Italian Soccer Celebrity Named Georgia’s Energy Chief  

Georgian Dream Campaign

Kakha Kaladze, charged with keeping Georgia's lights on

Retired soccer stars have taken up all kinds of unlikely jobs, but AC Milan onetime defender Kakha Kaladze takes the prize for the most unpredictable career change. The former captain of Georgia's national soccer team, and a little bit of a national sex symbol, Kaladze has been nominated to become the Georgian minister of energy and natural resources.

Kaladze’s surprise nomination came as Georgia's prime-minister-to-be, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who today got back his Georgian citizenship, announced the final members of his proposed cabinet, with Kaladze given the country's power switch.

The Internet abounds with visual evidence of Kaladze’s personal energy and natural resources (warning: some mild male nudity), but, beyond this, he has zero job-related credentials.

With disarming honesty, Kaladze himself conceded the point. “Honestly speaking, I have no experience in the energy sphere,” he told reporters after Ivanishvili's announcement.

But he added that he knows that it is an important job, described himself as a fan of small hydro-power plants, Georgia's energy staple, and will do his best to tackle the country's energy issues.

“You probably noticed how much he has grown up recently,” a smiling Ivanishvili said of the 34-year-old Kaladze as he presented his proposed cabinet.

Kaladze, who dabbled in banking in Georgia before becoming a Bidzina buddy, last appeared as Ivanishvili's nominee for minister of reconstruction and infrastructure, but that ministry, one of the government's largest, is now slotted to be broken up.

His lack of professional experience notwithstanding, parliament, which has not yet reconvened, is not likely to oppose the nomination.

With Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream holding the majority over Saakashvili's United National Movement by a 20-seat margin, the legislature is expected to make an easy spot-kick of all the Ivanishvili nominees into the government.

All that remains is for Georgia to see how many soccer players it takes to screw in the nation’s light bulbs.