Dictator Watch - May 25th, 2009

It's been a while but we're due for an update on the world's slate of top tier dictators.

Kim Jong Il - North Korea

I'm as strong as an ox!

The sickly looking crackpot tested an underground nuclear bomb today. There are no obvious answers to this, only questions. Why? Is he starved for attention? Is he really still in charge? Is his ailing health making him itch for war or to put his stamp on history?

Japan has condemned the action already. There have been protests in South Korea. The UN has held an emergency meeting. President Obama has called it a threat to international peace.

If I may; the condemnations really don't seem to be working.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Iran

Tell me you didn't just say that!

There's more saber rattling today.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has sent six warships to international waters, including the Gulf of Aden, to show its ability to confront any foreign threats, its naval commander
said on Monday.

I bet Ahmadinejad is livid that this happened on the day that North Korea one-upped him by detonating a Hiroshima-bomb-sized nuclear device.

Trying to stay on the same page (the front page), Ahmadinejad rejected the West's nuclear proposal to stop his nuclear program in exchange for no new sanctions being imposed on his country. He also offered to debate President Obama at the UN. Why?

This time there's answers. He's facing an election next month. Debating President Obama sure would look world-stage-like. Even President Obama isn't naive enough to fall for this one (I hope). Remember Iran has recently banned Facebook - it's because of the election. State control, state control, state control. You want a compliant press and no alternative news sources for your opposition.

At least that dictatorial approach is not being paralleled in the United States. There's the Fairness Doctrine, the compliant MSM... wait, what?


Vladimir Putin - Russian

I've got the coolest bottle rocket ever!

Old Vladimir has recently warned the West not to interfere with the Ukraine. Apparently that's his personal conquest playground and others are not welcome. Still steamed over the potential placement of missile defence systems in Poland, Putin is not content to lick his wounds. He's placed Russia into the wounded grizzly bear role. We're likely to lash out so back off.

Powers have become so concentrated in Russia that the inevitable power struggle that will result may have already started;

A senior adviser to Dmitri Medvedev, the Russian president, has made a thinly-veiled attack on Vladimir Putin saying Russia will remain a second-class power until it stops concentrating power in the hands of a hard-line elite.

Delivering a rare critique of the political and economic system created by Mr Putin, Igor Yurgens accused the prime minister of abandoning reforms that he had embarked upon in 2000 at the outset of his presidency.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Mr Yurgens said Mr Putin had put power in the hands of a small ruling elite, creating an energy-dependent model that was beginning to creak as the financial crisis began to weaken Russia.

An increasingly influential figure in Russia, Mr Yurgens' comments will be taken as further evidence of a rift between Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev.

Although he holds no official position, Mr Yurgens runs a think tank headed by Mr Medvedev and is one of a handful of economic and political liberals close to the heart of power.

Sweet. Shoots of reform. I'm not being overly optimistic here, just like President Obama sees shoots of recovery, clearly that represents it being all but a done deal...wait, what?

Hugo Chavez - Venezuela

We've got to find the common ground, and I have just the idea to do that.

(This section brought to you by Sean Penn...)

Not much to report here, other than Boss Hugo has continued to tighten his grip on the Venezuelan news channel Globovision. Coming soon to a country near you;

The channel, which is vehemently opposed to Mr Chávez’s socialist project, has been in the President’s sights for weeks. He says that the private media are “fascist bourgeoisie” that are “inciting hate — even war” and has ordered Globovisión to be investigated under legislation that allows the Government to shut broadcasters down.

The moves are the latest in a series of strikes against opponents as Mr Chávez seeks to deepen socialism in Venezuela. Since a February referendum victory allowing his indefinite re-election, he has sharpened his assaults on the private sector, curbed the powers of opponents in public positions and ordered corruption inquiries against critics.

The showdown with Globovisión took an aggressive turn last week when a property belonging to Guillermo Zuloaga, the president of the company, was raided. On Thursday morning government helicopters circled overhead, a team of agents and military entered the building, alleging criminal activity relating to Mr Zuloaga’s car business.

It'll never happen here. Fox is viewed by the left as not being a hate machine, but an alternative viewpoint. Wait, what?