Dictators are some of the world’s most ruthless,
feared - and in many cases, truly weird people! These are the fifty most insane facts
about dictators from the past and present. #50. That’s a Lot of Iron Boots! Once upon a time, almost every country was
ruled by a dictator of some sort - be it a King, or a military strongman. But today, democracy
rules the world - or does it? Dictators are still surprisingly common today, with the World
Democracy Index estimating that 52 countries still have dictators! The vast majority of
those - 48 - are in either Africa or Asia. They’re joined by Cuba, Nicaragua,
Venezuela, and Belarus. Of course, this doesn’t take into consideration that other
countries have democratically elected leaders who may consider the rule of law a strong suggestion
- and are on the verge of stepping over the line. And some countries have leaders who
really like to tread on that line. #49. Your Favorite Dictator? There’s no question that El Salvador’s Nayib
Bukele is a bizarre man. The country’s first millennial President, he was democratically
elected - but has been trying to turn the country into his own cult of personality ever
since. Be it making the volatile cryptocurrency Bitcoin one of the country’s official currencies,
or deploying the military to ruthlessly stamp out crime in the small Latin American country, he
rarely takes into account public opinion. But as he consolidates power, more people are saying
he’s acting a lot like a dictator - which briefly led the eccentric President changing his Twitter
bio to “The coolest dictator in the world”. But he’s not the most eccentric
dictator in the world. #48. The Mercurial Madman Most people wouldn’t be able to point to
Tajikistan on a map. Even fewer know about it’s dictator Emomali Rahmon, a man with an infamous
reputation. He’s on his 31st year of ruling the central Asian nation as an absolute dictator - and
is known for his bizarre edicts. Sometimes they work in people’s favor - like when he ordered the
government to find a wife for a teacher who gave a speech praising him. But more often that not,
he’s terrorizing the population. When a dissident was arrested on treason charges, Rahmon claimed
that he was plotting to target him - a plot that began when the man was seven years old. And when
a video of Rahmon drunkenly singing karaoke was uploaded on YouTube, the popular video-sharing
platform was permanently banned in Tajikistan. And sometimes, being a dictator lets you
get away with a lot of personal failings. #47. It’s Good to Be the King The head of the Swazi Royal Family, Mswati III,
made headlines worldwide when he changed his country’s name from the colonial Swaziland to
Eswatini. But his people probably wish he would get more attention for some other things! The
King of Eswatini since 1986 - when he took office at only 18 - is infamous for liking the fine
things in life. He maintains a lavish lifestyle, spending millions each year on sports cars
and other luxuries. All the while his country sits somewhere among the ten poorest on the
planet! And it’s not just cars he likes to collect - Mswati III currently has fifteen
wives and has encouraged the practice of polygamy. And if people have complaints? Good
luck getting them to this absolute monarch. If there’s one thing dictators
typically have in common, it’s ego. #46. Required Reading Saparmyrat Nyyazow was another obscure but
infamous dictator - ruling Turkmenistan as a Soviet appointee and then as an absolute dictator
once the country gained independence until his death in 2006. Known as a despot with a cult
of personality around him, he was particularly proud of his autobiography The Ruhnama. Part
state propaganda, part self-aggrandizing myth, the book was required reading in all schools,
and government employees were tested on it when they applied for a job. It was even
included as part of the country’s driving exam! But that still wasn’t enough for Nyyazow
- so in 2005, he had the book launched into space in a capsule with the hopes that aliens
would find it and hear about his greatness. And sometimes, all it takes is
being less bad than the last guy. #45. The Good Dictator? Equatorial Guinea had just gained its independence
in 1968, and the former Spanish colony was ready to hold its first free election. The winner
was Francisco Macias Nguema - and he made sure he wouldn’t have to win another election. He
took over all government power, instituted harsh laws that punished criticism of his administration
with thirty years in prison, and started targeting the educated. He even made a bizarre law that
anyone who wore glasses was to be killed. After impoverishing his nation and either killing
or driving into exile most of the population, he was overthrown by his nephew Teodoro Obiang
Nguema - who has successfully ruled the country as a dictator for over 40 years, and is largely
unchallenged - because hey, it could be worse! And sometimes, dictators come
from the humblest of beginnings. #44. The Jailbird Charles Taylor spent six years as the Dictator
of Liberia, winning power in a coup and becoming a glorified warlord. He was accused of crimes
against humanity due to his involvement in the Sierra Leone Civil War, and was ultimately
sentenced to fifty years in prison at the Hague in 2012. But it wouldn’t be a dramatic
change for the former dictator - before he became the President of Liberia, he spent time
in a Massachusetts prison for embezzlement! He was awaiting trial when he and several other
inmates sawed through the bars, climbed out of the prison - and escaped to Liberia, where
he would cause no small amount of chaos. And this next dictator took “Be
Prepared” to the next level. #43. The Bunker Man During the Cold War, everyone was a little
paranoid about the threat of nuclear annihilation. That included the many countries in the Soviet
sphere, who knew that one wrong move by the boss man could result in a nuclear exchange with
the United States. The dictator of Albania, Enver Hoxha, wasn’t taking any chances. During
his forty-year reign from 1944 to 1985, he had one infrastructure project he kept going back to
- bunkers, and lots of them! Albania built almost a million bunkers - one for every three people in
present day Albania! As the Cold War ended, many of them were converted to homeless shelters - and
hopefully they won’t be needed for anything else. He wasn’t the only Communist dictator
to make some bizarre choices. #42. Not Fun and Games Few dictators in Eastern Europe were more
feared and corrupt than Nicolae Ceausescu. The Soviet-aligned Romanian dictator was known
for his cruelly repressive policies, and his heavy meddling into the lives of the average
citizen - with his Secret Police being even more invasive and oppressive than their other Soviet
counterparts. And like many Communist leaders, he ruthlessly persecuted intellectuals. This meant
bad things for professors and writers - but it was also bad news for board game lovers! Ceausescu
banned the game of Scrabble in 1989 because he found it to be too intellectual and “A subversive
evil”. That left fans with little to do besides play cards and plot to overthrow the dictator
- which happened before the end of the year. He wasn’t the only famous
dictator to meet a similar end. #41. On Display When a dictator is absolute, there’s usually
only one way to remove them. That’s something that Benito Mussolini found out the hard way
near the end of World War II. An ally of Hitler and the often-forgotten third pillar of the
Axis Powers, Mussolini was a cruel fascist and known for his persecution of socialists
in his country. As the Allies gained ground and Italy switched sides in the war, Mussolini
made an attempt to flee to Switzerland - but was captured by communist rebels and treated to
an impromptu firing squad the next day. The partisans wanted everyone to know about their
victory - so Mussolini’s body was hung upside down on display, an even more undignified
end than his buddy in the Berlin bunker. But not all dictators meet the same fate. #40. Last Fascist Standing Europe had three fascist leaders during World
War II - Hitler, Mussolini, and Spanish military dictator Francisco Franco, who chose to stay out
of the war. Because of his relative neutrality, when the Axis Powers were defeated Franco was
allowed to stay in power - which he did for another thirty years! While Franco was a brutal
dictator who murdered his political enemies and repressed socialist movements, he maintained a
good reputation with his citizens. In his final years, he restored the monarchy and reduced
his powers due to his old age - passing away in 1975 and being given a state funeral. In the
aftermath of thirty-five years of dictatorship, many Spaniards still spoke fondly about him -
after all, the obedient likely didn’t suffer under him, and those who were against him
likely weren’t around to talk about it. But another dictator had
an even stranger last act. #39. The Artful Dodger Augusto Pinochet, the military dictator
of Chile, began his career in an unusual way - taking control of Chile through a US-backed
military coup against the just-elected socialist President. He would never quite consider himself
a dictatorship - maintaining the facade of a democracy over his seventeen-year rule. This
meant holding elections and constitutional referendums even as his strongmen threw his
enemies out of helicopters. He was ultimately defeated in a 1988 referendum, briefly attempted
to stage a coup, and was turned away by his own military regime. In the aftermath, he was
indicted for crimes against humanity and even briefly arrested in Great Britain to
face international charges - but would be released on medical grounds and return
to Chile, where he would die a free man. We do have to make something clear though. There’s nothing more dangerous to
a dictator than ridicule. #38. Big Money Robert Mugabe took control of Zimbabwe in the
aftermath of the country gaining independence, and ruled it for almost forty years. While
his decolonization efforts - including seizing white-owned farms - were praised by some fellow
socialists, his repressive policies soon made him a lot of enemies. Under his tenure, Zimbabwe saw
massive inflation - to the point that ridiculous denominations of currency had to be issued. Mugabe
did not like people talking negatively about him, so he issued heavy taxes on an opposition
newspaper to try to shut it down. The publisher retaliated by releasing negative ads against
Mugabe - printed on trillion-dollar bills! Of course, some dictators
are impossible to embarrass! #37. The Good-time Dictator Achmed Sukarno was the first President of
Indonesia after it gained independence, and didn’t waste any time instituting an
autocratic system. During his rule of Indonesia, he was a key player in the Cold War and was
bringing the country closer to the Soviet Union. The USSR tried to take advantage
of Sukarno’s known weakness for women by luring him into compromising positions
with Russian women and threatening him with the footage. But he wasn’t concerned -
instead asking for more copies so he could show everyone back home and impress
them with his skills in the bedroom! And some dictators come from unusual backgrounds. #36. The Bad Doctor When Bashar Al-Assad took over as President of
Syria from his father Hafez, many hoped the son would be better for the country than his father.
After all, he was an educated ophthalmologist who had been working in London. When his older
brother died and his father eventually followed, Bashar headed to Syria to start ruling the
country - and proceeded to be even more ruthless than his father. The cruel leader saw
his country collapse into a brutal civil war, which still rages today. He’s become infamous
for his chemical-weapons attacks and other atrocities against civilians. That’s
got to violate the Hippocratic oath. Dictators are often petty - but few of
them take it to the level of this guy. #35. The Libya-Switzerland Cold War In July 2008, Swiss police officials raided a
hotel room and arrested two Libyan citizens for assaulting their servants. This was a routine
affair - except the man arrested was the son of Libyan dictator Muammar al Gaddafi. The
infamous leader retaliated by arresting two Swiss businessmen on trumped-up charges
and holding them indefinitely. It caused a prolonged standoff between the countries
- which escalated when Gaddafi called for the dissolution of Switzerland at the G8
summit! While it was an absurd request, the tension nearly provoked a war when Libyan
forces almost invaded the Swiss embassy. And some of these dictators are so out-there
that they need more than one entry! #34. The Pen Pal Manuel Noriega was an infamous Panamanian military
leader and dictator who had built a fortune through drug trafficking. Under him, Panama had
descended into a corrupt, autocratic regime, and his long-standing ties to American had
fallen apart - with one exception. There was one American he was still close to - a
young girl from Michigan named Sarah York, who became his pen pal in the 1980s. The girl
even visited Panama with her parents to meet her long-distance friend - about a year before the US
would invade Panama and remove Noriega from power! But that wasn’t the end of his story. #33. An Unlikely Haven After Noriega was removed from power, he decided
that he wasn’t going to go quietly. He fled from the Presidential palace and took refuge in
one of the only places that would welcome him - the Vatican Embassy. The tiny country
is doggedly neutral in international affairs, especially in countries where it wants
to keep the Church in good standing. So Noriega was hiding out in the embassy - but
the US was determined to smoke him out. So they used an unusual tactic - blasting loud rock
music for over a week until Noriega surrendered. He was taken as a prisoner of war and
would eventually be returned to Panama to answer for his crimes. He was trialed
and put in prison where he died in 2017. But no dictator annoyed
the US as much as this one. #32. The Cuban Revolutionary The cigar-chomping communist dictator Fidel Castro
was one of the most iconic figures of the Cold War, known to Americans as the mad enemy of the US
who helped provoke the Cuban Missile Crisis. But less than a decade earlier - he was an American
hero! The Cuban revolutionary who toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista was interviewed by top American
journalists and even met with variety host Ed Sullivan, who compared him to George Washington!
Of course, this was before Castro declared himself a Marxist and would spend the next few decades
sparring with one US President after another. And that would lead to some interesting scenarios. #31. Assassination Nation? The United States spent years trying
to assassinate Castro - with one Cuban official claiming they had uncovered 634
attempts to kill the Cuban autocrat! Most of them used standard tactics, but
other attempts preyed on Castro’s specific vulnerabilities. He was fond
of cigars, so there were plans to either poison his cigars - or rig them with explosives!
They also knew he was a frequent scuba diver, so plans were drawn up to taint his wet suit
with lethal viruses. But none of these tactics came to fruition, and the Cuban leader would
spend over fifty years as President of Cuba. But it all could have gone very differently. #30. The Autocrat Sportsman? There was a rumor going around that Castro was a
very skilled baseball player, classed as a Cuban pitcher phenom, which made people ask - could
his reign have been averted with a Major League tryout? While rumors of Castro having the world’s
fastest fastball may have been exaggerations, he actually was a talented pitcher who appeared in
a minor league baseball game in July 1959 - only a short time before he would become a dictator.
We’re guessing that anyone who played him after would let him win. After all, the most
dangerous part of a dictator is their ego! If you grew up in the 90s, the odds are
you’ve heard of this infamous dictator. #29. Brush Your Teeth! Chairman Mao was well known for having
some strange ideas and habits when it came to dental hygiene. The communist
dictator never flosed or burhsed his teeth. Instead he would just rinse his
mouth with tea, famously declaring: “A tiger never brushes his teeth.
Why are a tiger’s teeth so sharp?” Mao's close circle would always secretly complain
about his breath. His general dental hygiene was so bad that one of his doctors described his
teeth as looking like they were painted green, while his gums were also infected,
leading to his trademark bad breath. #28. The Literate Dictator? Saddam Hussein become infamous for many reasons
- including chemical weapons attacks, and the invasion of Kuwait which led to the Persian Gulf
War. But in his early years as Ba’ath Party Vice Chairman, he was in charge of Iraq’s literacy
program - and it went so well that he gained the attention of the United Nations! He received an
award from UNESCO for his literacy program as well as for his public health system. The next time
he would be in the news, it would be for seizing power in 1979 - and history would not wind up
talking about his literacy program in the future. And he was infamously bizarre at times. #27. The Blood Oath Saddam was known for being eccentric, and he
wasn’t a particularly religious Muslim. The use of blood is restricted in Islam - especially
in religious rites. But that didn’t stop Saddam from commissioning a famous calligrapher
to write a Quran with Saddam’s own blood! He commissioned it on his 60th birthday, and
it reportedly took two years and fifty pints of blood to complete the whole thing. Experts
say it may have taken nine years of planned blood donations to get enough blood safely
- which is why some suspect that the entire thing might be a bizarre embellishment, but the
supposed Blood Quran was studied extensively. And even stranger, his downfall could
have all been a big misunderstanding. #26. The Beginning of the End The decision by Saddam to invade Kuwait would
ultimately spell his end, as he would be defeated and then make an attempt to assassinate former
President Bush in the aftermath. This would create a long-standing grudge that would end
when Bush’s son invaded Iraq a decade later and deposed Saddam, leading to his execution - and
it all may have happened because Saddam thought he had the green light to invade Kuwait!
During a discussion with a US ambassador, Saddam set out conditions under which he would
invade Kuwait - and the ambassador reportedly told Saddam the US was not interested
in a trade war. This was likely just diplomacy - but Saddam took it as a go ahead
for his invasion, and the rest is history. Now, let’s look at some of the most
infamous dictators of all time. #25. The Image of a Dictator Joseph Stalin was the second dictator of
the USSR, and he was infamous for taking the country’s communist policies much further
than his predecessor Lenin. He also encouraged a cult of personality to crop up around him -
going so far as to make it a crime to shoot at images of either of him or Lenin. As it turns
out, this worked against him when prisoners in Stalin’s many, many gulags began getting tattoos
of Stalin and Lenin - in the hope that when it came time for another round of mass executions,
they would be spared as the executioners wouldn’t want to commit the grave crime of shooting
at a picture of one of their great leaders. Stalin probably wouldn’t have cared
if it meant getting rid of political dissidents. But to be fair to him, he didn’t
really care about anyone, not even his son. #24. The Lost Son Under Stalin’s rule, equality was key - at least
that was how he presented it. Whatever the reason, Stalin’s oldest son - who he had a troubled
relationship with - was serving on the front lines of World War II like any other soldier
when he was captured by the Nazis. The Nazis thought they had the bargaining chip they
needed to get one of their prominent field marshalls back. They informed Stalin they had
his son - and the Soviet dictator’s response was “I will not exchange a Marshall for a
Lieutenant”. The negotiations broke down, Stalin’s son went into a Nazi prison camp,
and would eventually be executed in 1943. Stalin was hard to predict - and that
meant everyone around him lived in fear. #23. Quiet! Stalin was a notoriously private man, and his
bed chambers were his personal sanctum. No one was allowed to enter them - even his closest
guards. He reportedly once tested this in a particularly sadistic way - testing his guards
by screaming in pain from behind the door. The guards naturally rushed in to rescue their leader
- disregarding the “under no circumstances” that Stalin had issued. Their reward for their concern
was a hasty execution, and all the other guards quickly learned that when Stalin issues an
order, you’d better follow it to the letter. And that may have spelled Stalin’s end. #22. An Ironic Last Act Stalin’s end would come in 1953. He was already in
ill health but one night, while alone in his room, he suffered a seizure and collapsed. His guards
heard the commotion inside the room - but they all remembered what had happened to the last guard
who wanted to help Stalin. This oculd be another test and they weren’t risking it. So they waited
several hours until the next day, where they found him collapsed on the floor in a puddle of his own
urine. He had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and severe brain damage. Even though he was given the
best care in the country, it was too little too late. He died three days later - a particularly
undignified end to the brutal dictator’s life. But he wasn’t the only infamous
communist dictator from the era. #21. The All-Time Champ? Hitler and Stalin are definitely the two
most infamous dictators of all time - but neither may be the most murderous
one. That honor goes to Mao Zedong, the Chinese Communist leader who took control
of the country after a bloody civil war. Among his reforms was the agricultural revolution that
caused a massive famine, putting food production in the hands of bureaucrats who mismanaged
the farms and forced many educated individuals into farming jobs they were unprepared for. The
result was the staggering death of at least 40 million people and maybe as many as 70 million
- a death toll that dwarfs any of his rivals. And he had an ego that led
him to do bizarre things.
Chairman Mao was an absolute dictator who
answered to no one - including his dentist! He had a bizarre habit of not brushing his
teeth, instead simply washing his mouth out with tea and chewing the leaves. Needless to
say, this wasn’t sanitary - and anyone around him could tell! First his teeth yellowed,
and then they started rotting and falling out. His gums also became seriously infected,
but when his dentist encouraged him to brush, Mao simply responded “Does a tiger brush
his teeth?”. The dentist wasn’t going to risk his neck to say otherwise, and hey
- it was the dictator’s teeth, not his. And he had some questionable ideas
when it came to ruling his country. #19. Get Outta Here! Mao plunged China into poverty, and the massive
economic struggles in his last years led him to consider an extreme solution. It was time to get
rid of ten million unnecessary citizens - who were all women! He proposed sending this
massive group to the United States, since the country was too poor to sustain what
he deemed an “Excessive” number of women. While the plan never happened, it was part of a larger
pattern of undervaluing women that would lead to the One Child Policy and a shortage of women
that is undermining China’s population growth to this day - and may result in a demographic
time bomb that is getting close to exploding! Mao was also notoriously petty. #18. Dishonored Guest Although China and the USSR were
natural allies against the US, they didn’t always get along - and Mao felt
humiliated by Stalin during his first visit to the Soviet Union. After being treated as a generic
guest and not an equal, Mao held a grudge - and when Stalin’s successor Nikita Khrushchev
visited years later, Mao placed him in an un-airconditioned room during a stifling Beijing
summer. To make things worse, he insisted on the meeting between the two leaders being held in
a swimming pool. The only problem with this? Khruschev couldn’t swim! The alliance between
the two leaders was off to a terrible start. Of course, one historic dictator
was more infamous than any other. #17. The Disgruntled Artist? Everyone knows Adolf Hitler was an aspiring artist
whose career never took off - which led to his pivot to politics. But most historians
today believe he was a mediocre artist, which makes many of the memes about him a little
inaccurate. He was rejected twice from his chosen school - but he would get his revenge. He applied
to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna which was famously progressive - and when Hitler took over
Austria in the beginning days of World War II, he would gain control of the school and
quickly force it to conform to Nazi standards. And it wasn’t the only area
where he was prone to excess. #16. Hitler the Plutocrat? In most forms of media, Hitler is portrayed as a
stark, ruthless, and humorless man. He certainly had the traits of a genocidal dictator. But he
also had a taste for the finer things in life, and he reportedly amassed a fortune of several
billion dollars - much of it looted from his victims and from the economies of the countries
he invaded. And as soon as the money came in, he spend it - often on luxuries
like high-end cars and champagne. While he portrayed himself as a man of the
people and often asked the German public to sacrifice some luxuries for the good of
the nation, he was living like a king. And while he would eventually go
to war with the United States, he didn’t necessarily hate everything about it. #15. He’s a Fan The years leading up to World War II were also a
golden age for Hollywood, and Hitler was keeping up to date with the innovations coming out
of California. He was reportedly a fan of one filmmaker in particular - Walt Disney, as the
innovative animator stunned him with his first feature film “Snow White”. And while Hitler
may have been a fan of some American things, they returned the favor - in the years before
America joined the war, there was a strong pro-Nazi movement called the German-American
Bund in the United States that viewed the US and the Nazis as natural allies. That was until
Pearl Harbor put an end to that pipe dream. Hitler was also a very lucky guy,
dodging death a couple of times. #14. A Lucky Escape Hitler had a cult of personality around
him - but not everyone in his inner circle loved him. He was increasingly
seen as insane and dangerous, and his obsession with exterminating Jewish
people was sabotaging the war effort. That led several high-ranking military officials to
plot to kill him with an explosive device at a meeting. The bomb was placed and everything
went off without a hitch - except that day, Hitler had switched seats and the bomb only winged
him. Naturally, the conspirators all met their end as a result, and the war continued on until
Hitler led Germany to an inevitable defeat. But today’s dictators are no less bizarre
than their historical counterparts. #13. From Humble Roots Xi Jinping is the current leader of China -
and has just been named President for Life in a unanimous vote by the party brass. But he
did not come from leadership stock - in fact, his entire family might have been on the outs.
His father was China’s Vice Premier under Mao, but was seen as a reformer and was quickly
forced out. Not only did he lose his position, but he was demoted to a field laborer and even
lived in a cave at one point. This gave Xi Jinping a close connection to the farming community
- which led to him visiting Iowa in 1985. Xi is not really focused on
farming anymore. Instead, he’s determined to expand China’s
territory - even where there isn’t any. #12. From the Ground Up One of the defining parts of Xi’s tenure
has been China’s aggression in the South China Sea. The country has been encroaching on
international waters and even on other countries’ territorial waters - claiming the entire
South China Sea belongs to them by divine right. They’ve been asserting those rights with
land-building projects on the waters of the sea, creating artificial islands out of sand dunes.
But they’re doing much more than just building sand dunes and planting flags - many of
these islands have military bases on them, and future plans indicate they may be planning
to turn some of them into tourist destinations. And at least in one area, Xi has
liberalized China - out of necessity. #11. Let’s Go, Baby! China’s one-child policy, which severely
punished families that had more than one child, was an attempt by past Chinese governments to
reduce overpopulation. It worked - a little too well. China is now facing a massive demographic
crisis with too few women and a rapidly aging population. So the one-child policy was
repealed entirely over the last years, and now the government is actively
offering incentives to have more children. But old habits die hard, and most Chinese
families are still hesitant to have large families - leading China’s demographic
problem to look more and more ominous. But despite being seen as a more sober
dictator than many of his fellows, he’s still known for being petty. #10. Oh, Pooh. In 2013, Xi Jinping visited the US and was
photographed standing next to President Obama. The picture featured short, portly Xi next to
the tall, lanky Obama - and some snarky Chinese meme artists compared it to an image of Winnie
the Pooh and Tigger. Xi did NOT find it funny, and attempts to shut down the comparison only led
to more memes being made. Finally, the government banned the character of Winnie the Pooh from
China completely, because as we all know, when the government tells people to stop making
memes, they definitely do it. China’s relationship with Disney has suffered in the years since
- no word on if it’s linked to Pooh-gate. But as temperamental as Xi is, he doesn’t
compare to another dictator up north. #9. It’s Good to Be Vlad Vladimir Putin is definitely the most
notorious dictator in the world right now, mostly owing to his brutal invasion of
Ukraine. But while he presents himself as a stark military dictator, he actually
has a taste for the finer things in life. While Putin is notoriously secretive about
his wealth, it’s believed he has a fortune of around 200 billion dollars and may be one of
the wealthiest men in the world. Putin claims his salary is only just over a $100,000 a
year - but being friendly with oligarchs and having shares in Russian industry gives
him many opportunities to pad his pockets. And when you can’t earn something, just steal it! #8. Thats…not Super Did Vladimir Putin really steal a Super
Bowl ring? If you ask Robert Kraft, yes! The controversial Patriots
owner visited Russia in 2005, back when Putin was still an internationally
respected Russian President. He showed Putin the latest Super Bowl ring that the Patriots had
won, Putin looked over it - and then proceeded to put it in his pocket and walk away! It turned
into an international affair, but the ring is reportedly still in Putin’s possession. Kraft
eventually gave up on getting the ring back when he was informed that it would probably be
in his best interest to just let Putin keep it. Because when Putin wants to get
you, there’s nowhere you can hide. #7. A Taste of Poison If you’re a dictator, you can usually hurt
anyone you want - as long as they’re in your country. But Putin has been getting increasingly
aggressive about reaching out and touching his enemies - with poison - wherever they may
be. First a notorious defector from the Putin regime was fatally poisoned with
Polonium and died not long afterward. Then another enemy of his was poisoned along
with his daughter - but they both survived. Everyone knows who’s doing it, but they have
no way of reaching him and making him pay. But Putin has lots of enemies
- and he acts accordingly. #6. Properly Paranoid In many ways, Putin acts like a medieval king -
right down to having a food taster check his food before he eats it. But in recent months, he’s
become more secretive and paranoid than ever. Knowing even many of his top military officials
oppose the war in Ukraine, Putin is taking absolutely no chances. He’s even reportedly
lengthened the tables at meetings to absurd lengths, ensuring that no one can come close
enough to him to kill him. And with Russia being next to impossible to get information out of,
seeing him in public is becoming rarer and rarer. But the title of the most bizarre dictator
of the modern era can only go to one man. #5. Like Father… Kim Jong-Un is the third member of the
Kim dynasty to rule North Korea since the communist takeover - and he may be the
most volatile of the three. But he wanted to make sure he would follow in the footsteps of
his famous grandfather more than anyone - even undergoing plastic surgery to look more
like him. It’s another example of the cult of personality that surrounds the Kim
family - the country where those who didn’t cry properly on the anniversary of the elder
Kims’ death could be sent away to labor camps. And even haircuts are regulated in North Korea. #4. Making the Cut In North Korea, only certain haircuts are
approved for men - and you’d better not be caught in public with the wrong one. But in
2017, only fifteen haircuts were approved, and for the first time Kim Jong-Un’s distinctive
do’ was not included in the list. It was made off-limits to commoners, because you’ve got
to EARN that famous flat-top. But it seems the rule doesn’t apply to tourists as in the same
year that these reports started to come out, two journalists made the trip to
North Korea just to get a haircut. And no one is sure who’s next in line. #3. Father Knows Best? Kim Jong-Un’s family is kept as closely under
wraps as everything else about him, but it’s believed that he has three children. The oldest
is a boy - who is never seen in public, unlike his younger sister. The young girl is often seen
accompanying her father on missile inspections and other public events. This has raised speculation
that she might be the next leader of North Korea - a massive change from the country’s
recent history of male only leaders. But Kim Jong-Un is in poor health, and this could become
relevant sooner rather than later. And if daddy’s little girl is next in line, the odds are no one
could stop Kim Jong-Un from making that official. But in some ways, it’s good to be the man on top. #2. The Starmaker North Korea is notoriously secretive, and
has diplomatic relations with only select countries. But that hasn’t stopped Kim Jong-Un
from bringing in some culture. He reportedly loves Korean pop music, even though it’s made
by their traitorous brothers south of their border. So he’s reportedly assembled his own
all-girl pop band called the Moranbong Band, which he hand-picked himself. But if you’re
expecting jaunty pop tunes about boys, think again - the band reportedly has song titles
like “Do Prosper, Era of the Workers’ Party”. But all these dictators have one thing in common. #1. Scott-Free Dictators usually meet their end
either at the hands of a coup, or at the hands of nature. What doesn’t usually
happen to them is facing trial. Only a select few world leaders have ever faced an international
tribunal at the Hague - and the vast majority of those who have were African leaders. Why
does this happen? Is the Hague biased? No, it’s actually just the way the law works
- the Hague doesn’t have the capacity to arrest a foreign leader, so the only way a
world leader sees the courtroom is if the country hands them over - and that will usually
only happen when the next leader wants to get rid of the old one. So for most dictators,
the long arm of the law won’t come calling. Want to know about possibly the most
deranged dictator of all time? Check out “World’s Most Murderous Dictator
Pol Pot” or watch this video instead.
