U.S.-Backed Despots Of The 20th Century

Relative to the situation in Egypt, today Canada's National Post recaps some of the world's most notorious despots whose regimes were propped up by the United States.

“Lots of countries have client states. But, American exceptionalism, its adherence and promotion of supposed democratic values, that’s always also been a part of its foreign policy,” says Alexander Cooley, a political scientist at New York’s Barnard College and author of Base Politics: Democratic Change and the U.S. Military Overseas. “So there’s always existed a public tension between the two when you talk about clients and support for clients because American officials have always publicly advocated this kind of transformative values agenda, whereas China and Russia don’t do that.” And yet the reality is every one of these countries, and more, relies on Washington’s willingness to contradict itself. They know only the U.S. can afford to buy stability in the Middle East to keep the canals open, and the oil cheap and ready, by propping up Mr. Mubarak, the Saudis and Pakistan — even if it means enduring accusations of blatant hypocrisy for cozying up to some pretty nasty SOBs.

Lots more at the link.