There is a certain cachet to arch-villains that the cadre of contemporary but quaking megalomaniacal leaders have failed to capture. I don't know if there is an annual gathering of the truly rotten and demonized heads of state, Leader and Guide of the Revolution, Dear Leader, Baby Doc, Protector of the People, Fidei Defensor, to coordinate and plan outright--or if such a summit falls under the guise of another. These bad guys are readily identifiable, like any well-drawn nemesis, and certainly have the tragic flaw of hubris. This much they are capitalizing on, not that the struggles and triumphs all around the world are some comic book adventure, but they, for one, do not admit to an equally matched opponent--which makes the revolution all the more impressive with the accumulated efforts of the people a more sturdy support than any super hero--and because or despite of this imbalance, these stubborn dictators are not the ultimate fonts of evil either.
Greed and rank hypocrisy of course punctuated their long reigns, but the source and inspiration and allowance surely lay elsewhere, just as the people draw their line in the sand, came to their tipping-point, not solely when this steady-state oppression became suddenly intolerable but also when outside pressures and influences made day-to-day existence even more of a struggle, exposure--the sieves of information, financial inversion that brought too much down on the markets, souks and bazaars. No outstanding credit is due, however.
