I hope some of the other F5ers submit some questions to the Friday Five soon… because this week’s question is once again mine:

You’re granted an interview with the political leader of the country of your choice. Who would you choose to interview, and what five questions would you make sure to ask?

Hmmm. I know that many people would ask for Bush, just to ask him pointed questions that he would sidestep. I know that others would ask to talk to Tony Blair, to see what kind of demon possessed him to make his country into America’s lapdog. Some might expect me to interview Noh Mu Hyun, or Kim Jong Il, but in the case of the latter I doubt I’d get anything besides rhetoric, and in the case of the former, I suspect I wouldn’t get anything but effusive rhetoric of the Happy-Shiny kind.

So who should I interview? A political leader, huh? Okay, how about this: Kofi Annan. I guess my questions would be something like this:

• A lot of people’s—especially Americans’—distrust of the UN seems to simply instinctual, or a knee-jerk reaction. What would you say to people if you were to set out to change their minds about the UN?
• Sorry to get personal, but what do you have to say about your son Koko, and how do you think his corruption reflects more general corruption in the UN?
• How has the UN helped your homeland?
• What kind of role to you imagine the UN playing fifty years from now? Will its role have changed much, and if so, why?
• What are your fears for the future of the UN—the barriers to its success, the roadblocks and pitfalls it faces now and will probably face in the future?