Says Parade Magazine,
6) Hu Jintao, China. Age 63. In power since 2002. Last year’s rank: 4We (the US) say all kinds of nice things about China because we're so heavily invested there and vice versa. In fact, we're becoming so symbiotic that war with China may never be possible (that's a good thing) because it would destroy both countries economically (bad thing). The truth however is that China is probably the most unhelpful country in the world compared to what they could be doing globally or even for their own people.
Although some Chinese have taken advantage of economic liberalization to become rich, up to 150 million Chinese live on $1 a day or less in this nation with no minimum wage. Between 250,000 and 300,000 political dissidents are held in “reeducation-through-labor” camps without trial. Less than 5% of criminal trials include witnesses, and the conviction rate is 99.7%. There are no privately owned TV or radio stations. The government opens and censors mail and monitors phone calls, faxes, e-mails and text messages. In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, at least 400,000 residents of Beijing have been forcibly evicted from their homes.
The only glimmer of hope is that they have discovered capitalism, and by capitalism I mean greed. Good old selfishness and materialism may break the communist grip on power before anything else.
I used to think that the internet would lead to a Chinese revolution. Not so much now. Google recently agreed to censor itself in order to make a buck. The company, whose motto is "don't be evil," will now not allow the citizens of China to search the internet for terms like "democracy," "human rights," and "freedom."
Way to go.
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