The world now has two “Supreme Leaders”: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran, and Kim Jong Un in North Korea. And, the late Colonel Muammar Qaddafi called himself the “Brother Leader.” But it’s the double “supreme” leaders that render a global enigma. Can the world have two “supreme leaders”? Of course, this is a rhetorical question, tinged with a dose of sarcasm.
Khamanei runs a totalitarian theocracy, based on Twelver Shiism. Kim Jong Un, now succeeding his deceased father, Kim Jong Il, heads a totalitarian “Stalinist” state. Both, to varying degrees, stoke personality cults, both rely on powerful militaries, and both embrace nuclear power. The legacy of both has led their respective countries into isolation, invited harsh economic sanctions, arrested socioeconomic development, brutally repressed opposition and grossly violated human rights, and provocatively brought their countries to the brink of war without regard to the consequences of their actions, and at the expense of their own people. Supremely reckless indeed.
NOTE: Everything I write in this blog constitutes my personal opinions and views.
Hayat Alvi, Ph.D. 