The Trail

ALLIES STRADDLE ELECTION POLITICS

World Leaders Praise Both Tickets

NEW YORK -- Foreign leaders from three continents this week provided Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with personal tutorials on world affairs, sharing their views with the Republican vice presidential nominee on everything from international security to her state's energy policies. But they also sought to show they weren't taking sides in the American election contest, going out of their way to tell reporters how much they think of her counterpart on the Democratic ticket, Sen. Joseph Biden.

Among those in town for the U.N. General Assembly was Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who showered praise on the senator from Delaware, saying he played a little-known role in advising the Georgian government on how it should respond to Russian intervention last month. "There were lots of people calling me," Saakashvili said at a breakfast hosted by Richard Holbrooke, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Biden and Holbrooke, he said, "were two people that made lots of difference on the ground."

Saakashvili said Biden called him two days after Russian troops entered Georgia, and proposed a series of "very concrete things we should do." He said that Biden came up with the idea -- later approved by the Bush administration -- of providing a $1 billion grant to help Georgia get back on its feet, and that he outlined a series of laws designed to punish Russia, including legislation that would "go after corrupt Russian officials."

The effusive praise appeared, at least in part, to be an attempt to show that Saakashvili had friends in both U.S. political camps. Until recently, the Georgian leader had been perceived as close to Sen. John McCain, a sharp critic of Russia's military intervention in Georgia.

Saakashvili said that McCain has shown a keen understanding of the Georgia crisis and that "he has been supportive" of the country's democratic struggle for years. He said McCain has traveled to Georgia and gained a firsthand view of its struggle against Russian domination. "Certainly he got it immediately," he said.

Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, said that he thought Palin was "very nice" and that she was "quite knowledgeable" about the threat of terror posed by Islamist extremists along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. "She is obviously a hunting lady," he said, suggesting it was a useful qualification for understanding Pakistan's complex security challenges.

Zardari said that he was impressed by Palin's strategy for developing oil reserves in Alaska and that she had done a good job ensuring that revenues flowed to local communities. He said he was considering a similar approach to exploiting natural resources in Pakistan.

"I've been promoting the Alaska model to some extent in Pakistan," Zardari said. At that stage, a senior aide interrupted the Pakistani leader. "The president also spoke to Joseph Biden," he said. Zardari said that Biden has been instrumental in steering hundred of millions of U.S. dollars to Pakistan to shore up democracy. "He has been a great friend of democracy from the first day," Zardari added.

-- Colum Lynch