Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Evil Leaders League

This league will consist of 8 evil leaders, who will win and lose their matchups based on their actions. They earn wins be being more evil leaderish than their opponent. This is a round-robin league, much like the English Premier League soccer, not a tournament. This season's Evil Leaders League (ELL) is dedicated to Slobodan Milosevic and Augusto Pinochet.

Let's meet the competitors:
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - president of Iran since 2005.
Kim Jong-Il - leader of North Korea since 1994.
Hugo Chavez - president of Venezuela since 1999.
Omar al-Bashir - president of Sudan, ruling since 1989.
Alexander Lukashenko - president of Belarus since 1994.
Fidel Castro - president of Cuba, ruling since 1959.
Saddam Hussein - president of Iraq from 1979-2003.
Robert Mugabe - president of Zimbabwe, ruling since 1980.

Week 1
Ahmadinejad vs Mugabe
Ahmadinejad's recent meetings with Hugo Chavez, solidifying their anti-American evilness, more than makes up for his party's struggles in the election late last year. Mugabe extended his term as leader of Zimbabwe until 2010, but has made plans to divide executive power, deflating his own authority. That's pretty weak for an evil leader.
winner: Ahmadinejad

Lukashenko vs al-Bashir
Lukashenko won his election by about 100%, which is good for him, but his power might be thinned thanks to efforts to infiltrate Belarus with independent media via Radio Racja stationed in Poland- never a good prospect for an evil leader. However, Omar al-Bashir is in trouble as the world protests his alleged involvement in the Darfur region of Sudan. Genocide is always a plus for an evil dictator, until somebody notices.
winner: Lukashenko

Chavez vs Castro
Overall, Chavez wishes he was Castro. But times have changed. Fidel has transferred de facto power of Cuba to his brother Raul. That hurts his stock big time. Meanwhile, Chavez's meeting with Ahmadinejad is just a continuation of his accession in the world of anti-Americanism; he's making a challenge for the top spot. He labels America as an evil imperialist nation, controls oil production from Venezuela, and wants to help the poor. Helping the poor is underrated for evil leaders. Hey, someone's gotta support your evil-doing.
winner: Chavez

Kim vs Hussein
Kim Jong-Il had all that hubbub with nuclear weapons not too long ago. Nuclear weapons are an evil leader's dream, because it gives him political capital on the world stage. Saddam Hussein is dead and likely to have a rough season ahead of him.
winner: Kim

standings:
Chavez 1-0
Kim J-I 1-0
Ahmad. 1-0
Lukash. 1-0
al-Bash. 0-1
Mugabe 0-1
Castro 0-1
Hussein 0-1

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