World's Ten Worst Dictators: 2008 List

Parade's new list for 2008 came in with today's paper. An abstract:

• 1. Kim Jong-Il, North Korea, age 66, in power since 1994, ranked #2 last year. Kim runs the most isolated, repressive regime in the world. The only information available to his citizens is government propaganda. His harsh system includes punishment of three generations of a family for the alleged crime of one member, detainment of 200,000 citizens in forced labor camps, and torture of citizens who try to flee to China.
  U.S. link: Kim carried out his pledge to us to shut down his nuclear reactors but he missed our deadline to disclose his full nuclear inventory.
• 2. Omar Al-Bashir, Sudan, age 64, in power since 1989, ranked #1 last year. The Darfur region continues to be the site of a violent power struggle between Bashir's government and an alliance of opponents. Last year he ordered aerial bombing raids on his own citizens. The official he appointed to investigate this human rights scandal is himself suspected of war crimes.
  U.S. link: Trade sanctions have been in effect since the Clinton administration, but we still import more than 4,000 tons of Sudanese gum arabic annually.
• 3. Than Shwe, Burma, age 75, in power since 1992, ranked #6 last year. Shwe ordered troops to fire on pro-democracy demonstrations led by Buddhist monks, killing dozens and detaining thousands. He has Burma's symbol of democracy, Nobelist Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest.
  U.S. link: We have not imported anything from Burma since 2003, but we export $7 million worth of goods to them every year.
• 4. King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia, age 84, in power since 1995, ranked #5 last year. Abdullah administers a punitive justice system in which defendants can be routinely tortured and adolescents can be given the death penalty. Women are more oppressed than in any other country and can't even seek medical care without permission from a male guardian.
  U.S. link: Every president since WWII has sought good relations with the House of Saud because of Arabian petroleum. Bush posed for photos while holding hands with a member of the royal family. American companies have sold the Saudi government $15 billion in arms over the last decade and the U.S. imports $30 billion worth of Saudi petroleum every year. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis, Osama bin Laden is a member by marriage of the royal family, the largest number of Al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq come from Saudi Arabia and Saudi money provides most of the financing for anti-American terrorist training camps, but the U.S. government is rarely critical of the country or its government.
• 5. Hu Jintao, China, age 65, in power since 2002, ranked #4 last year. Hu increased censorship last year and came down harder on human rights activists. His government forces abortions, controls all media including the internet and harshly limits religion. Its criminal justice system is a sham with a 99% conviction rate.
  U.S. link: China is our second largest trading partner after Canada, and our trade deficit with China increases by $1 billion every day. Our government alone owes nearly $400 billion to Chinese lenders. Chinese espionage has been called the single greatest risk to our technological security.
• 6. Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe, age 83, in power since 1980, ranked #7 last year. In 2007 the inflation rate was 8000%, unemployment hit 80% and food supplies dwindled. One quarter of the population has emigrated. Mugabe is running for a sixth term and police beat fifty opposition leaders.
  U.S. link: Our trade with Zimbabwe has increased steadily for four years, led by metals used in the manufacture of stainless steel.
• 7. Sayyid Ali Khamenei, Iran, age 68, in power since 1989, ranked #3 last year. While Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2007, Ayatollah Khamenei instituted more repressive measures against his people, including public hangings, death by stoning for adultery, persecution of dissidents, and the closing of music studios and cafes.
  U.S. link: We seemed to be on the verge of attacking Iran last year, but U.S. exports to the country rose from $8 million in 2001 to $125 million in 2007.
• 8. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan, age 64, in power since 1999, ranked #15 last year. Musharraf recently suspended Pakistan’s constitution, shut down the courts, arrested thousands of dissidents, and overturned a law that might have prevented him from staying in office.
  U.S. link: America considers Pakistan a valuable economic and political ally, and bought $3 billion worth of its cotton fabrics last year. Even after Musharraf suspended the constitution, Bush insisted that he was advancing democracy. The U.S. gives him more than $1 billion in military aid every year, which he spends on arms to fight India instead of terrorists.
• 9. Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan, age 70, in power since 1989, ranked #8 last year. Karimov violated the Uzbek constitution by seeking and winning a third term in 2007. His government routinely tortures citizens and forces psychiatric treatment on dissidents.
  U.S. link: We regarded Uzbekistan as an appealing ally after 9/11 because of its small border with Afghanistan and its permission to station troops there. Our troops were thrown out after Bush criticized Karimov for massacring hundreds of his people. We continue to engage in trade with the country because of its vast uranium deposits which we need for our power plants and weapons.
• 10. Isayas Afewerki, Eritrea, age 62, in power since 1991, ranked #13 last year. Afewerki has never permitted the holding of elections, implementation of a constitution, or private ownership of media.
  U.S. link: We have provided food and humanitarian aid to Eritrea but Afewerki sent our aid workers home in 2005. Our trade with the country is minimal, primarily exporting sorghum.

 

Indeed! Are there any female heads of state who are merely awful, much less as downright evil as these ten guys? There aren't very many female heads of state, so it's statistically reasonable that this list would be all male.

Generally only fairly progressive countries elect (or even allow the election of) female leaders. Those are not the countries you'd expect to end up with a leader as despotic as these guys. Pakistan comes to mind because it once elected Bhutto and some people say that despite all the hype about her she was really no prize. But they're quick to add that she was no Musharraf, not even close.

Perhaps in this still-patriarchal world a female leader could not gain enough unquestioning loyalty to survive a personal spiritual decline into despotism. The army that keeps Musharraf safe might have executed a female who tried the same thing.