Something I need to clear up

Galloway flirting with Uday Hussein

When I admit to having an unhealthy interest in dictators, I should hasten to add that this does not mean I actually like the bastards, but rather, that I find the social, political and economic aspects of totalitarian rule fascinating. After all, most dictators are completely loathesome people prone to doing absolutely unspeakble things to their captive populations. So what sort of an asshole would actually suck up to a dictator he's not in fear of?

Meet British MP George Galloway, my American friends, the sole member of the RESPECT party. When he's not busy sucking up to the likes of Saddam Hussein and Syran dictator Bashar al-Assad, he's often busy advocating the mutiny of British troops in Iraq and begging the tyrants he flatters to line his pockets. That is, of course, when he's not siphoning monies from the charity he's established. Or looting the late, unlamented, UN sponsored "oil-for-food" program. After all, how can one expect a humble public servant afford a Mercedes and a villa in Portugal on a public servant's salary?

While some people may feel that I have a genuine affection for dictators, I don't really. After all, I'd certainly hate to be mistaken for a douchebag like my good pal George Galloway. A greatest hits PDF file can be examined here. Be careful: it may induce vomiting.

The Caracas Chronicles

I've found a wonderful blog covering the socio-economic conditions surrounding Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez (seen above, having put a beret on a defenseless amazon parrot). Though the author says he isn't quite ready to use the word "dictator" to describe Chavez, he certainly would describe him as an autocrat. Read The Guide to Venezuela In The Chavez Era over at the marvelously entertaining Caracas Chronicles.

The world's game!

It's World Cup time again, and you know what that usually means? Europe and Brazil versus a smattering of the world's least democratic societies in a game Americans are bored to death by. Only this year, actual dictatorships appear to be poorly represented among the 32 nations participating in the big soccer thing-y.

Togo, perhaps the worst team to ever actually make into the World Cup, stands relatively alone as one of the only bonafide dictatorships represented in Germany this year, thanks to the succession of Faure Gnassingbé's succession of his father's dictatorship in May of 2005. Saudi Arabia could also qualify, although some hold monarchies to a separate standard (I don't). What's the world coming to?