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• n  a cruel and oppressive dictator

• When the despot boots up his PC, he finds that the millions of dollars he has hoarded in his Swiss bank account have been zeroed out.
• In a short string of remarkable days a crooked election was held and exposed; a dignified woman established her stature and leadership; a despot ranted, sweated, fled; a palace changed guard--all with a minimum of blood lust and an abundance of determination and common national will.
• But it turns out that the 84-year-old despot was just slow off the mark in beginning the further strangulation of his own nation.

• tyrant
• autocrat

News & Articles

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• How Power Corrupts the Mind
  Pity the despot.        
  July 9, 2013 - The Atlantic

Quotes

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• Michael Costa in Sydney Morning Herald
  I am happy to vote to get rid of the states, I am happy to vote to get rid of the upper house, the lower house, I am happy to have me as a benevolent despot,Mr Costa said.
• Peter Tatchell in Irish Times
  Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell called on the broadcaster to "pull the plug on this criminal despot, who ranks with Robert Mugabe, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and the Burmese military junta as one of the world's most bloody tyrants".
• Morgan Tsvangirai in Wall Street Journal
  Mr. Tsvangirai called Mr. Mugabe a "power-crazed despot holding his people hostage to his delusions, crushing the spirit of his country and casting the international community as fools."