1. Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan
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Saparmurat Niyazov ruled with Turkemnistan for sixteen years, from 1990 to his death in 2006. He gave himself the title Turkmenbashi, which means Leader of Turkmens. Niyazov was President for life, but that’s not the weirdest things this politician did. In 2002 he renamed the months after Turkmen national symbols. The New Year begins, of course, with Turkmenbashi, the biggest national symbol of the country, May was renamed after country’s greatest poet, while September was named after one of his book that he considered as Turkmen spiritual guide. Despite that, he built an icy palace near the capital despite Turkmenistan being a desert country, he banned long hair or beard for men, outlawed gold teeth, and, believe it or not, banned the make up of Turkmen female reporters “because they were already beautiful enough without make up”.
2. Jean Bedel Bokassa, Central African Republic
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“His Imperial Majesty Bokassa the First, Emperor of Central Africa by the will of the Central African people, united within the national political party, the Movement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa,” as his official title is, ruled with one of the poorest countries in the world until his death in 1996. Hi took for himself the title Emperor in 1976, on a ceremony inspired by Napoleon I, which was $20 million worth, one third of the state’s yearly budget. Despite the generous invitations no foreign leaders witnessed the inauguration.
3. Idi Amin, Uganda
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Idi Amin reigned only for eight years, from 1971 to 1979, but it was enough to become on of the craziest dictators ever known. Amin thought he was the right man for everything, so he adopted the title “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.” It probably explains how mad he was. Just to make it clear, that “Doctor” means that he possessed all the PhD titles that existed. He thought that he beat British in order to Uganda gain independency, so the title Conqueror of the British Empire is explained. But it’s unclear if he was strong like Chuck Norris in order to be Lord of all the beasts and fish. Also, in 1976, he claimed himself to be the uncrowned King of Scotland; despite the title’s real name is King of Scots.
4. Ne Win, Burma/Myanmar
www.panix.com
Ne Win was head of state of Burma (today Myanmar) from 1962 to 1981. He was just a usual socialistic leader until his mad move to change the country banknotes to 15, 35, 45, 75 and 90. The reason was simple – those were his lucky numbers. Some people just play lottery with their lucky numbers, but it wasn’t enough for him, or he wanted to improve country’s economy with his own luck. Allegedly, he chose number 90 because his numerologist told him that if he does that he would live until 90 years. However, he changed his mind only two years later.
5. Ferdinand Marcos, Philippines
www.life.com
Ferdinand was another “socialistic” dictator, who managed to make cult of his own personality. He ruled with Philippines for 21 years, from 1965 to 1986. He deserved place on this list not because of silly moves like the African dictators, but because of what he did to public funds. He and his wife managed to move $35 billion to other countries such as United States and Switzerland during his reign, but also he had flown to Hawaii with 24 suitcases with golden bars. Obviously he has stolen a lot of money from the public budget, that’s the only way to understand how his wife had bought 2700 pairs of shoes. Philippines still struggle with huge public debt.
6. Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, Haiti
www.welt.de
We still listen how the country that was struck by catastrophic earthquake struggles with people who kill other people according to the voodoo religion rules. The man who is “guilty” for that is Papa Doc Duvalier. The guy revived the voodoo and even went mad with that belief system. He believed that his main political opponent had turned into a black dog, so he decided to take drastic steps to confront with rivals who use such dishonest political fight measures. He ordered all the black dogs in the country to be killed and after that he could peacefully lead his people to better times. The better times never came.
7. Enver Hoxha, Albania
www.cene-alb.com
Not all the mad dictators are from Africa, Asia and Oceania. Here’s one from Europe. Enver Hoxha was Albanian leader during the country’s darkest years, when military was spending most of the money, despite the fact that after the World War II Albania hasn’t entered in any war. It’s an amazing fact that Hoxha during his reign built 750.000 of concrete bunkers just in case of foreign attack. He would seem as a good President, unless you know the fact that in Albania live only three million people.
8. Mobutu Sese Seko, Zaire / Democratic Republic of Congo
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To be dictator means that you can do anything. Mobutu Sese Seko knew that very well and took his chance to do whatever he wants. He never built good roads in DR Congo (Zaire during his reign), but he bought a fleet of Mercedes-Benz. When there was nothing interesting in Congo, he was going to Paris to shop with personal Concorde. However, his dictatorship peak was when the national TV news was showing him descending through clouds from the heavens, calling him “Father of the Nation,” “Savior of the People,” and “Supreme Combatant.” Finally, he prohibited mentioning any other person on TV despite him.
9. Gnassingbe Eyadema, Togo
www.togoenvogue.com
The last African dictator on this list considered himself to be a superhero, so in Togo was published a comic book that depicted him as invulnerable hero with super strength. Related with that, the day of his failed assassination was found as “the Feast of Victory over Forces of Evil.” Superhero like him certainly must be surrounded with beautiful women, so there were over 1000 of them who sang praises to him every day. Despite that, he built his own bronze statue, his portraits could be seen in every store in Togo and there were also $20 wristwatches with his portrait, which disappeared and re-appeared every fifteen seconds. These are just few of his whims.
10. Kim Jong-il, North Korea
www.globalsecurity.org
Here comes the short North Korean President who is waited to die sooner or later, but he is still thorn in the eyes of the Western super powers. However, the guy is mad. He’s terrorizing his own compatriots with a number of undemocratic rules, but he also use to spend a lot of budget’s money on cognac – 750,000 dollars a year. It’s questionable if some rock stars drink so much money. Despite that, there’s a cult of his personality. His birthday is one of the biggest national holidays, when military parades always take place. Some North Koreans even believe that he has magical power to control the weather by his mood. Just weird!
