May/June 2007 Issue

Dictators On Parade

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In 2003, when America was still getting acquainted with the “Axil of Evil,” Parade, the Sunday newspaper supplement best known for its Hummel figurine ads, asked The Book of Lists author David Wallechinksy to compile a list of the world’s top 10 dictators. The feature proved so popular that he has repeated it every year since, drawing on government data and human rights groups’ reports for his admittedly subjective project. (Chart shows the ranking of the top-10 dictators whose PR efforts Joshua Kurlantzick documents above.) Wallechinsky says that he hears from PR firms that represent the dictators�”perhaps pleading, “Dude! My guy’s way worse than Kim Jong Il”

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