# Who are today's Idi Amins? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 19, 2015, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106 "2015-10-19T05:26:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/21 "2015-10-19T17:17:29Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > or any other communist nation you care to name for examples of this sort of intrigue. In the post-WWII era, the communists had nowhere near a monopoly, nor even the front-running positions, in “this sort of intrigue”. The fact that most of the world money and power supported the opposition to the communists virtually guaranteed well-fed opposition that needed to be resisted. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/22 "2015-10-19T18:30:35Z")
Clearly the head dude of IS / ISIL / ISIS / whatever they call themselves this week qualifies. I was under the impression that the execution by anti-aircraft gun event has been pretty thoroughly debunked as mere over-reaction by SK intel to unconfirmed rumors leaking over from NK. The executee is indeed good and dead, not just resting. But he was shot the conventional way. Or did I get that garbled? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/23 "2015-10-19T18:48:38Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Clearly the head dude of IS / ISIL / ISIS / whatever they call themselves this week qualifies. Boko Haram too. Hard to say which group is more insane. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/24 "2015-10-19T19:07:37Z")
Since opinions on this will differ, let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/25 "2015-10-19T19:11:49Z")
> [@syncrolecyne](#): > > From what some Canadian friends tell me, Stephen Harper. Rob Ford may even come closer. What the hell happened to Canada?! To even believe such an absurd comparison might be valid, you would have to know next to nothing about either Idi Amin or Canada. I don’t believe Harper has ever been accused of cannibalism. (Ford, maybe.) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/26 "2015-10-19T19:48:33Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Definitely brutal and insane - but it’s \*systematic \*brutality and insanity, and not an outgrowth of the leader’s personality like it was with Amin. My understanding is that this isn’t systemic (that’d be the camps, for instance) but personal (he closed his eyes!), and a ramping up by Supreme Leader. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/27 "2015-10-19T19:50:34Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I was under the impression that the execution by anti-aircraft gun event has been pretty thoroughly debunked as mere over-reaction by SK intel to unconfirmed rumors leaking over from NK. The executee is indeed good and dead, not just resting. But he was shot the conventional way. Or did I get that garbled? Not heard that. Him having his ex-girlfriend machine-gunned was debunked, I know that. ---
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/28 "2015-10-19T20:45:18Z")
UK PM David Cameron regularly eats live human babies as part of a satanic ritual… …probably. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/29 "2015-10-19T20:46:10Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not heard that. Him having his ex-girlfriend machine-gunned was debunked, I know that. I suspect that most of the more over-the-top eeeeeevil claims are simply made up by South Korean intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![Cardboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Cardboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardboard)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/30 "2015-10-19T20:52:01Z")
For the insane category, how about that guy from Turkmenistan? Saparmurat Niyazov was his name. Google some of the stuff he did. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/31 "2015-10-19T22:46:52Z")
Hugo Chavez deserves a shout-out. He’s dead, of course, but his successor Nicolas Maduro, also seems determined to make the list. Maybe they’re not quite up to North Korean standards of brutality, but they’ve certain ruined Venezuela very thoroughly. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/32 "2015-10-20T05:50:43Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I think that another factor which distinguishes the likes of Pol Pot and Amin from the rest, is that they liked to get up close and personal with torture and killing. I have never seen it suggested that Assad or Kim do that. Saddam Hussein apparently was up close and personal with some of his torture and killing, or at least nearly so. His two sons clearly were. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/33 "2015-10-20T16:26:18Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Hugo Chavez deserves a shout-out. He’s dead, of course, but his successor Nicolas Maduro, also seems determined to make the list. Maybe they’re not quite up to North Korean standards of brutality, but they’ve certain ruined Venezuela very thoroughly. That’s not Idi Amin, however. More like the Three Stooges. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/34 "2015-10-20T16:34:40Z")
Donald Trump. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/35 "2015-10-20T16:46:22Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > For example, only very recently, has there ever been any talk about King Leopold of Belgium, who is now considered one the worst of his era. People have been talking about what an utter bastard Leopold II was [for well over a hundred years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State_propaganda_war). Mark Twain [wrote about it at some length](https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/i2l/kls.html). As for the questiom, I would agree that North Korea, ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh, and Boko Haram all fit the bill. It is true that they aren’t as “personalized” as Idi Amin, where everyone knew his name and could probably pick him out of a line-up and I guess he basically _was_ Uganda when he was in power in the popular perception. By contrast most Americans would probably still have to Google [Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_al-Baghdadi) or [Abubakar Shekau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abubakar_Shekau) (although Shekau _does_ have the [crazy stare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Abubakar_Shekau,_Rewards_for_Justice.jpg) thing going on), and as already noted Kim Jong-un was born into the third generation of the craziness and brutality that is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/36 "2015-10-20T16:48:17Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Donald Trump. “If I’m elected President, my death camps will be _huuuge!_ But _classy_, you know?” ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/37 "2015-10-21T17:24:52Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > As is the case in everything historical, it will depend on who the victors are, who make the list, and what the currently fashionable criteria will then be for inclusion… > > … only very recently, has there ever been any talk about King Leopold of Belgium, who is now considered one the worst of his era. Ah Leopold II. I’d forgotten about him but you are right - an utter arse. He was a genocidal cruel tyrant who killed millions of people in the Belgian Congo from afar. In the pursuit of gold, diamonds, ivory and much more. This criminal colonial destruction of the second largest country in Africa is largely unknown even though it only ceased in 1960. And then things got really bad… ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/38 "2015-10-21T17:48:30Z")
Incidentally, and of historical interest, the famous Stanley who found Dr Livingston in the heart of the Congo was an agent of King Leopold II. And a ghastly colonialist himself. It is in this period that Joseph Conrad wrote “Heart of Darkness” after venturing up the Congo to witness the Belgian rape of this nation. Later immortalized in Apocalypse Now. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/39 "2015-10-22T11:37:01Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > As is the case in everything historical, it will depend on who the victors are, who make the list, and what the currently fashionable criteria will then be for inclusion. For example, only very recently, has there ever been any talk about King Leopold of Belgium, who is now considered one the worst of his era. > > If Saddam Hussein were alive today, he would have a decent chance of winning a freee and fair election in Iraq, but there is a legacy that is well stacked against him. Given that the original question asked about the last 20 years or so, how does Leopold II even come into the equation? For that matter Idi Amin has been gone (from power) for close enough to 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106/40 "2015-10-22T12:16:36Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Him having his ex-girlfriend machine-gunned was debunked, I know that. He did ignore several of her text messages, later claiming he hadn’t received them.:mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-todays-idi-amins/735106.md?page=3)