Fri Feb 10 2012

Dictators of the 21st Century
by Dr. J. Alva Scruggs
February 15, 2005

Last year, Parade Magazine reported The 10 Worst Living Dictators (David Wallechinsky, The 10 Worst Living Dictators, Parade). A new assessment was made for 2004. To compile this year's list, at least one more prominent Dictator can be added without a doubt. Consulting independent human-rights organizations willing to expose both left- and right-wing regimes, including Freedom House, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders using a standard set of criteria. But the "Bloggers" have overwhelmingly made an addition fro dictator number! For the new list, G. W. Bush, President and Thief of the United States of America!! Bolggers have the mission to provide some good Journalism and save our America!!

Most all dictators to a degree provide various arguments to justify their repressive actions to their people and the world. The most common are: 1) the human-rights situation in my country is better than it used to be. Western versions of democracy and human rights are not compatible with my nations traditions. 2) Strict measures are necessary because an outside force is threatening our society. This is the short list but it provides some perspective on world events and to stimulate reflection on our freedoms at home. For the US it strated with "A War Against Terrorism" "Iraq has Weapons of Mass Destruction!!"

1.George W. Bush, President of the United States of America

In power since 2000, by a Bloodless Coup He is labeled as Commander and Thief by some press.

The Republican Party committed a "Bloodless Coupe" by stealing the election voting returns and finally being "Selected as President” by a Conservative Court. Yes, Bush became the first Dictator of America and proceeded to commit the nation to a mission in establishing a “New World Order” in the image of the “CATO Group, Cheney, Karl Rove, and The Bush Senior Dynasty." Using fear as a propaganda vehicle Bush has convinced the public to use the US Military directly as a ?Mercenary Force plus solders contracted through private firms who already specialize in mercenary activities worldwide. to commit a Unilateral?Preemptive strike on Iraq for the purpose of grabbing it’s oil fields and forcing the surrounding Arabic dictator governments to reorder its Cleric-Muslin Dictatorship to fit a "Private Corporate Government" under to illusion of a democratic process controlled essentially by US Industries! At home he has eroded Civil Liberties and Rights in the name of protecting the American public from eminent threats of "The Terrorist."

Bush has been responsible for the deaths of over 4000 American solders about another 30,000 wounded and about 40,000 Iraqi men women and children killed in the last five years (Body Count.com). While ?Governor Texas Bush signed more death warrants than all other governors combined. Further, under the Terrorist law Americans and foreigners can and are being held without being provided and with having official charges being made against them.

The US voters having no clear and powerful legal mechanism to reverse this Coupe’ other than through the conservative and biased Courts which selected him in the first place has had to endure this criminal act short of a revolution. The Courts have demonstrated its willingness to first place Bush in the dictatorship and to support him in most all dictatorial his actions in Imperial Government. The irony is that Imperial Dictator President Bush is telling the other dictators what they must do to avoid punishment from the US.

2. Kim Jong Il, North Korea.

Last year rank: 1.

Kim’s government represses its own people more completely than any other in the world. An estimated 150,000 Koreans perform forced labor in prison camps created to punish alleged political dissidents, their family members and North Koreans who fled to China but were forced back by the Chinese government.

3. Than Shwe, Burma.

Last year rank: 5.

Burma has more child soldiers than any other nation, and the Burmese regime continues to kidnap ordinary citizens and force them to serve as porters for the military in various conflicts against non-Burmese ethnic groups.

In 1990, the party of Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi won 80% of the vote in an open election. The military regime canceled the results. The popular Suu Kyi spent much of the ensuing years, under house arrest. General Than Shwe prefers to work behind the scenes. Even the Burmese people know little about him. He has promised new election in four or five years.

4. Hu Jintao, China.

Last year rank: Dishonorable mention.

As president and general secretary of the party, Hu is the leader of an unusually repressive regime. Apologists point to China economic liberalization and say its human-rights situation is better than it used to be. However, the party still controls all media and uses 30,000 Internet security agents to monitor online use. More than 300,000 Chinese are serving re-education sentences in labor camps. China carries out in excess of 4000 executions a year, more than all other nations combined.

5. Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe.

Last year rank: Dishonorable mention.

Mugabe was elected independent Zimbabwe first prime minister, with widespread domestic and international support. In recent years, he has become increasingly dictatorial. According to Human Rights Forum, Mugabe government has killed or tortured and displaced more than 70,000. As his support has slipped, Mugabe has played the race card, confiscating farms owned by whites and giving them to his supporters.

6. Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia.

Last year rank: 2.

Abdullah has been the acting leader of Saudi Arabia since his half-brother, King Fahd, suffered a stroke in 1995. Saudi Arabia holds no elections whatsoever. The royal family has promised municipal elections next year but has not announced if women will be allowed to vote. In court cases, the testimony of one man is equal to that of two women. According to the U.S. State Department, Saudi Arabia continues to engage in arbitrary arrests and torture. During a human-rights conference in October, Saudi authorities arrested nonviolent protesters calling for freedom of expression; some were sentenced to be flogged.

7. Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea.

Last year rank: 6.

This tiny West African nation was a forgotten dictatorship until major reserves of oil were discovered in 1995. Since then, U.S. oil companies have poured billions of dollars into the country. Although the per capita income is $4500 a year, 60% of the people live on less than $1 a day. The bulk of the oil income goes directly into the U.S. bank account of President Obiang, who has declared: There is no poverty in Guinea. In July, state radio announced that Obiang is in permanent contact with the Almighty and can decide to kill without anyone calling him to account and without going to Hell There is little public transportation, no daily newspapers, and only 1% of government spending goes to health care.

8. Omar Al-Bashir, Sudan.

Last year rank: Dishonorable mention.

Sudan, the largest country in Africa, has been involved in a complex 20-year civil war that has claimed the lives of 2 million people and uprooted 4 million. Al-Bashir seized power in a military coup and immediately suspended the constitution, abolished the legislature and banned political parties and unions. He is negotiating a peace agreement with the main rebel group. Meanwhile, his army has routinely bombed civilians and tortured and massacred non-Muslims, particularly in the oil-producing areas of the south. Sudanese troops also have kidnapped southerners and enslaved them. Al-Bashir has been accused of engineering faminein regions that oppose him.

Al-Bashir has a long history of providing sanctuary for terrorists only to turn against them. He turned over to France the notorious Carlos the Jackal in exchange for financial and military aid. In 1996, he tried, unsuccessfully, to offer Osama bin Laden to the U.S. government.

9. Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan.

Last year rank: 7.

Since taking charge of this former Soviet republic, Niyazov has developed an extreme personality cult. His picture appears on all Turkmen money, and there are statues of him everywhere. His book Rukhnama (Book of the Soul) is required reading in all schools, and all government employees must memorize passages to keep their jobs. He rules without opposition. (There are no opposition parties, he has said, so how can we grant them freedom?) In the past year, Niyazov has cracked down on religious and ethnic minorities, including Russians. He has imprisoned political dissidents and subjected them to Stalin-style show trials and public confessions. The Turkmen constitution requires retirement at 70, but in August Niyazov created 2500-member People Council that elected him Lifetime Chairman unanimously.

10. Fidel Castro, Cuba.

Last year rank: 9.

The world longest-reigning dictator, Castro took advantage of the world preoccupation with the war in Iraq last spring to carry out his biggest roundup of nonviolent dissidents in more than a decade. He arrested 75 human-rights activists, journalists and academics, sentencing them to prison for an average of 19 years. Cuba remains a one-party state. The courts are controlled by the executive branch that is, Castro, who traditionally has blamed his country problems, both economic and social, on the U.S.

11. King Mswati III, Swaziland.

Last year rank: Not listed.

Swaziland is the last remaining absolute monarchy in Africa. Mswati became king when he turned 18, four years after his father death. Though educated in England, Mswati has shown a liking for certain Swazi traditions. In Sept. 2002, he watched thousands of girls and young women dance bare-breasted in the annual Reed Dance, and then chose one to be his 10th wife. (His father had 100 wives.) The girl mother filed a lawsuit charging the king with abducting her daughter. Mswati announced that Swazi courts were forbidden to issue rulings that limited the king power. To appease world opinion, he approved a new constitution to replace the one his father suspended 30 years earlier. However, the new constitution bans political parties, allows the death penalty for any criminal offense and provides for debtors prisons.

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