Black Eye: This week, Jean Chrétien meets our collective fist for schmoozing with a maniacal dictator.

In his new role as lawyer, Chrétien traveled to Turkmenistan this past fall to arrange a lucrative oil deal with the president of the repressive regime. Arranging business transactions with a man who prefers to be called Turkmenbashi the Great, and who has renamed the months of the year after himself and his family, is not cool.

Feather in the Cap: The spirit of popular upheaval has now overwhelmed the streets of Beirut. Tens of thousands of ebullient Lebanese of all denominations took to the streets days ago to celebrate the resignation of the prime minister and his cabinet, which supported the Syrian presence in Lebanon.

While recent revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine were sparked by Western financiers like George Soros, the Lebanese are commendably not waiting for outside help.