The World's Worst Dictators

Parade Magazine picks the top-20 worst dictators (everything's a list these days). Number one: Kim Jong-il of North Korea. That's a human card-holding image of his father, who died in 1994, but who was proclaimed Eternal President by his son. North Korea is a fascinating and disturbing experiment in oppression and mind-control.

Among the 20 countries are China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The question regarding all these guys (it's all guys) is, how far out there can they go? The answer: pretty fucking far. Writer David Wallenchinsky includes U.S. involvement with a lot of these governments, including China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. In some cases, it's a twisted tale of epic proportions. Example: China is our second leading trade partner and we owe their lenders $388 billion. Yet China's government is accused of spying on our technologies, enforcing abortions, restricting most media coverage and doling out guilty verdicts in 99% of its criminal trials. Just another business day around the world.

You can comment on your pick for worst dictators on the Parade site, and of course, the first comment to come up lists our president. Someone had to say it. In this case it was "Jane." Well put, Jane:

Our very own George W. Bush
by Jane posted:02/19/2008 11:33:AM
To begin with, the very basis under which he "came to power", i.e. elected, is questionable. Interesting how a state run by his own brother was the deciding factor, or have we forgotten the dangling chads fiasco? Then his use of the public outcry regarding 9/11 to launch an attach on Iraq, even though there has been proof that a)not only were there no weapons of mass destruction as stated but the claim of such was known to be false, b) Bush already had an agenda to oust Saddam Hussein, c)this attack has profited oil interests, including the Bush dynasty, and other well connected people, i.e. Haliburton which has been given contracts that were never put out to bid according to U.S. law, d)diverting money and military power away from the real terrorist situation --- primarily Afghanistan --- has put us in much greater peril regarding terrorist threat than before 9/11 plus it has taken our economy from a strong one with NO NATIONAL DEBT to one which is clearly in a recession and with a national debt of over 9 trillion dollars (yes !!!), averaging $30,549 per U.S. citizen and increasing 1.56 billion dollars per day, yet he e) has pushed through tax cuts for the extremely wealthy. WHEW !!! And that's just the beginning. How could anyone with a conscience believe this man has done anything but extreme harm to this great nation of ours?

source: Parade