Among the most popular features of David Letterman’s long-running “Late Show” on CBS is his nightly “Top Ten” list, his humorous take on people, places and events (recent example: “Top Ten excuses from Republican National Committee to explain recent spending controversy.” No. 1 reason: “If we can’t spend $2,000 at a sex club then the terrorists have won”).
Not to be outdone, I thought I would present my own list, albeit hardly humorous. In fact, those appearing on it are malevolent and tyrannical dictators who have accounted for countless death and misery throughout the world. With that in mind, here is my Top Ten list of the world’s current worst rulers.
10. Hugo Chavez. The mercurial and increasingly dictatorial leader of Venezuela, Chavez has steadily consolidated power by silencing critics and rigging elections. His oil-rich nation has suffered from power shortages and other deprivations.
9. Isyas Afewrki. This thuggish dictator of Eritrea since 1991 continues to abuse human rights and freedoms. Afewrki recently stated that elections would need to be postponed for three or four decades because they “polarize society.”
8. Fidel/Raul Castro. 50+ years of repression and abuse of an industrious nation earns them a prominent spot on the list.
7. Muammar Al-Qadaffi. Qadaffi’s personality-cult leadership has controlled Libya for more than 40 years. He tortures opponents and his erratic policies have resulted in an economically-challenged oil-rich nation.
6. Hu Jintao. Jintao is the head of a Chinese government that represses 1.3 billion people. For more details, see my column from four weeks ago, “The New Evil Empire.”
5. Ali Khamenei/Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This Holocaust-denying, human rights-violating and election-rigging pair leads Iran, the world’s leading state-sponsor of terrorism.
4. Than Shwe. Shwe is the head of the military junta that rules Myannmar (Burma), the government that rivals North Korea as the world’s most secretive and repressive regime. Shwe delayed access to foreign aid following Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, resulting in tens of thousands of needless deaths
3. Omar Al-Bashir. The president of Sudan recently indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Bashir is the primary instigator of the Darfur massacres.
2. Kim Jong Il. The “Dear Leader” of North Korea, perhaps the world’s most repressive regime, Kim’s country is essentially a large prison. Millions starved to death in famines during the 1990s. His rule is characterized by brutality and secrecy.
A flaw I find in many of Letterman’s lists is that the top selection often is not as humorous or biting as those further down the tally. I do not intend to make the same mistake.
Therefore, the world leader whom I have chosen to top this list of shame needs to be deserving. The depths of his exploits must exceed the atrocities perpetrated by his fellow tyrants.
To be worthy of this unenviable status, he must have turned a prosperous nation into an economic basket case of historic proportions. He must have turned a country that respected human rights and the rule of law into an absolute dictatorship that jails political opponents and violates human rights and personal freedoms. He must have turned, through incompetence, despotism and racism, a proud, hardworking and productive people into a desperate populace, many of whom risk their lives attempting to cross its borders into neighboring countries.
There is only one man whose resume can claim to have achieved each of these ignominious milestones. He is Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
Mugabe was sworn in as the first prime minister of Zimbabwe on March 4, 1980. Upon taking power, Mugabe led a nation that was known as the breadbasket of Africa.
Zimbabwe’s thriving import-export business, highly productive farms, excellent education system and sound infrastructure were vital in establishing a growing middle class among whites and blacks alike. With a free press and, following the establishment of power-sharing and, ultimately, majority rule, respect for human rights and adherence to the rule of law, Zimbabwe’s future seemed bright.
30 years later, still holding on to power at age 86, Mugabe now rules a desperately impoverished nation.
His policies, especially the illegal confiscation of white-owned farms that not only fed the country but were also the source of much-needed hard currency, have driven the country to economic bankruptcy. In 2008, Zimbabwe had the dubious distinction of setting a modern-day record with an inflation rate of three million percent. Its once-envied education system is in shambles. Most parents are unable to afford the two-dollar annual fee needed to send their children to public schools. The country’s infrastructure is crumbling.
Respect for human rights and the rule of law has practically vanished, most notably evidenced during last year‘s presidential election. After finishing behind Morgan Tsvangirai in the preliminary balloting, Mugabe made sure that the runoff would go his way by murdering hundreds of Tsvangirai’s followers, forcing Tsvangirai to withdraw his candidacy.
Meanwhile, an estimated 3.5 million Zimbabweans, nearly one-third of the entire population, have fled the country, most, illegally and often at great peril, to neighboring South Africa.
The dramatic plunge in Zimbabwe’s fortunes that Mugabe has caused is unique among current world leaders. As evil as the other leaders on the list are, the plight of their respective countries is not appreciably worse than when they assumed power. Not so with Mugabe. For his reign of utter devastation of a once vibrant country, he is deserving of recognition as the world’s worst ruler. And proud he should be. To beat out miscreants like Kim, Bashir, and Ahmadinejad is no mean feat.
Nathan Mitzner is a junior risk management insurance major. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
