Friday, March 14, 2003

[The crowd] will finally succeed in remembering only the simplest concepts repeated a thousand times.
-- Adolf Hitler - Mein Kampf - I (1925), 6

Politics Saddam Hussein Isn’t the Scariest Dictator

Compilation of different ratings has become a favorite occupation of journalists, politicians and public figures. This work is rather easy by the way, as criteria for making up of ratings determining “people of the year”, “the event of the year”, “the most beautiful woman of the year”, etc. are often vague. However, ratings are all the same considered prestigious and even honorary in case if they are compiled by influential editions or organizations.
It would be certainly strange if the most odious political figures were not honored with a rating. As Washington Profile reports, the Parade magazine published a list of the worst (and what if they are the best?) dictators of the planet. Sure, the rating is wonderfully well-timed:

1. Kim Jong-il (North Korea)
2. King Fahd and Prince Abdullah (Saudi Arabia)
3. Saddam Hussein (thanks to Bush, we shouldn’t mention of what country he is the leader)
4. Charles Taylor (Liberia)
5. Than Shwe (former Burma, now Myanmar)
6. Teodoro Obiang Nguema (Equatorial Guinea)
7. Saparmurat Niyazov (Turkmenistan)
8. Muammar Gaddafi (Libya)
9. Fidel Castro (Cuba)
10. Alexander Lukashenko (Belarus)
· Alexander Lukashenko [Pravda]