With all the fuss about foreign government funding of US think tanks, a former president of a foreign government is bypassing all that by starting his own think tank in the US.
Mikheil Saakashvili, the former president of Georgia, is reportedly helping start up a Washington, DC-based think tank.
It is common for former non-US heads of state to join a well-established think tank, but as far as Think Tank Watch is aware, this will be the first time that a former foreign head of state has established a US-based think tank.
The DC think tank market is already heavily saturated, with 395 think tanks within Washington, and 1,828 think tanks total in the US.
As a comparison, Georgia (the country) has 13 think tanks. [By the way, Georgia (the state) has 29 think tanks.]
So, why start a think tank? Well, besides having plenty of free time during his self-imposed exile in New York, he apparently wants to be more politically relevant. The first step though? Getting a US work visa.
And starting a think tank is not a piece of cake. But fortunately, Mr. Saakashvili will have a good tutor. He has recently been meeting with old pal Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who recently started his own think tank, the McCain Institute.