Korean Job Discussion Forums

[igotthisguitar]

Dictators have quite a persistent reputation as criminals, thieves & murderers.

Are criminals, thieves, & murderers ever good?

Looking out upon the battlefield, ASHOKA was aghast at the utter devastation, suffering & carnage of war.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka

Having lived as an EMPEROR, he stands as my one & only favourite 'benevolent' dictator.

[Big_Bird]

[chris_J2]

It's not clear what ratios the categories 'Sometimes, Perhaps, & Perhaps sometimes' refer to. 'Usually not' is more definitive.

[Sincinnatislink]

Who cares what Brian Eno thinks about politics?

I mean, do you care what Angelina Jolie tells you about the environment?

[thiophene]

[Sincinnatislink]

[SPINOZA]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Oh, Spinoza, Spinoza, Spinoza...

You get sillier by the week. It's probably old age creeping up on you. Early-onset Alzheimers. Just to make things easy for you: Stalin was not a fascist.

[igotthisguitar]

Belgium Re-Opens Myanmar Probe Against Total
by Pascal Mallet

BRUSSELS (AFP) - French oil giant Total on Tuesday faced a renewed Belgian probe into its alleged support of Myanmar's military regime as authorities reopened an investigation into the firm.

Belgium authorities are reopening a case brought by Myanmar refugees that Total was involved in crimes against humanity in their country, the refugees' lawyer said.

Four refugees accuse the company of having used forced labour provided by the military regime to build a gas pipeline, according to lawyer Alexis Deswaef.

Authorities are also to reopen an investigation into possible crimes against humanity targetting the regime, he said.



In a consortium with the Myanmar's national oil company and US group Unocal, now part of Chevron, Total built a pipeline in the 1990s to transport gas from fields in Myanmar to Thai power plants in neighbouring Thailand.

The four refugees accuse Total of having provided logistic and financial support in the 1990s to the military junta, which they hold responsable for forced labour, deportations murder, arbitrary executions and torture.

Total has also faced legal action in France against its labour practices in Myanmar, where it has operated since 1992.

But last year the group was cleared of charges in France that it relied on forced labour to build the 1.2-billion-dollar (848-billion-euro) gas pipeline after an out-of-court settlement with the alleged victims caused the prosecution's case to collapse.

Deswaef said that the refugees had "refused the fat compensation Total was ready to pay them as it already did with other victims in France and Myanmar in exchange for calling off their cases."

In Paris, Total declined to comment on the Belgian case other than by saying it had "taken note" that it had been reopened.

While the case is closed in France, it has continued to simmer in Belgium.

Belgium's constitutional court ruled in 2005 that the refugees' complaint, lodged in 2002, could be pursued, but last March another court ruled that the case should be dropped as the refugees were not Belgian.

But in a new ruling, the constitutional court said that a recognized refugee enjoys the same rights as a Belgian citizen and that a special Belgian law to rule on cases outside Belgium was applicable.

The Belgian justice ministry therefore ordered prosecutors to reopen the case.

The complaints target Total, its former chief Thierry Desmarest who was head of exploration and production at the time, as well as the company's former country director Herve Madeo.

The Myanmar military junta has been quelling protests over the past two weeks, killing at least 13 people and arresting hundreds. The recent unrest in the country has focused attention anew on foreign investments.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned on Tuesday that Total, France's biggest company, would not be exempt from new sanctions targeting Myanmar's ruling junta.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week urged French businesses including Total to freeze their investments in Myanmar, but stopped short of calling for a pullout

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Myanmar made systematic use of forced labour in the 1990s to build roads and military camps and little had been done to halt the practice.

[Big_Bird]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Nowhere Man]

Lee Kuan Yew comes to mind.

I believe Jefferson has some quote about benevolent dictators.

I'm not sure the reigns of the various monarchs are any different from dictatorships. As one-offs, it's entirely possible for one individual to have both consolidated power and lead effectively. Unfortunately, dictatorships don't deal well with power transitions. As such, the short-term benefits don't weigh well against the long-term problems with this form of government.

[chris_J2]

It occurred to me that Suharto (Indonesian President 1967-1998) threw radical fundamentalist Abu Bakar Bushir into prison, but not for any altruistic reasons. With Bashir out of prison, the Bali Bombings in 2002 / Jemaah Islamiah & the deaths of 202 foreigners transpired.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakar_Bashir

So although Suharto would not tolerate any religious or political dissent, locking up dissidents did have unexpected benefits. But around 500,000 died in the 1965 massacres, so Suharto was no angel.

[chris_J2]