The Lust For Power

For millenia people have lusted for money or fame, but in today's high power world this has been replaced by the sheer unadulterated lust for power.

That is not to say people no  longer yearn for money, most of us do for one reason or another, but among the power mongers of this world, it is a position of dominance over everyone else that drives them on. 

Over the past decades, we have seen many dominant individuals or groups using every trick in the book (plus a few outside it) to hang on to the power base they have achieved.

With rulers, it is most often dictators who will cheat, steal, and even murder, to prevent any loss of superiority they have. As most of us know, Germany's Adolf Hitler and Russia's Stalin were in a class of thier own before, during, and after the time of the Second World War. They were by no means the last of their kind however, for even in the seventies there were cruel dictators like Idi Amin of Uganda, who ruled with unconscionable savagery. Anyone who stood in his way just 'disappeared', and we all know what that means. 

In the eighties, the ruling military junta in Argentina threw the whole country into war with Great Britain over the disputed Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. Their aim, to distract the attention of the population away from their poor living standards and of course the 'disappearances'.

Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is another who falls into the category of 'The Power Hungry'. During his years in power, Mugabe has turned the 'breadbasket' of Africa into one of the poorest on the continent, and despite what he is doing to his people, he will not give up the Presidency.

It has been reported enough in the press about his machete-wielding thugs going around killing or maiming anyone who supported the opposition during the last election. 

All that however was the past. Today's power maniacs have found a new way to stay where they are - election rigging.

The latest to attempt it is President Karzei of Afghanistan. It was necessary for a joint UN/Afghan body to inspect the election results for fraudulent practices during the recently held national elections. 

The resulting investigation showed one third of the votes cast for Karzei had to be discounted, thus requiring a run-off with his rival Abdullah Abdullah. In the past weeks it has only been intense political pressure from the United States, Europe, and other countries that has finally made Karzei agree to run-off elections. 

In the past decade, various countries have been through the same turmoil at election time, among the most well known is Georgia, and more recently Iran. 

Another tactic common today is changing the countries constitution to allow presidents to run for longer periods than that laid down in the statute books. 

Among the countries that have extended, or done away with limits on presidential terms of office are, to name but a few; Algeria, Camaroon, Chad, Bolivia, Equador,Gabon, Honduras, Tunisia, Uganda and Venzuela. 

Of these, perhaps Venzuela is the most significant. Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president, manipulated the government into renouncing all restrictions on his term of office. He has carved for himself such a strong power-base that now, only the foolhardy will ever challenge him in future 'elections'. 

The maintenance of continued power, and the methods by which it is achieved, has taken a subtle turn to bring it more in line with the modern world. 

While the rich and powerful get more so, the only losers are the common people - as always.

Thank God the world is not all doom and gloom!

Roy.