REPRESSIVE DIEHARD REGIMES
(….die hard…)

The ongoing events in Libya and Syria show how difficult it is to get rid of oppressive regimes. Regimes, whose primary purpose seems to be having the right to line their pockets as much as possible, all at the expense of their people.

While the world’s attention is focused on both Libya and Syria because of the murderous brutalities both are using against those rebelling against their oppression, we should not ignore others of the same ilk in other parts of the world.

In Africa, the regimes of Ivory Coast , Guinea, and Kenya, are classic examples of how entrenched autocrats cling to power to the bitter end, so their families, friends, and supporters can follow wide-open kleptocratic lifestyles with apparent impunity. Impunities not only on their home turfs, but also, abroad, freely travelling as they please, to wherever they please, spending as they please, for whatever they please.

And one of their favorite venues for such freewheeling activities is the good old USA. Apparently America’s PNG (Persona Non Grata) Index is both variable and very selective. Since many of these regimes control mineral and other resources of vital interest to America, applying that Index against them is a rarity, unless their human rights violations become so scandalous, maintaining a proper “clean hands” image forces it to do so.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi in Libya, and Hassad in Syria, continue their violent efforts to put down their protesting citizens. Neither NATO air-support interventions, nor economic and other sanctions, seem to be making much of a difference in preventing or limiting those efforts.

Such are the realities of today’s world. When it comes to repressive diehard regimes they…. die hard.

CENTURION