A new wave of dictatorship emerging in the world
WHILE a triology of power-mad political predators and conspirators – Robert Mugabe, Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein – are dead a new breed is at the nexus of world disorder.
Leading the pack is Russia’s Vladimir Putin, followed by North Korea’s Kim Jung. They play human chess in order to advance their own casus belli, where every move can have deadly consequences for the world.
The leaders are exalted in their respective countries. They are clinically paranoid and see conspiracy everywhere – the West being their number one target. Equally, they are the West's number one enemy
The citizens of the countries suffer untold subjugation, suppression and oppression. Any form of opposition is brutally crushed. Dissidents are put in an early flight or conveniently disappear, never to be seen again.
Cunning and baroque, behind Putin’s niminy-piminy endeavour, lies the architect of the war against Ukraine.
Vodka and caviar aside, he wears pessimism with grim authority. His refinement is a cloak to conceal deformities, his civilised demeanour a mask. His mind is a clockwork of calculated evil.
The North Korean leader possesses a knack for duplicity, a faculty for obfuscation, a talent for deception and a genius for carefully crafted enigma.
He is accused of launching missiles into Japanese and South Korean territories. A mixed bag – intimidating, blood-curdling, businesslike and gaudy – his demeanour could change in an instant from warm Mediterranean charm to cucumber cool to demonlivid in seconds.
These are all modern-day political hydras – beasts with many heads. Cut off a hand and they grow a dangerous new claw. Their tentacles are far-reaching. They want their own world order.
Should they form an alliance to achieve that aim, it will be the beginning of the end for all humanity. KEVIN GOVENDER | Silverglen