Favorite Tin Pot Dictator

[mkregel]

please pardon me if you find this tasteless...

and remember I said "tin pot" (hence, no Stalin, Hitler...)

[mkregel]

1. Only one vote for Ol' Nick?

This guy was a piece of work!

- Put his dog (given to him personally by Maggie Thatcher) in the May Day parades on his own convoy.
- Buried a subway that was being built overnight with a park (true story!) without telling the builders so he could have a nice scene for visitng dignitaries.
- His wife amassed all these Ph.D's while sleeping in class.

There are so many stories about this guy - he was a modern day Caligula!

[SmileyBoy]

2. On CNN's Cold War documentary:

They showed in-depth of the televised citizen overtrow of the Romanian Communist dictatorship, and showed archival footage on Romanian TV of Ceaucescu and his wife getting arrested on the spot, and TV coverage of his execution (they used a fake Ceaucescu on TV). I loved the part when the citizens took over the TV stations, and were doing makeshift reports in control rooms, announcing the the people have taken over. When Ceaucescu was arrested, there was an older-looking gentleman, probably high military, who was arresting him. He seemed to be very laid back about it. But then there was a lot of inter-faction fighting, which was sad.

Then I learned that in most of the Eastern Bloc, even large portions of the military and police were sympathetic towards anti-communist revolutionaries at that time, and like in Hungary, Poland and East Germany, mostly stepped aside to let the overthrowing take place. Hell, in Czechoslovaka, the Communist government basically abdicated to Vaclav Havel and his nationwide movement, and then were seen shaking hands after the announcement, hence the naming of the "Velvet (bloodless) Revolution". Even the Berlin Wall was opened under the orders of a Communist East German general. He told his men to stand back and let the people tear it down, if necessary.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. What about Marcos?

King of the tin pots.

[AnnabelLee]

4. I'm not sure if you have a limit

on how far back we can go, but I voted "other" for Mussolini. He's my favorite because, IMO, you can't get much more tinpot than conquering the basically non-existent Abyssinian armed forces & then strutting around making statements about The Italian Empire.

Edited for grammar

[KeepItReal]

5. Where's my man, Manuel Noriega??

:think:

Is he still locked up?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. Yeah, so he can't testify against BushCo... in Marion, Il, IIRC

[dani]

7. that's who I want to vote for

he's kinda funny in a way.

[smiths_fan_21384]

8. My vote goes to "Papa" Doc Duvalier

For taste in eyewear alone!

[-..__...]

9. Idi Amin

'Big Daddy'



He gave himself some overly pretentious titles like "President for life"... "Conqueror of the British
Empire"... "King of Scotland." He awarded himself every decoration Uganda had to offer.
Supposedly he threw his detractors into alligator pits.

The Israelis's straightened out his karma at Entebbe.

If the guy wasn't so brutal and real, he'd be something from a 3 Stooges short.

I still remember the old Saturday Night Live skit with Garret Morris portraying Idi as an unwelcome house guest.

[Ein]

10. Other: GW Bush