Comments on: Rainbow Coalition

Rainbow Coalition

jfuller — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 03:54:26 -0800

The world's ten worst dictators -- this year anyway. Saddam, who was No. 3 Worst last year, has dropped off the list. Charles Taylor of Liberia (No. 4), also out of power and gone. Moammar Gadhafi (previously No. 8) and Belarus' Alexander Lukashenko (No. 10) also miss the new A list not because, according to the compilers, "they have improved but because other dictators have gotten worse."

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 03:58:42 -0800

Good to see they aren't as starry eyed over China as the Olympics were last month...

By: twistedonion

twistedonion — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 04:27:28 -0800

ok, so Castro is worse than Mugabe and GWB isn't on the list at all ;-) Crap article - Is a proper breakdown about anywhere of how they came to their conclusions?

By: jfuller

jfuller — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 04:47:26 -0800

> Crap article - Hey, don't look down your nose at the Hindustani Times. Belfast is third-world too. They blow up policeman, or so I have heard, And blame it on Cromwell and William the Third > Is a proper breakdown about anywhere of how they came to their conclusions? from the linked article: "the list, compiled by dictator-watcher David Wallechinsky in collaboration with Amnesty International, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders..." If I can find a link to the original publication I'll post it but it won't be until later, since I'm just heading for work where I'm locked out of the scurrilous, subversive, pr0nographic blue by my employer's ever-vigilant netnanny.

By: magullo

magullo — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 04:48:49 -0800

Original?

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 04:59:06 -0800

I want to hear the article read aloud by Casey Kasim.

By: Blue Stone

Blue Stone — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 05:04:06 -0800

Hehe. Nice to see Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan in there - an ally in the War Against Terror™. I feel he'll be making a lot of airplay in the coming years.

By: jfuller

jfuller — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 05:07:51 -0800

And here's a rebuttal from China. Fair'n'balanced'r'us.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 05:59:42 -0800

ok, so Castro is worse than Mugabe The link above goes to the third and final page of the article. Here's page one. (Castro comes after Mugabe.)

By: twistedonion

twistedonion — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 06:04:25 -0800

I was dissing the article, not the Hindustani Times - the article was quoting a British paper (the sun) no? And I have even less time for that paper. As for living in the third world - If owning a car, TV, DVD player, three computers, mobile phone etc etc etc and being on a below average salary makes me third world then so be it. I agree with you about the blame thing (to a degree, everyone needs an enemy). Not wanting to hijack this thread but I was having a discussion with a friend about this... Is there any other nation of people whose national day celebrates a 300 odd year old war?

By: twistedonion

twistedonion — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 06:11:29 -0800

Cheers for that other link magullo, reads much better. Couldn't understand how Castro could possibly be worse than Mugabe. Doh!

By: mkultra

mkultra — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 07:00:48 -0800

Omar Al-Bashir (Sudan)- responsible for the 20-year civil war that that has claimed two million lives and rendered four million homeless. He also routinely bombs civilians, tortures and massacres the non-Muslims. ... President Fidel Castro (Cuba)- has recently arrested 75 human-rights activists, journalists and academics, sentencing them to 19 years' jail on average. Well, it seems that the definition of "worst" cuts a broad swath these days. Still, the more people talk about this in any forum, the better. There are a lot of monstrous people in the world.

By: crazy finger

crazy finger — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 07:20:57 -0800

I think worst is really hard to quantify. For example: Dictator A: killed 10,000 civilians between 1988 and 2004. Dictator B: arrests and tortures thousands of people for speaking out against the government every year since 1920. Dictator C: personally raped and killed 10 babies this year.

By: briank

briank — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 07:23:52 -0800

Turkmenbashi is really going to have to work to play some catch up for next year's list. Number Two with a bullet!

By: johnny novak

johnny novak — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 07:57:21 -0800

More on Turkmenbashi: He is infamous for declaring July 10 a public holiday in honour of melons - one of the country's main exports - and April 27, Horse Day. He has banned beards because of his suspicion of Islamic fundamentalists and ballet because he deems it unnecessary. Circuses are also prohibited. He renamed January after himself, and April after his late mother, Gurbansoltanedzhe, who is also portrayed as Justice in a statue outside the Orwellian "Ministry of Fairness". From here.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 08:14:55 -0800

Casey Kasim: Moving from Number 6 to Number 1, with a bullet...

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 09:28:24 -0800

Is there any other nation of people whose national day celebrates a 300 odd year old war? Sorry, 200 is the best we and the French could do. Latin America is closing in on 200 as well... Anyway, back to the article, I hardly see how Castro's arrest of 75 makes him top ten on the year, I mean jeez, there's got to be worse? How about Assad in Syria? What about Musharraf?

By: weston

weston — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 09:37:56 -0800

I don't thinked they're actually ranked (at least, I didn't see numbers on the article). but ParisParamus, you made me laugh

By: the cuban

the cuban — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 10:23:27 -0800

I don't thinked they're actually ranked Yeah, they are. The article says "The world's worst dictator as per rank:"

By: wendell

wendell — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 10:33:40 -0800

PP, you misspelled Kasem, and I know that's a dig on his public support of undemocratic Arab regimes, but still, Ryan Seacrest is doing the American Top 40 these days, and besides, David Letterman should be doing this as one of his Top 10s. That would be edgy comedy. And, weston, if you start from the right page, they're listed the same on both the Parade list from February and the Sun/HT list.

By: kablam

kablam — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 12:10:01 -0800

Ranking dictators isn't easy. Here's a thought problem: nowadays, we can easily call Hitler a dictator, but only for the *totality* of his career, and in retrospect. Not knowing what you know now, how would you have rated Hitler in each of his years of power? Starting in 1933? 1934? etc. If you think of 1938, when Germany annexed western Czechoslovakia, you might consider that just before Germany acted, both Poland and Hungary took chunks out of Czechoslovakia, too. I would add that Hitler intentionally created confusing and overlapping authority in his subordinates, but personally limited what he tried to direct himself--unlike Stalin, who literally tried to run the entire Soviet Union "by memo" from his desk.