by banknotelover

Created on: April 17, 2009   Last Updated: April 18, 2009

Unquestionably, the world's worst head of state is Mr. Kim Jong-il of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Kim Jong-il dines on ham flown in from Denmark, caviar from Iran and Uzbekistan and wine from France while his people rely on aid just to get by on their daily meals. He shows complete disregard for his people and their suffering, and continues on with his strange antics and acting like a "spoilt child", quoting George W. Bush. He also shows contempt for the international community, test-firing a missile which endangers regional security just to gain attention towards himself. No doubt that he is the world's worst head of state, even though he is not a president. The "Eternal President" of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il's father, who was by far a better head of state than his son, who is the Chairman of the National Defence Commission but is, in fact, the head of state.

Behind Kim Jong-il would be the infamous Robert Gabriel Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has just ended a 4-year-long, gruelling hyperinflation, and as a notaphilist I am very familiar with Zimbabwe's happenings. Mugabe completely disregarded his citizens' suffering and continued the downward spiral of Zimbabwe into hyperinflation and human rights abuses. Mugabe also financed his wife's trips and her extravagant lifestyle. Earlier in 2009, when she was in Hong Kong, she was caught on camera by a journalist. Grace Mugabe nee Marufu slapped the journalist and ordered her bodyguards to assault the journalist, scarring him with the numerous diamonds she wore (think about the amount of Zimbabweans starving and dying of cholera at that time). Robert Mugabe would definitely be second on my list on the world's worst presidents/head of states.

Third on the list, behind Kim Jong-il and Robert Mugabe, would be the military junta in Myanmar/Burma. Its head of state is Senior General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of Burma. Reports of human rights abuses are frequent in Burma, and he has imprisoned freedom fighter Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for 13 out of the past 20 years. Daw Suu Kyi, who has campaigned for peaceful political change in Burma, has been wrongfully imprisoned by the junta. A few years back, Gen Than Shwe held a lavish wedding for his daughter, while many of his subjects are living below the poverty line and living on $1 a day.

We can realise that all these heads of states are either corrupt, incompetent, or just don't care one hoot about the country, all have all these "qualities". If the United States falls into the hands of such leaders, the US, and the world, would be doomed.

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