* The late Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel once sagely noted: “We live in the post-modern world, where everything is possible and almost nothing is certain.”
How true, as we see every day. We’ve seen the “Red” Chinese embrace posh casinos on their sovereign territory. We’ve elected an African-American president of the United States. We’ve observed how social media can summon revolutions.
But some things still seem incongruously weird. This one jumped out at me recently. The headline spoke volumes: “Billionaire Joins Race to Lead Russia.” It was referring to Mikhail Prokhorov, a businessman worth an estimated $18 billion–or 70 times richer than Mitt Romney–who will be on the Russian presidential ballot on March 4.
And, oh yeah, he also owns the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association.
* America’s November presidential election won’t be the only one of note in this hemisphere this fall. Much attention will be focused on Venezuela in October, where President Hugo Chavez, the bête noire of the U.S., faces re-election amid popular discontent ranging from ever-ratcheting crime to widespread electrical failures. But from his nine-hour speech to the National Assembly three weeks ago, Chavez, who now says he has beaten cancer, appears far more fit than he looked through much of 2011.