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The Editor Who Puts Dictators In Their Places

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A. Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia [No. 18]. He keeps getting worse. If his police keep arresting and shooting people, he's definitely gonna be someone to watch.

Q. Do dictators ever call to complain about their rankings?

A. A lot of these governments have PR firms, so I hear from them. I always get letters from Saudi and Chinese apologists.

Q. If you could take a long car trip with any of these dictators, which would it be?

A. Would I have the proper security?

Q. Yes.

A. Okay, first would be Kim Jong Il. He's a real cinema fan. He has a huge collection of movies. He even had an actress and a director kidnapped so they could make movies for him! I was born in Hollywood and love movies, too, so we'd have something to talk about.

I'd also want to take a trip with [Saparmurat] Niyazov of Turkmenistan. You know he banned lip-syncing in his country? If I were a dictator, I would ban lip-syncing, too.

Q. What else would you do if you were a dictator?

A. Nothing like what these guys do.

Q. What kind of feedback have you gotten to the list?

A. About 150 responses on the Internet, through Parade. Response has been good. I was on "The O'Reilly Factor" this week.

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