View from the North 40: Redefining leadership the old-Turkmenistan way

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov — who has also been known to bust a move singing rap — has written a poem to honor Turkmenistan’s wheat and the farmers who grow it.

“I wish success to the farmer, the whole world warms itself with wheat,” read the poem attributed to Berdymukhamedov in a June 30 Agence France Presse article, which was picked up by news agencies all over the world.

Berdymukhamedov, who parlayed his early dental career into a presidency, told Turkmenistan state television that the verses had been inspired by the sight of “fields of waving wheat” wh...