Word: strongman
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...Ottoman Empire in 1918.) In 1990 he led the North to victory in a war against South Yemen, the territory that was once the British colony of Aden, and has ruled the unified nation ever since. He's done so using the classic techniques of a Middle Eastern strongman - clamping down on the press, concentrating military and economic power in the hands of friends and family and winning elections by suspiciously high margins. Though Saleh's main source of legitimacy is the semblance of unity he has brought to what is one of the world's most fragmented countries...
During his 11 months in power, Guinean strongman Moussa Dadis Camara, an army captain turned head of state, has been famous for his rants on television. Locals call it the Dadis show, and Camara uses his screen time to personally expose corruption and ties between the former regime and the transatlantic cocaine trade...
...cast a pall over the tribunal, which was set up 15 years ago by the U.N. Security Council to try those responsible for atrocities committed during the war. Many survivors and relatives of victims fear that Karadzic's trial will play out similarly to that of former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, who used repeated stall tactics to drag out his proceedings for three years before eventually dying in custody. Many of the problems stemmed from the decision by the tribunal to allow Milosevic to defend himself - he used the court as a soapbox, delivering rambling political speeches. Karadzic...
...perennially fear that Russia will fall apart. The country is so big and so unwieldy that it seems always on the verge of implosion - like a bolshaya deryevna, or big village, riddled with ethnic fissures and political upheavals, always teetering between calm and chaos. Hence the appeal of the strongman - say, Josef Stalin. Someone to keep everyone else in check...
...industries from crisis events," he said.) Of course, substance wasn't the Kremlin's goal. The goal was to send a message to the locals (and especially local officials): You are part of Russia. You are being taken care of. We are one. (See pictures of Vladimir Putin, political strongman and action figure, on a recent visit to Siberia...