Ten Bad Men

"NO ONE TRULY KNOWS A NATION UNTIL ONE HAS BEEN INSIDE ITS JAILS"

NELSON MANDELA, quoted in The Independent

Just in time for Valentine's Day the February 11th edition of Parade magazine has published its annual ranking of "The World's 10 Worst Dictators" by David Wallechinsky. This year's "hall of shame" (with my editorial comments added in parentheses) includes these bastards:

1. Omar Al-Bashir of SUDAN (can you say "genocide" in Darfur?)
2. Kim Jong-Il of NORTH KOREA (starves his people while he has sushi flown in)
3. Sayyid Ali Khamenei of IRAN (not their president but chair of their Guardian Council)
4. Hu Jintao of CHINA (yea but they have great economic growth rates!!)
5. King Abdullah of SAUDI ARABIA (will they buy ethanol from us?)
6. Than Shwe of BURMA ("old soldiers never die they just fade away", General Douglas MacArthur, but these Burmese dictators/generals keep on living)
7. Robert Mugabe of ZIMBABWE (they used to export food but now rely on food aid)
8. Islam Karimov of UZBEKISTAN (the Soviet Union died but not totalitarian rule)
9. Muammar Al-Qaddafi of LIBYA (but all is forgiven regarding Lockerbie, Scotland? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2015752.stm)
10. Bashar Al-Assad of SYRIA (like father, like son)

So the tally count on a regional basis for this Top Ten list is:

Africa -- 3

Mideast - 3

Asia - 3

former Soviet Union - 1

Total = 10

Something to keep in mind as you consider where to purchase your vacation home :-)

Todd