Roy Bennett Quotes

Outsiders can do little in Zimbabwe so long as Robert Mugabe remains in power, for Mugabe is prepared to wreck his country in order to preserve his rule over it. The best thing outsiders can do is pressure or bribe him and his immediate circle into leaving.

I may find Saddam Hussein's regime abhorrent - any normal person would - but the survival of it is in his hands.

Unquestionably, the world is better off without Saddam.

I've been saying it all along: please do not demonise Robert Mugabe. I'm not saying the methods he's using are correct, but he was put under great pressure.

I strongly support European sanctions against Mugabe and his ruling clique. We must do all in our power to help the people of Zimbabwe achieve their freedom and prosperity once again.

We have a war dictator who was not elected, he snuck in. so he punishes people that threaten him in any way, or even say something he doesn't like. It has no resemblance to democracy.

Bhutto's regime is remembered for having one of the worst human rights records in Pakistan's history, and her government did not allow the media freedoms she criticizes Musharraf for crushing.

Pinochet took power in a 1973 military coup that the United States supported.

Africa has more dictators per capita than any other continent.

Unless there is meaningful change in Syria and an end to the crackdown, President Assad and those around him will find themselves isolated internationally and discredited within Syria.

The whole administrative, judicial, and legislative machinery obeys a single will, the caprice of General Porfirio Diaz, who during his long administration has shown that the principal motive that guides him is to maintain himself in power and at any cost.

There is a terrible price the U. S. Government must pay when it associates itself … intimately with a repressive regime.

Unfortunately, history suggests that dictatorial regimes can withstand years, even decades, of economic sanctions.

A source of embarrassment for Libyans, Gadhafi has never been a joke: disappearances, a police state, zero freedom of expression, and poverty for at least a third of the population of country tremendously wealthy thanks to oil.

It's important to remember that a dictator will not freely relinquish power after having hijacked the constitution and ruled with threats and promises. Sometimes it is necessary to put enough pressure on him that he leaves.

It didn't take long for the world to realize that the Shah was an enlightened liberal next to the bloody reactionary regime that followed, and which executed more people in three months than the Shah had done in 30 years.

We all accept the world would be safer without Saddam's baleful dictatorship.

For many years, Myanmar's leadership was largely shut out from the world of international diplomacy.

There are, of course, all sorts of other unpleasant regimes outside the walls as well - the military dictators of Latin America and the apartheid regime of South Africa.

The Assad regime is quite reliant on oil exports.

The appalling crackdown that we witnessed in Hama and other Syrian cities on 30 and 31 July only erode the regime's legitimacy and increase resentment. In the absence of an end to the senseless violence and a genuine process of political reform, we will continue to pursue further EU sanctions.

I hope the example of Saddam Hussein will give a lesson to leaders of other countries where human rights are not respected.

Military dictatorship, you can focus on it, you can fight it directly. It's a band of power-driven people.

For more than four decades, the Libyan people have been ruled by a tyrant - Moammar Gaddafi. He has denied his people freedom, exploited their wealth, murdered opponents at home and abroad, and terrorized innocent people around the world - including Americans who were killed by Libyan agents.

But it is important to observe that when Europe or the United Nations impose sanctions that are supposed to be aimed against a certain regime, usually generally millions of people end up being directly punished.