get to deliver the President.
This is how coalition politics work.

I guess Jalal Talabani is an OK guy, but he has very little influence over the way Iraq wil develop.
As a symbol of unity it's his job to make Iraq LOOK unified, but the real problems have to be solved by the Prime-Minister and his government.