The World’s 10 Worst Dictators

I found this from a friend's blog on myspace and I thought I would pass it along here. Knowledge is power.

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 year’s list (Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya and Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan) have slipped out of the Top 10—not because their conduct has improved but because other dictators have gotten worse.
World's 10 worst dictators

Here is the complete list in 2 parts:

1) Omar al-Bashir, Sudan. Age 62. In power since 1989. Last year’s rank: 1

Since February 2003, Bashir’s 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 Bashir’s army and the Janjaweed militia that he supports have all but stopped burning down villages in Darfur. The bad news is why they’ve 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 nation’s vice president. But Garang died in July in a helicopter crash, and Bashir’s troops still occupy the south.


2) Kim Jong-il, North Korea. Age 63. In power since 1994. Last year’s rank: 2

While the outside world focuses on Kim Jong-il’s nuclear weapons program, domestically he runs the world’s 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 year’s 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 Shwe’s 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 year’s rank: 9

Life in Zimbabwe has gone from bad to worse: It has the world’s 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 businesses—“to 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 year’s rank: 15

Until 2005, the worst excesses of Karimov’s 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.

This world we call home can be a ugly place.

list continues

6) Hu Jintao, China. Age 63. In power since 2002. Last year’s 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 year’s 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 isn’t 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 year’s rank: 8

Niyazov has created the world’s 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 nation’s 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 Turkmenistan’s physicians to give up the Hippocratic Oath and to swear allegiance to him instead.


9) Seyed Ali Khamane’i, Iran. Age 66. In power since 1989. Last year’s 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 candidates—and 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 Khamane’i, which has the right to veto any law that the elected government passes. Khamane’i 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 year’s 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 Obiang’s 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.

It's interesting that the age of most of the dictators are similar.

Freedom is Everything, and for so many to not have it is sad.

But really what can you say about all the death ad those imprisoned for re-education around the globe.

To sum it up a dictator is a malevolent character, some one society can do without.

There are no degrees of malevolence- its equal.

A dictator is a dictator is a tyrant. That's it.

They take away your freedoms and that is a bad thing.

Originally posted by dgtempe a dictator is a tyrant. That's it.

They take away your freedoms and that is a bad thing.

I agree DG........

My question is WHERE does George Bush rank according to this scale?
He takes away our rights by as big a handful as he can grab and as often as he can grab.......I believe him to be one of the weenie potatoes too....

Bush is not anywhere close to these people so far. The very fact that I can make this post shows that.

If I said "I don't approve of George W. Bush" in any of those countries (substitute Bush with the appropriate dictator) I would likely be tortured and killed...

Originally posted by evanmontegarde
Bush is not anywhere close to these people so far. The very fact that I can make this post shows that.

If I said "I don't approve of George W. Bush" in any of those countries (substitute Bush with the appropriate dictator) I would likely be tortured and killed...

Sure. Rant all you like.

Just not on their networks.

You see, they don't HAVE to kill you. They don't even have to toss you in prison. Maybe they just ignore you.

You aren't even on the radar screen.

Originally posted by theRiverGoddess

My question is WHERE does George Bush rank according to this scale?
He takes away our rights by as big a handful as he can grab and as often as he can grab.......I believe him to be one of the weenie potatoes too....

Damn, I lost the bet. I bet he would be in the first reply post, but he actually lasted to the second.

Is there a post anywhere on ATS that someone hasn’t fire a verbal shot at old George? Man, will the post counts will go down once he leaves office.

George Bush is just taking because we, the people, allow it. He is not a dictator YET, but the signs are there.
Its real unfortunate, that if and when he declares himself "dictator" ( just for the sake of argument) the masses will already have been indoctrinated and he is further ahead than a dictator who would be starting out fresh.

Some call it brainwashing, i like the communist undertones of the word "indoctrination"- because its what it is. If there ever is a day when Bush the Decider, decides he will come out and declare himself Bush the Dictator, yes, there will be shock, but there also will be the apathy, sighs, and those who will say "Its for the best!!!!!" In other words, we're slowly being "conditioned"..... conditioned to accept that which we do not want or need, a free peoples worse nightmare.

George Bush is just taking because we, the people, allow it. He is not a dictator YET, but the signs are there.
Its real unfortunate, that if and when he declares himself "dictator" ( just for the sake of argument) the masses will already have been indoctrinated and he is further ahead than a dictator who would be starting out fresh.

Some call it brainwashing, i like the communist undertones of the word "indoctrination"- because its what it is. If there ever is a day when Bush the Decider, decides he will come out and declare himself Bush the Dictator, yes, there will be shock, but there also will be the apathy, sighs, and those who will say "Its for the best!!!!!" In other words, we're slowly being "conditioned"..... conditioned to accept that which we do not want or need, a free peoples worse nightmare.

Bush is just as much of a dictator as those other scumbags on the list. The last two elections were rigged and he's directly or indirectly slaughtered thousands worldwide. I'd put him square at number one.

If George does decide to become King George, you can bet he would make the people I have listed look like misguided alter boys.

With the newer draconian laws being passed by congress, the rumored concentration camps, rail cars and other things.

I do wonder if the government knows about some future event and that is the purpose of this path towards a police state our government is heading in.

Or is it just about greed, power, and control?

reply to post by LDragonFire


What part of "the elections were already rigged" don't you understand? We're not talking about a *potential* dictator, we're talking about a *current* one.

Originally posted by Jim_Kraken
reply to post by LDragonFire

 

What part of "the elections were already rigged" don't you understand? We're not talking about a *potential* dictator, we're talking about a *current* one.

Don't get snippy with me, junior! I'm well aware of what occurred during the 2000 and 2004 elections, but to this point ole GWB doesn't qualify until he measures up to the givin definition.

And that definition is:

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 year’s list (Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya and Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan) have slipped out of the Top 10—not because their conduct has improved but because other dictators have gotten worse.

So if the next election is canceled for whatever reason and Bush remains president, then he will qualify. Also the number of deaths at the hands of dictators needs to be within there own country, not that a million deaths worldwide because of a leader is any better.

[edit on 26-11-2007 by LDragonFire]

reply to post by LDragonFire


Then it's an excessively legalistic definition and should be discarded. Fact is, people WANTED Bush gone in 2004 and couldn't do so thru legal means.

Originally posted by Jim_Kraken
reply to post by LDragonFire

 

Then it's an excessively legalistic definition and should be discarded. Fact is, people WANTED Bush gone in 2004 and couldn't do so thru legal means.

Your discounting that Fact that many did support him, IMO not a majority but enough.

If I had a dollar for every time I have seen some one post that it was a mistake to vote for him, well we could throw a big party.

reply to post by LDragonFire


Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Our current president did not win in 2004.

Originally posted by Jim_Kraken
reply to post by LDragonFire

 

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Our current president did not win in 2004.

Close also counts for nuclear missiles. Bush Won when John Kerry conceded, end of story. Was there voter fraud or vote manipulation, yes I think so. To this point Bush still is not dictator of this country.

You know this because their is not open warfare in our city streets, there is not unending martial law as the law of the land.

The Fema concentration camps are not presently being used.

reply to post by LDragonFire


I find it funny that this list was so carefully constructed that only brown-skinned people made it on there. Heck, Vladimir Putin doesn't even show up!

reply to post by LDragonFire


Oh, and another thing. Conceding DOESN'T mean anything from a legal standpoint. The votes make a man or woman a president.

Originally posted by Jim_Kraken
reply to post by LDragonFire

 

Oh, and another thing. Conceding DOESN'T mean anything from a legal standpoint. The votes make a man or woman a president.

I think Not, Gore won the popular vote in 2000.

The only thing that matters is the electoral college vote, bottom line they pick who wins and they have for many many years.

Originally posted by Jim_Kraken
I find it funny that this list was so carefully constructed that only brown-skinned people made it on there. Heck, Vladimir Putin doesn't even show up!

Uh What??? are you serious, you think this is some sort of racially motivated story, it is based on facts.


KimJong-il
brown skinned?

Than Shwe

Saparmurat

Hu_Jintao

Islam karimov

Schooled, half of the ten I posted do not have brown skin.....