38- Tên “Ngô Đình Diệm” Trong Danh Sách 100 Kẻ Bạo Ngược Trong Lịch Sử Nhân Loại, Nigel Cawthorne

Một tập sử biên niên mà đọc đến lạnh xương sống đã liệt kê những nhà độc tài và các tội ác chống lại nhân loại của họ với tựa đề là Tyrants: History's 100 Most Evil Despots and Dictators (Những Bạo chúa: 100 kẻ Bạo ngược độc ác và Độc tài nhất trong Lịch sử) nhằm giới thiệu một trăm nhân vật lịch sử nam và nữ khát máu nhất (most bloodthirsty) đã từng sử dụng quyền lực chống lại đồng lọai bất hạnh của họ.

Từ Đại đế Herod, người ngược đãi hài đồng Giêsu, đến Hitler, kẻ giết người hàng loạt và chủ mưu cuộc chiến tranh tàn phá nhất trong lịch sử nhân loại, cuốn sách nấy đã khảo sát lịch sử của những tên bạo chúa ô nhục nhất trong Lịch sử. Nội dung cuốn sách mô tả những chi tiết sống động cuộc đời của những bạo chúa nầy, họ đã leo lên nấc thang quyền lực như thế nào, và đã để lại những gì trong quá trình tàn phá và gieo rắc đau thương của họ.

Không do dự trong sự chọn lựa của mình, cuốn Bạo Chúa [nhà xuất bản Arcturus, 2005] là một chân dung chặt chẽ và thôi thúc về mặt trái tối tăm của chính trị và quyền lực, và đã phát hiện ra những chuyện kỳ lạ cũng như ghê tởm đàng sau thế giới của những kẻ chuyên quyền ô nhục.

Trong cuốn sách nầy, tên “Ngô Đình Diệm” được xếp loại cùng với những bạo chúa như Stalin (Nga Sôviết), Lenin (Nga Sôviết), Hitler (Germany), Causescu (Rumania), Kim Il Sung (North Korea), Batista (Cuba), Pinochet (Chile), Khomeine (Iran), Marcos (Philippines), Hussein (Irak), Polpot (Cambodia)…

Ngo Dinh Diem – President of South Vietnam – From exile he returns as Prime minister in Bao Dais government in South Vietnam. 1955 Ousts Bao Dai in fixed election; declares himself a republic & names himself president. Ruthlessly repressed political dissenters * religious factions, and installed members of his family in important jobs. Responds to failed coup with brutal repression, killing hundreds of Buddhists on the grounds they are aiding the Communist North. [Ngô Đình Diệm- Tổng thống Nam Việt Nam – Đang sống lưu vong, ông ta trở về làm Thủ tướng trong chính quyền Bảo Đại ở Nam Việt Nam. Năm 1955, ông ta lật đổ Bảo Đại trong một cuộc bầu cữ gian lận, tuyên bố thành lập nền Cọng hòa và tự phong làm Tổng thống. Đàn áp dã man những người bất đồng chính kiến chính trị và thành phần tôn giáo và bổ nhiệm thành viên gia đình vào những vai trò quan trọng. Đàn áp tàn bạo thành phần đảo chánh hụt, giết hàng trăm Phật tử trên cơ sở những tín đồ nầy giúp đở cho Cọng sản miền Bắc]

Tác giả Tuyển tập sử nầy, Nigel Cawthorne, sinh năm 1951, là một nhà nghiên cứu và là một chủ bút. Ông đã viết hơn 80 cuốn sách về các thể tài khác nhau. Bài của ông đăng trên các tạp chí The Guardian (Anh), Daily Telegraph Daily Mail (Anh) và The New York Times (Mỹ), và đã từng xuất hiện trên chương trình truyền thanh và truyền hình Today của BBC.

Tyrants: History's 100 Most Evil Despots and Dictators

Nigel Cawthorne

210 pages (2005) Arcturus Publishing; ISBN: arct-00005

A spine-chilling chronicle of dictators and their crimes against humanity, Tyrants: History's 100 Most Evil Despots and Dictators introduces one hundred of the most bloodthirsty men -- and women -- ever to wield power over their unfortunate fellow human beings.

From Herod the Great, persecutor of the infant Jesus, to Adolf Hitler, mass murderer and instigator of the most devastating war in human history, this book examines history's most infamous despots. It tells in vivid detail the story of the lives they led, their climb to power and the destruction and sorrow they left in their wake.

Unflinching in its coverage, Tyrants is a gripping and compelling portrait of the darker side of politics and power, and reveals the strange and grisly stories behind the world's most infamous autocrats.

Comments

MODERN TYRANTS VIA A COUP / OUTSIDE OF AFRICA……

Vladimir Lenin – Leader of the USSR – Returns to Russia in closed train; seizes power; signs armistice with Germany; begins civil war. Orders the execution of the tsar and his family. Wins civil war. 1921 – 1923 Famine caused by collectivization of farming – six million dead.

Josef Stalin – Leader of the USSR – Plays prominent part in October Revolution – When Lenin died, Stalin tool over, ruthlessly crushing all opposition. 1928 came the Five Year Plan to industrialize Russia, funded by the export of grain, and continued the collectivization of farming which resulted in famine, mostly in Ukraine…

Benito Mussolini – Dictator of Italy – 1918 – advocates the emergence of a dictator; hints that he might be the man. Marches on Rome; becomes Italy’s youngest prime minister with dictatorial powers. 1924 Secures power with fraudulent election; murder opponents. 1935 Invades Abyssinis, gassing & bombing the populace. 1936 – Annexes Abyssinia, announcing new Roman Empire; signs Pact of Steel with Hitler; Invades Albania, joins war on Hitler’s side; attacks France, Greece & Egypt.

Rafael Trujillo – Dictator of the Dominican Republic – 1927 Becomes commanding General of the Army. 1930 Ousts President Horacio Vasquez; seizes power and instigates one-party rule. Put members of his family in key political offices & murdered all those who opposed him. The Dominican Republic’s one political party also controlled the press. Members of congress handpicked by Trujillo& competing units of secret policemen reporting directly to Trujillo suppressing any political activity. 1937 – Massacred 20,000 migrant farmers.

Francisco Franco – Dictator of Spain. Youngest General in the Army, he rose to become chief. Popular Front won election – Franco exiled to the Canary Islands. From there he organized a Nationalist conspiracy that led to outbreak of Spanish Civil War. Nationalists established their own government with Franco at its head. It is estimated 50,000 were executed, murdered or assassinated. A further half a million were killed in the Spanish Civil War, with another half-a-million dead from starvation and disease. With the end of the Civil War, Franco became dictator of Spain. He outlawed all opposition parties & imprisoned & executed thousands of Loyalists.

Ngo Dinh Diem – President of South Vietnam – From exile he returns as Prime minister in Bao Dais government in South Vietnam. 1955 Ousts Bao Dai in fixed election; declares himself a republic & names himself president. Ruthlessly repressed political dissenters * religious factions, and installed members of his family in important jobs. Responds to failed coup with brutal repression, killing hundreds of Buddhists on the grounds they are aiding the Communist North. 

Achmed Sukarno - President of Indonesia - When the Dutch were forced to concede sovereignty in 1949, Sukarno quickly established himself in the lavish palace. Won the election, but his government were notoriously corrupt. After extracting a billion dollars worth of aid from the US, he switched sides in the Cold War & took a billion dollars from the Soviet Union. In 1959 he dissolved parliament & in 1963 made himself president for life. He became fearful of a military coup and in 1965 approved a Communist backed plot to kidnap six top army generals who were tortured, mutilated and murdered. General Suharto, reacted by slaughtering more than 300,000 Communist suspects.

Francois Duvalier – President of Haiti - After serving as minister of health, he became president in a fixed election in 1957. Consolidating his power, employing ruthless thugs called ‘Tonton Macoutes’ to terrorize the populace & assassinate suspected opponents of the regime. Imprisons deputy, later murdering him. 1961 Fixes legislative elections; extends term of office. 1963 – Begins cult of personality. 1964 – Becomes president for life.

Augusto Pinochet – President of Chile – Stages coup 1973. 14,000 people were tried and executed or expelled from the country. Under Pinochets tyrannical rule, it is estimated that 20,000 people were killed and torture widespread.

Efrain Montt - Dictator of Guatemala - Stages coup – begins genocide of Mayans. A report by UN found that at least 448 villages – mostly Indian – had been wiped off the map. According to Amnesty International, in four months more than 2,000 fully documented extra judicial killings by the Guatemalan army: People of all ages were shot, burned alive, hacked to death, disembowelled, drowned & beheaded. Uncovering the truth behind a massacre or disappearance of upwards of 200,000 people during the civil war & the genocide of the Mayan people continues.

Pol Pot – Leader of Cambodia – Overthrows US-backed government; declares Year Zero. Money & property were abolished. Books were burnt. Private houses were demolished; temples desecrated every symbol of Western technology – from cars to medical equipment destroyed. Cambodia was transformed into a slave labor camp. All professional people - including doctors & teachers – were killed. Any person who spoke French or wore glasses, which was considered the mark of an intellectual. Their children buried alive. 4years rule saw 1.7million people die as a result of disease, starvation, maltreatment, forced labor, torture & execution.

Info gleaned from TYRANTS – History’s 100 most evil Despots & Dictators by Nigel Cawthorne.

[Source: http://www.camara.dk/_bantaba/00004081.htm ]