And speaking of dictators ... this week's cover story in
The Economist features the KGB's leading alumnus:
Vladimir Putin takes on democracy, the West and all-comers QUOTE
One of the least appealing features of Mr Putin's Russia has been a rising tide of corruption. Businessmen in Moscow say that, far from Mr Putin's new order helping to squeeze out corruption, it is now more pervasive than in the worst of the Yeltsin years. Corruption lies at the heart of many of Russia's most intractable problems, from the poor state of the army, to the war in Chechnya, to its ineffective policing and counter-terrorism. Mr Putin has admitted that many Russians might fear the police more than they do criminals. But his efforts to tackle corruption have been half-hearted at best—and, because he has fostered more state control and little respect for the rule of law, he has created precisely the conditions in which corruption thrives best. Meanwhile, the pro-business reforms promised for his second term are largely in limbo.