Good Dictator!

Loool.

Compare how the BBC/western regimes treat Qaboos - an extortionately rich, corrupt dictator, in power for 50 years - to how they treat authoritarian leaders who don’t serve western interests. (Or even about democratic leaders who don’t).

‘He wrote down the name of his successor and put it in an envelope’.

Oh okay then. Totally normal.

It is purely a result of propaganda that Gaddafi, Assad, Kim Jong, Maduro, etc, are all seen as ‘brutal dictators’, whilst the Sultan Qaboos is not.

He was one of the good ones, because he served the interests of western elites/capital.


FYI, in Oman:

• The law prohibits criticism of the sultan in any form or medium.
• The law does not provide citizens with the right to change their government.
• The sultan retains ultimate authority on all foreign and domestic issues.
• Public officials are not subject to financial disclosure laws.
• Police do not need search warrants in order to enter people's homes.
• Libel laws and concerns for national security have been used to suppress criticism of government figures and politically objectionable views.
• Publication of books is limited and the government restricts their importation and distribution, as with other media products.
• The state decides who can or cannot be a journalist and this permission can be withdrawn at any time
• Access to news and information can be problematic: journalists have to be content with news compiled by the official news agency on some issues
• Through a decree by the sultan, the government has now extended its control over the media to blogs and other websites.