Today I learned about the phobias of several world leaders.

I think we give people too much crap for their fears.  Kim Jong Il is afraid of flying, which…sure, it’s annoying that the lady next to me keeps clutching the armrest and gasping every time the plane dips, but this guy’s fear was “triggered by a 1976 helicopter crash in which he was seriously injured.”  I think he gets a pass.

Also funny is that George W. Bush is afraid of horses.

But, really, the lesson here is that we should all be terrified of Vladimir Putin:

As a child, Chancellor Merkel was bitten by a dog, instilling her deep fear of canines. Merkel’s fear is well known, and perhaps worryingly for Germans has reportedly been used against her by foreign leaders. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a master of psychological diplomacy, has repeatedly attempted to take advantage of Merkel’s fear. In 2006, the then-president perplexed German diplomats by presenting the chancellor with a small dog as a gift and made a habit of having his black Labrador, Koni, sit in on their meetings.

-andy