Death to dictators
Currently there are two states in the news that have loathsome dictators. The first is Zimbabwe, whose dictator Robert Mugabe is in the process of stealing another election already won by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change candidate Morgan Tzangurai. Apart from previously beating up Tzangurai and other leaders of the MDC, Mugabe is currently forcing a re-election that Tzangurai would win, but which he is making sure by hook or by crook, he will steal again. Zimbabwe has the highest inflation rate of its currency in the world, now up to ca. 1 million %. The people are starving, but Mugabe doesn't care, as long as he clings to power.
The other country is Myanmar, whose people have suffered a catastrophic cyclone that has destroyed practically everything in the densely populated Irrawaddy River Delta. But, because of their isolation and suspicion, the military dictators of Myanmar are preventing food and medical supplies from being flown into the country and being distributed in the south. Already it is estimated that 100,000 people were killed by the cyclone, but as a result of lack of food and water supplies it is now estimated that approximately 1 milllion people are in danger. The fact is that the military junta care nothing about the lives of the people, they are expendable, as long as they maintain their control and power. They stole the last election from Aung san Suchi, who they keep under house arrest.
They follow in a glorious tradition, of Hitler (who ordered the subways of Berlin to be flooded to drown his own people sheltering there in 1945, but his orders were not obeyed), Stalin (who is estimated to have killed 70 million of his own people, but who died in bed), Ceaucescu (who built a huge palace while his people were starving and dying of AIDS), Idi Amin (who had a school full of girls murdered and indulged in cannibalism), Kim Ill Sung (who watches American movies while his people starve) and so on. The stages of development of these megalomaniacs is well known, at first they seek control by elections, and then they fix elections and then they take complete power and use violence to stifle all opposition and kill their opponents. Such is the nature of dictators. Mugabe is drawing near to the end of this process, but since Pres. Thabo Mbeki of S. Africa apparently will do nothing, he is likely to get away with it.
There are other examples extant, and there are failed states where random violence is the order of the day. This includes Somalia, where factions fight each other to the death every day, Congo, where noone knows what will happen tomorrow, and locally there are Syria, Iran and Gaza. In Syria, the same gang of thugs have maintained control for 30 years, a regime without any constraints and morality.
In Iran, the Mullahs that control it like to give a facade of elections, but in fact they pick the candidates. Since the Supreme Islamic Revolutionary Council has the final say in everything, they do not allow any liberal candidates to stand for office, for example in the last election about 50% of those who applied to stand were disqualified. So they limit and control the condidates to those they want elected, and Ahmedinejad was chosen in this way. While Iran spends its riches on nuclear weapons development, training terrorists and a huge military, the economy is going downhill fast, and the people are suffering.
In Gaza, Hamas was elected, but soon thereafter they executed a military coup, in which they killed hundreds of Fatah loyalists and took complete military control. Do not expect there ever to be any elections in Gaza again, because as far as Hamas are concerned God preordained their victory and anyway there is no opposition. The only way they can be removed from power is if a superior force goes in and defeats them, and certainly Fatah is not capable of doing that.
These dictators display one of the classic symptoms of their kind, they need the threat of an external enemy to keep their people under control.
The other country is Myanmar, whose people have suffered a catastrophic cyclone that has destroyed practically everything in the densely populated Irrawaddy River Delta. But, because of their isolation and suspicion, the military dictators of Myanmar are preventing food and medical supplies from being flown into the country and being distributed in the south. Already it is estimated that 100,000 people were killed by the cyclone, but as a result of lack of food and water supplies it is now estimated that approximately 1 milllion people are in danger. The fact is that the military junta care nothing about the lives of the people, they are expendable, as long as they maintain their control and power. They stole the last election from Aung san Suchi, who they keep under house arrest.
They follow in a glorious tradition, of Hitler (who ordered the subways of Berlin to be flooded to drown his own people sheltering there in 1945, but his orders were not obeyed), Stalin (who is estimated to have killed 70 million of his own people, but who died in bed), Ceaucescu (who built a huge palace while his people were starving and dying of AIDS), Idi Amin (who had a school full of girls murdered and indulged in cannibalism), Kim Ill Sung (who watches American movies while his people starve) and so on. The stages of development of these megalomaniacs is well known, at first they seek control by elections, and then they fix elections and then they take complete power and use violence to stifle all opposition and kill their opponents. Such is the nature of dictators. Mugabe is drawing near to the end of this process, but since Pres. Thabo Mbeki of S. Africa apparently will do nothing, he is likely to get away with it.
There are other examples extant, and there are failed states where random violence is the order of the day. This includes Somalia, where factions fight each other to the death every day, Congo, where noone knows what will happen tomorrow, and locally there are Syria, Iran and Gaza. In Syria, the same gang of thugs have maintained control for 30 years, a regime without any constraints and morality.
In Iran, the Mullahs that control it like to give a facade of elections, but in fact they pick the candidates. Since the Supreme Islamic Revolutionary Council has the final say in everything, they do not allow any liberal candidates to stand for office, for example in the last election about 50% of those who applied to stand were disqualified. So they limit and control the condidates to those they want elected, and Ahmedinejad was chosen in this way. While Iran spends its riches on nuclear weapons development, training terrorists and a huge military, the economy is going downhill fast, and the people are suffering.
In Gaza, Hamas was elected, but soon thereafter they executed a military coup, in which they killed hundreds of Fatah loyalists and took complete military control. Do not expect there ever to be any elections in Gaza again, because as far as Hamas are concerned God preordained their victory and anyway there is no opposition. The only way they can be removed from power is if a superior force goes in and defeats them, and certainly Fatah is not capable of doing that.
These dictators display one of the classic symptoms of their kind, they need the threat of an external enemy to keep their people under control.
posted by Jack Cohen at 7:43 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home