Ukraine’s Yulia Tymoshenko: a hot national leader

I don't usually pay much attention to politics in Ukraine. But when I saw a photo of the country's prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, for some (obvious) reason I became enthralled with her.

She's in a runoff to be the next Ukrainian president. I'll be rooting for her. All I need to do is glance at her opponent to tell that Yulia is hugely hotter more qualified.
  

In contrast with our own female politician hot babe, Sarah Palin, Tymoshenko actually has some brains and competence. Wikipedia tells me that she graduated with an honors degree in economics and was president of United Energy Systems of Ukraine.

But really, who cares? It's her looks that fascinate, particularly her hair.

My wife, who has had natural long blond hair for most of her life, zeroed in on Yulia's head-encircling braid with laser-like skeptical intensity as soon as I showed her the photo above.

"It's almost impossible for her to have a braid that long," she said. "Her hair would have to be down to her waist."

I was pleased to conduct some Google research on this subject, since it led me to additional photos of Tymoshenko. Her braid is truly awesome.

The New York Times analyzed Tymoshenko's hair style and concluded that the braid is indeed real. 

Tymoshenko's plait first attracted wide notice in the Orange
Revolution of 2004, when, fairly or not, her beauty was commented upon
nearly as often as her role in bringing down the post-Soviet government
that reigned in Kiev.

The braid has become such a staple of her
persona that her Web site unabashedly features articles about it,
including some claiming that the braid has influenced designers like
Narciso Rodriguez and celebrities like the actress Sienna Miller.

Yet
the braid is not just a fashion statement. It is a calculated political
tool with significant cultural resonance, one that has helped turn her
into more than a candidate. To her supporters at least, she is regarded
as a kind of Lady Liberty.

A braid is a traditional Ukrainian
hairstyle, and by adopting it, Tymoshenko, a former prime minister, has
been able to underline her nationalist credentials, drawing a contrast
with her main opponents, who are more closely linked to the onetime
overlord, Russia.

…Tymoshenko's advisers acknowledge that using a hairstyle as a
campaign symbol could trivialize her. But they say that she is such an
electrifying leader and speaker that no Ukrainian would consider her a
hollow candidate.

Still, she is regularly asked that most frivolous of questions: Is the braid real?

"Everything
that I have is natural – braid, nails – I practically never use
cosmetics," she once said at a news conference. "They often ask me in
the provinces about my braid. Now, once and for all, I am going to lay
to rest these rumors."

With that, in front of the cameras, she let her hair down, Rapunzel-like, for all the world to see.

If you want to see more of Yulia Tymoshenkno, and why wouldn't you?, head here, here, here, and her official website gallery.