FOUNDATIONS OF DICTATORSHIPS SHAKEN

All dictators are cowards but they appear to be brave-hearted. Till the moment their thrones appear to be shaken, like leeches they stick on to the saddle. The moment they face threat to their existence they not only vacate power but flee to a place where they are offered asylum.
True, I am referring to the recent developments in Arab countries. And one or two South Asian countries.
Start from Tunisia, the nation which proved to be a source of inspiration to the citizens of other Arab nations to venture into struggles for political reforms I mean, democracy and better living conditions. With the eruption of revolution across Arab world, the news which streamed in were mind-boggling. Massive poverty, unemployment, network of large-scale corruption, suppression of even small-scale protests, all came to the fore with the leaders amassing crores and crores of dollars and remitting them in foreign bank accounts.
The Tunisian President of yesteryears Zine-ul-Abidin-Ben Ali, please note he was a so-called iron-hearted dictator thus we were made to believe until then, upon facing existential threat lost no time in fleeing the country in seeking asylum in any of the countries which was prepared to offer him refuge. Rejected by all except Saudi Arabia the man is cooling his heels in his asylum.
Soon after, the Egyptian head Hosni Mubarak who too was till then brave-hearted, remember, he occupied the throne since 1981, ie. 30 years as a dictator suppressing rebellions earning massive unaccounted money depositing it in various foreign banks, turning a deaf ear to the immediate problems of citizens - like wide-spread poverty, massive corruption, unemployment – all swept under the carpet and displayed a shining image of Egypt the facts were just the opposite. All with the overt and covert help of an overbearing army. But thirty years of continuous rule nearly broke the back of the citizens, the pent-up emotions burst out at last they were grouped under one umbrella and went on the rampage for eighteen days shaking the very foundations of Mubarak’s throne. The cold-blooded so-called iron-hearted fellow fled to England with his family in the thick of night and got ensconced in his 8.5 million pound sterling flat licking the wounds inflicted by the defeat. Whither gone his will, determination and fearlessness in the face of persistent demands by millions of citizens? The fear factor came to the fore, when all doors of escape came to be closed and I am sure all dictators are inherently coward than even an ordinary citizen. But they appear to be otherwise, don the apparels of brave rulers unwilling to bow down to even international pressure.
Look at the South Asian nation Myanmar, which incidentally is India’s neighbour. There the military junta is in power since decades, the icon of democracy like Nobel laureate Aung-Saan-Syuuki was under house arrest for almost 14 years, - she was freed recently - and when international pressure mounted on junta, they decided to form a so-called ‘democratic’ government and as a first step in the wrong direction the junta first dissolved the main opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD) and the junta formed a party of its own and conducted the election. As expected, the SPDs – the junta supported party won a massive mandate and is ‘comfortably’ ruling the country with the majority in fact against it.
Myanmar regime continues to be a ruthless one and in its decades of existence ruthlessly suppressed many a rebellion, violent and non-violent – non-violent protests by Buddha Sanyasins were bathed in blood-shed and if history and experiences are any indications Myanmar’s cruel regime too will one day go the Mubarak way.
Let’s come back to the Arab world. Flames of Tunisian revolution took no time in spreading to almost all Arab countries, for instance, Bahrain under consistent pressure by citizens the army has been withdrawn into the background. In Yemen, the ruler Abdullah Zaleh who pleaded for ‘extension of life’ till 2013, has shown his true colours by turning the army against the protesters who demand him to step down. In Libya, bloody clashes between the military and citizens have already claimed nearly two hundreds lives and Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s fate is almost sealed to be precise the entire Arab world, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Algiers, Djibouti etal besides Iran, now even China are in the grip of a revolution with rulers under constant threat of ouster.
Is power that much sweeter like nectar, otherwise why the dictators in the face of resistance by the citizens want to stick on their citadels of power facing threats to their very existence?