NationStates Jolt Archive

A reminder that there are more authoritarian leaders out there than just the ones who are made famous in the Western press... This poll deliberately includes only the lesser-known ones.

Choummaly Sayasone (72) has been the President of Laos since 2006. Laos is a one-party State, where the only legal party is the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, and the President of the Republic is also the leader of the party. The country is run by a Politburo rather than by Sayasone as a lone autocrat. Laos is often accused of persecuting its Hmong minority.

Nguyen Tan Dung (56) has been the Prime Minister of Vietnam since 2006. Vietnam remains an authoritarian one-Party system with limited freedom of speech or freedom of the press.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (65) has been the President of Equatorial Guinea since 1979. He deposed and executed his brutal predecessor Francisco Macias. He had been re-elected on several occasions through elections deemed internationally not to have been free and fair. He has stated that he is in contact with God, and that God allows him to kill anyone he wants with impunity. Some of his opponents claim that he's a testicle-eating cannibal. He's on good terms with the Bush administration.

Hassanal Bolkiah (61) has been the Sultan of Brunei since 1967. He rules over one of the world's only two countries in which there are no elections at all (the other being Myanmar). The Constitution proclaims him to be infallible. The country has officially been under martial law since the 1960s, enabling the Sultan to wield "emergency powers".

Isaias Afewerki (62) has been the President of Eritrea since 1993. Eritrea is a one-party State. It is ranked lowest in the world for press freedom by Reporters Without Borders - just below North Korea.

Idriss Déby (56) has been the President of Chad since 1992, at which point he took power by force. He has since been elected three times, although elections were not always deemed free and fair. Freedoms are limited, corruption is reportedly highest in the world, and political dissidents have a tendency to disappear.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow (50) has been the President of Turkmenistan since 2006. Turkmenistan is a one-party State, marked by a personality cult in favour of the now deceased President Niyazov. Berdimuhammedow came to power in an election in which all candidates were from his party, and all openly supported his candidacy rather than their own.

Hamad bin Khalifa (56) has been Emir of Qatar since 1995. Qatar remains essentially an absolute monarchy, although it's begun a transition towards more democracy. Political parties are still banned; Qatar's politics and society are based on the same conservative Wahhabi ideas as Saudi Arabia's, albeit applied in a more moderate way. Freedom of expression is limited.

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (71) has been President of Tunisia since 1987, at which point he came to power through a coup. There is virtually no Opposition, and freedom of political expression is limited. The Internet is subject to strong censorship, and political dissidents may be arrested.

Paul Kagame (50) has been President of Rwanda since 2000. Kagame has been accused of having played a part in instigating the Rwandan genocide. Journalists who criticise the government have a tendency to disappear.

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/3002/tbdwm0.jpg
President Obiang with Condoleeza Rice

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/5743/tbdln5.jpg
President Ben Ali with President Sarkozy

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/7758/tbdza8.jpg
President Kagame (right) with Jose Manuel Barroso (left)

I'm not trying to justify U.S. foreign policy, but isn't it a bit unfair to alienate the United States as a supporter of brutal and oppressive regimes, when the stated countries also have ample relations with France, Russia, China, et cetera (and Equitorial Guinea has a ample relations with Spain, as a former colony)? It seems that this thread is really a way of isolating the United States as a monster, as opposed to the intent of just talking about brutal dictatorships.

I'm not trying to justify U.S. foreign policy, but isn't it a bit unfair to alienate the United States as a supporter of brutal and oppressive regimes, when the stated countries also have ample relations with France, Russia, China, et cetera (and Equitorial Guinea has a ample relations with Spain, as a former colony)? It seems that this thread is really a way of isolating the United States as a monster, as opposed to the intent of just talking about brutal dictatorships.

Sorry. That wasn't my intention. It wasn't targeting the US specifically, so much as the Western world in general. I put those two pictures because they were the first I came across. Ben Ali, for example, has excellent relations with Sarkozy.

Having said that, stop jumping to conclusions. It's insulting. The purpose of this thread is simply to show that there are autocrats who get very little media coverage, because, for whatever reason, they're not considered significant by the West... or because major Western countries are keen to maintain them as friends.

Having said that, stop jumping to conclusions. It's insulting.

Ariddia,

I apologize if I sinsulted you. My purpose was more to state a point, given tendencies on NationStates General to single out the United States.

- Jon Catalán

I apologize if I sinsulted you. My purpose was more to state a point, given tendencies on NationStates General to single out the United States.


No problem. Point taken, and hopefully addressed by changing the photos.

wooohoo. more options.

I'm the worst dictator ever. I don't even have a country, so bad am I at dictatorship. And no one ever listens to me.

you forgot Belarus :(

It is ranked lowest in the world for press freedom by Reporters Without Borders - just below North Korea.

thats because dear leader holds the only nation not under the thumb of western imperialism! (seriously what kind of freedoms does North Korea have? spelling?)

you forgot Belarus :(



thats because dear leader holds the only nation not under the thumb of western imperialism! (seriously what kind of freedoms does North Korea have? spelling?)

The freedom to worship and obey Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung.

Pol Pot

The freedom to worship and obey Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung.

like you need the freedom to do that!:p

Pol Pot

i think we are focusing on currently in power. though anyone who kills 1/3 of his country is a pretty evil guy.

i think we are focusing on currently in power. though anyone who kills 1/3 of his country is a pretty evil guy.

Yeh, but then again he did invent Pot Noodle, so I say fair play to the guy:p

i think we are focusing on currently in power. though anyone who kills 1/3 of his country is a pretty evil guy.

i never heard of the whole dam lot thats on the list

Where's Maggie Thatcher on the list?

i never heard of the whole dam lot thats on the list
Ive heard of about half of them. 2 or 3 of them almost ended up on my list but i had to make room for the two joke answers from USA and China.

(seriously what kind of freedoms does North Korea have? spelling?)
In communist North Korea, words spell you.

Where's Maggie Thatcher on the list?
Active leaders

Me, I´m a dictator to my NS nation. And I´m one of the worst active ones there are.:p

Where's Mao?

Me, I´m a dictator to my NS nation. And I´m one of the worst active ones there are.:p

so why your Category not saying Dictatorship

so why your Category not saying Dictatorship

Meh, because NS is random.

Nah, I was jesting.;)

Meh, because NS is random.

Nah, I was jesting.;)

tell me about it ,still not worked out how i end up as Psychotic Dictatorship

Nah, I was jesting.;)

:)

Active leaders

Or her reincarnation David 'Wonderboy' Cameron?

tell me about it ,still not worked out how i end up as Psychotic Dictatorship



:)

I was happy being a Democratic Socialist, but then NS went all random on me and branded me an Inoffensive Centrist Democracy. Talk about weird.

;)

you forgot Belarus :(


Damn it, so I did! :eek:

Where's Maggie Thatcher on the list?

Not currently in power, and not a dictator. She was an awful leader who did lasting harm to her country, but when she lost the election, she left power. (Although... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvzrqau5dzw&feature=related) ;))

Where's Mao?

Not currently in power... strangely enough.

I wonder if that question could be rephrased as, "which of these dictators is the best?".
interesting.

Or her reincarnation David 'Wonderboy' Cameron?

Active leaders

In communist North Korea, words spell you.

In Korea, South or North, they don't spell words. :p

tell me about it ,still not worked out how i end up as Psychotic Dictatorship



:)

I've been TRYING to get to "Psychotic Dictatorship" for a while (I want to "collect them all") but just can't seem to manage it no matter how I drub my people. Any advice?

Active leaders

And the fact that under no circumstances, could either of them be even remotely compared to the folks on Ariddia's list.

As far as why the west tolerates these autocrats? It's too much of a hassle to pick too much of a fight with non-revisionist despots. They've go power in their own country, and they're startlingly unlikely to destabilize by moving against any of their neighbors militarily, or even doing the most basic types of regional destabilization.

What? No Bush in the poll?


Thats right. I went there.

Not currently in power... strangely enough.

Goddamn lazy zombie chinamen.