Word: strongman
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...anyone still had any doubt that Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed is a strongman of the old school, there is fresh proof in the bruises and welts on the face of ousted Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar appeared in court Tuesday bearing the marks of beatings he says he suffered at the hands of the police. The popular reformer faces charges of corruption and illegal sex acts, widely viewed as part of a campaign by Mahathir to strip him of power. "Anwar was always seen as untouchable because he was so popular that moving against him might spark...
...first time nor, alas, probably the last for this to happen in Russia. The land is going from under our feet; our world is crumbling; and we react only by hoarding salt, sugar and matches. The people berate yet another failed leader and look for a strongman to deliver them. But while we are quick to denounce the leaders, we forget that they cannot be any different from us. Every nation has the leaders it deserves, but I have the uneasy feeling that we have the leaders we want--even if we do not dare admit it. And that...
...former army chief turned politician, wasted billions propping up ailing finance companies owned by political cronies. When the currency crumbled under the pressure, he chose to throw good money after bad in a futile attempt to avoid a humiliating devaluation. Malaysia's cantankerous, 72-year-old Premier Mahathir Mohamad, strongman for 17 years, ran a one-man show with total control over the country's economic machinery. In his obsessive search for respect from the West, he spent lavishly to build the biggest and the tallest--the world's tallest skyscraper, the highest flagpole, the tallest control tower--wasting...
More ominously, the much heralded march of market economies and democratization is stalling. Russia is tempted to return to a command economy and strongman rule. The authoritarian impulses of leaders like Malaysia's Mahathir are showing the ugly side of the "Asian values" that were touted as a ticket to prosperity and order. Instead of standing tall, the world's leaders seem hunkered down, adopting timid defensive measures rather than the forceful steps each nation needs. In every country there are very difficult domestic politics that confine leaders, and globalization surely makes life more difficult for statesmanship. To some extent...
...concerned that Russians could reject what has been peddled to them as democracy and capitalism and toss it all overboard. The leading candidates to succeed Yeltsin already include Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and retired General Alexander Lebed, the Governor of Krasnoyarsk province. Luzhkov cultivates the air of a strongman and is no fan of reform. Lebed's political views are hard to discern, but he, like Luzhkov, is a firm nationalist. If either were elected President, he would probably arrive in the Kremlin with colleagues even more extreme...