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Shapur II
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Topic: Worlds 10 Worst Dictators Posted: 08-Aug-2006 at 12:07 |
A dictator is a head of state who
exercises arbitrary authority over the lives of his citizens and who
cannot be removed from power through legal means. The worst commit
terrible human-rights abuses. This present list draws in part on
reports by global human-rights organizations, including Human Rights
Watch, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty
International. While the three worst from 2005 have retained their
places, two on last years list (Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya and Pervez
Musharraf of Pakistan) have slipped out of the Top 10not because their
conduct has improved but because other dictators have gotten worse.
1) Omar al-Bashir, Sudan. Age 62. In power since 1989. Last years rank: 1
Since
February 2003, Bashirs campaign of ethnic and religious persecution
has killed at least 180,000 civilians in Darfur in western Sudan and
driven 2 million people from their homes. The good news is that
Bashirs army and the Janjaweed militia that he supports have all but
stopped burning down villages in Darfur. The bad news is why theyve
stopped: There are few villages left to burn. The attacks now are aimed
at refugee camps. While the media have called these actions a
humanitarian tragedy, Bashir himself has escaped major condemnation.
In 2005, Bashir signed a peace agreement with the largest rebel group
in non-Islamic southern Sudan and allowed its leader, John Garang, to
become the nations vice president. But Garang died in July in a
helicopter crash, and Bashirs troops still occupy the south.
2) Kim Jong-il, North Korea. Age 63. In power since 1994. Last years rank: 2
While
the outside world focuses on Kim Jong-ils nuclear weapons program,
domestically he runs the worlds most tightly controlled society. North
Korea continues to rank last in the index of press freedom compiled by
Reporters Without Borders, and for the 34th straight year it earned the
worst possible score on political rights and civil liberties from
Freedom House. An estimated 250,000 people are confined in reeducation
camps. Malnourishment is widespread: According to the United Nations
World Food Program, the average 7-year-old boy in North Korea is almost
8 inches shorter than a South Korean boy the same age and more than 20
pounds lighter.
3) Than Shwe, Burma (Myanmar). Age 72. In power since 1992. Last years rank: 3
In
November 2005, without warning, Than Shwe moved his entire government
from Rangoon (Yangon), the capital for the last 120 years, to Pyinmana,
a remote area 245 miles away. Civil servants were given two days
notice and are forbidden from resigning. Burma leads the world in the
use of children as soldiers, and the regime is notorious for using
forced labor on construction projects and as porters for the army in
war zones. The long-standing house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, winner
of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize and Than Shwes most feared opponent,
recently was extended for six months. Just to drive near her heavily
guarded home is to risk arrest.
4) Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe. Age 81. In power since 1980. Last years rank: 9
Life
in Zimbabwe has gone from bad to worse: It has the worlds highest
inflation rate, 80% unemployment and an HIV/AIDS rate of more than 20%.
Life expectancy has declined since 1988 from 62 to 38 years. Farming
has collapsed since 2000, when Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms,
giving most of them to political allies with no background in
agriculture. In 2005, Mugabe launched Operation Murambatsvina (Clean
the Filth), the forcible eviction of some 700,000 people from their
homes or businessesto restore order and sanity, says the government.
But locals say the reason was to forestall demonstrations as the
economy deteriorates.
5) Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan. Age 67. In power since 1990. Last years rank: 15
Until
2005, the worst excesses of Karimovs regime had taken place in the
torture rooms of his prisons. But on May 13, he ordered a mass killing
that could not be concealed. In the city of Andijan, 23 businessmen,
held in prison and awaiting a verdict, were freed by their supporters,
who then held an open meeting in the town square. An estimated 10,000
people gathered, expecting government officials to come and listen to
their grievances. Instead, Karimov sent the army, which massacred
hundreds of men, women and children. A 2003 law made Karimov and all
members of his family immune from prosecution forever.
6) Hu Jintao, China. Age 63. In power since 2002. Last years rank: 4
Although
some Chinese have taken advantage of economic liberalization to become
rich, up to 150 million Chinese live on $1 a day or less in this nation
with no minimum wage. Between 250,000 and 300,000 political dissidents
are held in reeducation-through-labor camps without trial. Less than
5% of criminal trials include witnesses, and the conviction rate is
99.7%. There are no privately owned TV or radio stations. The
government opens and censors mail and monitors phone calls, faxes,
e-mails and text messages. In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, at
least 400,000 residents of Beijing have been forcibly evicted from
their homes.
7) King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia. Age 82. In power since 1995. Last years rank: 5
Although
Abdullah did not become king until 2005, he has ruled Saudi Arabia
since his half-brother, Fahd, suffered a stroke 10 years earlier. In
Saudi Arabia, phone calls are recorded and mobile phones with cameras
are banned. It is illegal for public employees to engage in dialogue
with local and foreign media. By law, all Saudi citizens must be
Muslims. According to Amnesty International, police in Saudi Arabia
routinely use torture to extract confessions. Saudi women may not
appear in public with a man who isnt a relative, must cover their
bodies and faces in public and may not drive. The strict suppression of
women is not voluntary, and Saudi women who would like to live a freer
life are not allowed to do so.
8) Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan. Age 65. In power since 1990. Last years rank: 8
Niyazov
has created the worlds most pervasive personality cult, and criticism
of any of his policies is considered treason. The latest examples of
his government-by-whim include bans on car radios, lip-synching and
playing recorded music on TV or at weddings. Niyazov also has closed
all national parks and shut down rural libraries. He launched an attack
on his nations health-care system, firing 15,000 health-care workers
and replacing most of them with untrained military conscripts. He
announced the closing of all hospitals outside the capital and ordered
Turkmenistans physicians to give up the Hippocratic Oath and to swear
allegiance to him instead.
9) Seyed Ali Khamanei, Iran. Age 66. In power since 1989. Last years rank: 18
Over
the past four years, the rulers of Iran have undone the reforms that
were emerging in the nation. The hardliners completed this reversal by
winning the parliamentary elections in 2004 after disqualifying 44% of
the candidatesand with the presidential election of Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad in June 2005. Ultimately, however, the country is run by
the 12-man Guardian Council, overseen by the Ayatollah Khamanei, which
has the right to veto any law that the elected government passes.
Khamanei has shut down the free press, tortured journalists and
ordered the execution of homosexual males.
10) Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea. Age 63. In power since 1979. Last years rank: 10
Obiang
took power in this tiny West African nation by overthrowing his uncle
more than 25 years ago. According to a United Nations inspector,
torture is the normal means of investigation in Equatorial Guinea.
There is no freedom of speech, and there are no bookstores or
newsstands. The one private radio station is owned by Obiangs son.
Since major oil reserves were discovered in Equatorial Guinea in 1995,
Obiang has deposited more than $700 million into special accounts in
U.S. banks. Meanwhile, most of his people live on less than $1 a day.
source: http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2006/edition_01-22-2006/Dictators
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Roberts
Chieftain
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Posted: 08-Aug-2006 at 12:21 |
I wouldn't describe Hu Jintao as bad dictator. Actually he is no more than representative leader of China, while the real power is holded by those behind his back. Though I might be mistaken.
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Peter III
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Posted: 18-Aug-2006 at 12:16 |
Strange that Hu Jintao is on the list and Fidel Castro isn't.
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Register666666
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Posted: 01-Sep-2006 at 13:00 |
Strange that Stalin isn't in there.
Castro though has a kind of mixed view though, because he actually did do some good. That of course does not excuse his abuse of power.
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Aelfgifu
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Posted: 01-Sep-2006 at 14:24 |
Originally posted by Register666666
Strange that Stalin isn't in there.
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That is because this is a list of dictators who are alive and in power.
And Stalin is... well... kinda not.
For about the last fifty years... or so...
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Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears.
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Guests
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Posted: 02-Sep-2006 at 17:08 |
I'm surprised Kim-Jong Il is not nr. 1. The North Korean dictatorship is more evil than the other 9 combined.
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Omar al Hashim
King
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Posted: 02-Sep-2006 at 21:37 |
The long-standing house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, winner
of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize and Than Shwes most feared opponent,
recently was extended for six months. Just to drive near her heavily
guarded home is to risk arrest. |
If Burma is so bad, why haven't they killed her?
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Genghis
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Posted: 03-Sep-2006 at 03:35 |
Probably for the same reason that the Israelis never killed Arafat, making a martyr out of her would give her successor even more power than she has now.
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Omar al Hashim
King
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Posted: 04-Sep-2006 at 03:30 |
Possibly, although being a dictator over your people is quite different to an occuping force.
I would've killed her. If she died 10 years ago, people would have forgotten by now... Well, at least the west would have forgotten, maybe not the burmese. But she is probably more important in the democracy loving west that in SE asia.
I think the Israeli's never killed Arafat because he was more use to them alive. They would prefer Arafat as the Palestinian leader over Hamas.
Edited by Omar al Hashim - 04-Sep-2006 at 03:30
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Alparslan1071
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Posted: 05-Sep-2006 at 02:34 |
Lets make two list for this subject.Current Dictators list and Past Dictators list.
I start with the past
Numero Uno ADOLF HITLER (How dare you ,forgot this best dictator ever)
Numero Due BENITO MUSSOLINI (Adolfo's italian brother)
Numero Tria Joseph Visarovich Chugasvili STALIN (RED BROTHER OF ADOLFO)
NUMBER FOUR (I Cant count after 3 in italian )
4- Ioannis Metaxas (Greek Dictator)
5- Francisco Franco (Spanish El caudillo)
6-Mustafa Ismet Inonu (Turkish Dictator) (before he elected)
7-Seseko Mobutu (Democratic Congo's Dictator)
8-Idi Amin (Uganda Dictator)
9-Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski (Polish dictator)
10-Hafiz Esad (Syrian Dictator)
This is my list but there are more dictator in the past.What about yours?
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Kapikulu
Arch Duke
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Posted: 06-Sep-2006 at 18:50 |
Originally posted by Alparslan1071
I start with the past
Numero Uno ADOLF HITLER (How dare you ,forgot this best dictator ever)
Numero Due BENITO MUSSOLINI (Adolfo's italian brother)
Numero Tria Joseph Visarovich Chugasvili STALIN (RED BROTHER OF ADOLFO)
NUMBER FOUR (I Cant count after 3 in italian )
4- Ioannis Metaxas (Greek Dictator)
5- Francisco Franco (Spanish El caudillo)
6-Mustafa Ismet Inonu (Turkish Dictator) (before he elected)
7-Seseko Mobutu (Democratic Congo's Dictator)
8-Idi Amin (Uganda Dictator)
9-Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski (Polish dictator)
10-Hafiz Esad (Syrian Dictator)
This is my list but there are more dictator in the past.What about yours?
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Comparing to what Stalin did, Mussolini nearly did nothing...
Putting in Metaxas and Inn there, I think is too harsh...
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We gave up your happiness
Your hope would be enough;
we couldn't find neither;
we made up sorrows for ourselves;
we couldn't be consoled;
A Strange Orhan Veli
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DocStaph
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Posted: 06-Sep-2006 at 21:03 |
Originally posted by Alparslan1071
Numero Uno ADOLF HITLER (How dare you ,forgot this best dictator ever) |
Not At all that Bad! He had a gentle side to him!
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Pregnancy is a Death Sentence to an Afghan Woman!
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Aelfgifu
Caliph
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Posted: 07-Sep-2006 at 07:30 |
Originally posted by DocStaph
Originally posted by Alparslan1071
Numero Uno ADOLF HITLER (How dare you ,forgot this best dictator ever) |
Not At all that Bad! He had a gentle side to him! |
So? You saying that loving his dog makes killing millions of people less bad?
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Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears.
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DocStaph
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Posted: 07-Sep-2006 at 17:23 |
Where did the dog come from? Elaborate on your feelings in regards to my statement!
He did what was best for his nation during his ordeal!
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Pregnancy is a Death Sentence to an Afghan Woman!
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Cent
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Posted: 07-Sep-2006 at 17:38 |
"Where did the dog come from? Elaborate on your feelings in regards to my statement!
He did what was best for his nation during his ordeal!"
You got to be kidding me.
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They don't speak enough about the Kurds, because we have never taken hostages, never hijacked a plane. But I am proud of this.
Abdul Rahman Qassemlou
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DocStaph
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Posted: 07-Sep-2006 at 17:51 |
not at all.. It was his time.. Every empire wants to annhilate one or the other.. So why should he be held responsible for his actions. Dictators do what is best for the country, dont they! Mankind has been the only destruction of mother nature....
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Pregnancy is a Death Sentence to an Afghan Woman!
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Peter III
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Posted: 07-Sep-2006 at 20:11 |
not at all.. It was his time.. Every empire wants to annhilate one or the other.. So why should he be held responsible for his actions. Dictators do what is best for the country, dont they! Mankind has been the only destruction of mother nature....
I can't believe this, I'm sorry but you must be insane.
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Komnenos
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Posted: 08-Sep-2006 at 05:44 |
Originally posted by DocStaph
He did what was best for his nation during his ordeal!
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How dare you, coming from where ever you might come from , to make such ludicrous statement about Germany and its people.
If you would ask them, you would learn that Germany regards the 12 years of Nazi-Germany and Hitler's reign as the most shameful and disastrous episode in its long history.
And every sane person on the planet would whole-heartedly agree with them.
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[IMG]http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i137/komnenos/crosses1.jpg">
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Alparslan1071
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Posted: 08-Sep-2006 at 05:49 |
Originally posted by DocStaph
Where did the dog come from? Elaborate on your feelings in regards to my statement!
He did what was best for his nation during his ordeal!
not at all.. It was his time.. Every empire wants to annhilate one or the other.. So why should he be held responsible for his actions. Dictators do what is best for the country, dont they! Mankind has been the only destruction of mother nature..
i think you are joking Doc Staph,
Hitler occupied lots of country and killed and become the reason of lots of dead child and people.
If he wanted to recover the looses of first world war he shouldnt make another war.
Also please tell us you are joking with your posts Doc Staph.
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Alparslan1071
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Posted: 08-Sep-2006 at 07:34 |
Dear Kommenos, Let me inform Doc staph about Hitler and Germany,
Dear DocStaph,
Please read below regarding Germany History and see what Hitler has done,
The road to power
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The Brning administration
The political turning point for Hitler came when the Great Depression hit Germany in 1930. The Weimar Republic had never been firmly rooted and was openly opposed by right-wing conservatives (including monarchists), Communists and the Nazis. As the parties loyal to the democratic, parliamentary republic found themselves unable to agree on counter-measures, their Grand Coalition broke up and was replaced by a minority cabinet. The new Chancellor Heinrich Brning of the Roman Catholic Centre Party, lacking a majority in parliament, had to implement his measures through the President's emergency decrees. Tolerated by the majority of parties, the exception soon became the rule and paved the way for authoritarian forms of government.
The Reichstag's initial opposition to Brning's measures led to premature elections in September 1930. The republican parties lost their majority and their ability to resume the Grand Coalition, while the Nazis suddenly rose from relative obscurity to win 18.3% of the vote along with 107 seats in the Reichstag, becoming the second largest party in Germany.
Hitler emerges from the Brown House in Munich (headquarters of the Nazi party during the last days of the Weimar Republic) after a post-election meeting in 1930.
Brning's measure of budget consolidation and financial austerity brought little economic improvement and was extremely unpopular. Under these circumstances, Hitler appealed to the bulk of German farmers, war veterans and the middle-class who had been hard-hit by both the inflation of the 1920s and the unemployment of the Depression. Hitler received little response from the urban working classes and traditionally Catholic regions.
Meanwhile on September 18, 1931 Hitler's niece Geli Raubal was found dead in her bedroom in his Munich apartment (his half-sister Angela and her daughter Geli had been with him in Munich since 1929), an apparent suicide. Geli was 19 years younger than he was and had used his gun, drawing rumours of a relationship between the two. The event is viewed as having caused lasting turmoil for him.
In 1932 Hitler intended to run against the aging President Paul von Hindenburg in the scheduled presidential elections. Though Hitler had left Austria in 1913, he still had not acquired German citizenship and hence could not run for public office. In February however, the state government of Brunswick, in which the Nazi Party participated, appointed Hitler to some minor administrative post and also gave him citizenship. The new German citizen ran against Hindenburg, who was supported by a broad range of reactionary nationalist, monarchist, Catholic, Republican and even social democratic parties, and against the Communist presidential candidate. His campaign was called "Hitler ber Deutschland" (Hitler over Germany). The name had a double meaning.
Hitler over Germany. Political campaign by airplane.
Besides an obvious reference to Hitler's dictatorial intentions, it also referred to the fact that Hitler was campaigning by airplane. This was a brand new political tactic that allowed Hitler to speak in two cities in one day, which was practically unheard of at the time. Hitler came in second on both rounds, attaining more than 35% of the vote during the second one in April. Although he lost to Hindenburg, the election established Hitler as a realistic and fresh alternative in German politics.
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