dictatorship

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World Toes Junta's Line as Burmese Die
 World Toes Junta's Line
 as Burmese Die 
Opinion

World Toes Junta's Line as Burmese Die

Dictators don't want you to think about the victims, and media is helping

(Newser) - The leaders of the Burmese junta don’t want you to think about the victims of Cyclone Nargis, writes Tom Jenkins for the Guardian, and the world and the media are only too happy to oblige. The Chinese government’s heroics in Asia's other natural disaster focuses attention on victims...

133K Dead, Missing: Junta
 133K Dead, Missing: Junta 

133K Dead, Missing: Junta

Military admits full impact of storm

(Newser) - Nearly 78,000 are confirmed dead and another 56,000 missing in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, Reuters reports. Torrential rains continued to pound Burma today, complicating rescue efforts. The EU’s chief aid official met with military leaders to press for increasing foreign rescue workers' involvement, but he met...

Turkmenistan Dumps Months Named After Heroes, Poets, Dictator's Mom

New leader rolls back

(Newser) - In a step away from the legacy of its late dictator, who renamed each month after heroes, poets, and himself, Turkmenistan’s president urged a return to traditional month names, the Guardian reports. April had been named after Saparmurat Niyazov’s mother, while September was a reference to Niyazov’s...

Saddam's Last Days Revealed
 Saddam's Last Days Revealed 

Saddam's Last Days Revealed

CNN tours the former dictator's US detention cell

(Newser) - The dictator who ruled with a murderous fist spent his time writing in his journal and tending to a small garden his captors allowed him in the prison courtyard. And on his execution day, the man known as "Vic" told guards to tell his daughter he was going to...

Steely Ra&uacute;l's Time Is Now
Steely Raúl's Time Is Now

Steely Raúl's Time Is Now

Low-profile No. 2, Fidel's 'organizational glue,' steps into Cuba's top job

(Newser) - The Castro brothers overthrew a dictatorship and won a revolution together, but while charismatic Fidel was the public face giving passionate seven-hour speeches, steely Raúl quietly got it done—ruthlessly sending dissenters to the firing squad, earning him the nickname "the Prussian." As Fidel fades, writes the...

Indonesia Mourns Suharto
Indonesia Mourns Suharto

Indonesia Mourns Suharto

Former dictator's sins take backseat as nation grieves

(Newser) - Suharto's critics kept quiet today as Indonesia mourned the former dictator on the streets and around TVs, the New York Times reports. Crowds swarmed an ambulance transporting his body, television channels ran nostalgic accounts of his life, and President Susilo Yudhoyono called on the nation to pray for Suharto, saying,...

Suharto Suffers Multiple Organ Failure

Former Indonesian dictator takes critical turn for the worse

(Newser) - Longtime Indonesian dictator Suharto's health worsened yesterday as he suffered multiple organ failure. Suharto's condition improved slightly as workers rushed to prepare for what they believed to be his imminent funeral, AFP  reports. Suharto, 86, was forced from power a decade ago after ruling Indonesia with an iron fist for...

Exit Polls Give Chavez Victory
Exit Polls Give Chavez Victory

Exit Polls Give Chavez Victory

Opposition doubts early results as supporters party in the streets

(Newser) - Chavez supporters waved flags in the streets today as exit polls showed him winning a referendum by six to eight points, Reuters reports. Anti-Chavez forces rejected the numbers, leaked by government-connected sources. "According to our information, it is a statistical tie," said the popular mayor of Caracas. He...

Venezuela Calmly Goes to Polls
Venezuela Calmly Goes
to Polls

Venezuela Calmly Goes to Polls

Chavez seeks to end prez term limits, enact socialist reforms

(Newser) - Polls are orderly today as Venezuelans decide on an amendment that may make Chavez president for life, Reuters reports. Most surveys say voters are split 50/50 on the referendum, which Chavez vows will win by 10 points and usher in “21st century socialism.” Opponents say the changes, which...

A Historical Video Game Shocks Spain
A Historical Video Game Shocks Spain

A Historical Video Game Shocks Spain

Civil War game lets players fight against— or for—the fascists

(Newser) - The New York Times reports on a new video game on sale in Spain that bills itself as the first based on the 1936-39 civil war. Players of Shadows of War can take command the Republican army and reverse the course of history, preventing Franco's 40-year dictatorship—or they can...

US Official: Embargo Kept Cuba From Meddling

Policy starved Castro's military of funds

(Newser) - The decades-old US trade embargo against Cuba has been "an absolute and resounding success," the Cuban-born US commerce secretary said today. Carlos Gutierrez told a Latin America conference that the policy has stopped the island's communist government from orchestrating military attacks. But the embargo, in place since 1962,...

Noriega Dodges French Trial in Miami Stir

Dictator's fight against extradition delays release date

(Newser) - Eleventh-hour appeals of his extradition to France kept former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega in his Miami prison cell yesterday, his scheduled release date. The dictator was set to face French money-laundering charges, but his lawyers argued that the Geneva Convention prevents his extradition because Paris doesn't recognize his prisoner-of-war status.

Noriega Inspires Fight between Panama, France

Each country wants ex-dictator to serve jail time after US release

(Newser) - Manuel Noriega will be released from a Miami prison in September, but where he'll go after that is up in the air. The US wants to transfer the deposed dictator—convicted of corruption, kidnapping, and murder—to France for more jail time. But some Panamanians want him in a local...

Chavez Says He Will Expel Foreign Critics of Regime

Visitors to Venezuela may face deportation

(Newser) - Hugo Chavez says he will expel any foreigner criticizing his regime from Venezuela, an apparent reaction to skeptical remarks by a Mexican politician who recently visited Caracas. The warning came in a 6-hour television address that suggests a drift away from democracy, the Guardian reports; a draft constitution due next...

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