Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov kisses the national flag at his inauguration ceremony in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. Turkmenistan's authoritarian president was sworn in Friday for a second term during a lavish ceremony filled with adulation for the man increasingly referred to as the "protector" of this tightly controlled, resource-rich nation. (AP Photo)