All over the world many selfish, shortsighted and vicious leaders have risen to power or increased their grip on it. Scum always rises to the top of water. If there is any scum there, it will rise to the top.
Amongst the leaders who range from utterly undesirable to downright evil are the mullahs in Iran, Donald Trump in the USA, Kim Jong Un in North Korea, Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, Vladimir Putin in Russia and Xi Jinping in China. Those who have recently been removed one way or the other are Rodrigo Duterte, ex-president of the Philippines and Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.
The remaining ones are also notoriously corrupt and power hungry. It is impossible to say exactly how corrupt the vicious mullahs of Iran are, due to the lack of available information. Trump wants absolute power for himself and unlimited goodies for his family and cronies. Netanyahu desires to keep Israel in a permanent state of conflict so he can retain power and avoid being convicted of corruption. Kim Jong Un aims to further extend the might and capability of his murderous government.
Xi Jinping jails officials who aren’t part of his own corrupt network and even individuals who dare to criticize him. His intention is to extend the PRC’s rule over as much of eastern Asia and the Pacific as he possibly can. He is playing the long game and employs economic, political, and military means to further his goals. Financial tools such as bribery fall under the economic agenda. An example is the bribery aimed at the KMT in Taiwan. This political party is willing to just hand over their country to China for their own gains. Taiwan’s president, Dr William Lai, who is now backed by Japan, is steadfastly opposed to Chinese aggression.
Vladimir Putin, who has murdered dozens of individuals and caused the deaths of countless more, is determined to recreate the former USSR and go even further by taking over as much of Europe as he can. His invasion of the Ukraine was just the beginning. He is quite prepared to risk WW III in the achievement of his ambitions. I always thought that he longed to go down in history. Mind you, if a nuclear apocalypse occurs, there won’t be any history.
It is ironic that the USA and Israel are massively attacking the wicked theocratic regime in Iran. We can just hope that it falls and a decent, hopefully democratic government takes its place.
This war is a prime example of “My Enemy’s enemy is not necessarily my friend.”
© John R Spencer 2026
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