The Problem With Friendly Dictators

What is the problem with friendly dictators? During a discussion on Fox this week about Musharraf, William Kristol explained:

KRISTOL: They are sending Deputy Secretary Negroponte over there earlier this weekend. This is the Marcos moment, I think, where we tell our ally, the friendly and decent dictator, that his time has passed. The problem with these friendly dictators is they end up wanting to hang on, they like being dictators beyond when it is in their country's national interest, and beyond when it is in our interest. I think this actually manageable. I do think Musharraf is going to have to go.

This is why we need experts like William Kristol. Unsophisticated people might think the problem with friendly dictators is the "dictator" part. In particular, individuals whose testicles the friendly dictators have hooked up to electrodes often focus on this to the exclusion of what actually matters, which is whether or not the dictators are effectively serving the needs of William Kristol and his friends.

Then there's the dictators themselves. They often are concerned with the way the lifespan of ex-dictators tends to be short. What they don't understand is that they should be happy to die if that's convenient for their employer, the United States. Just as William Kristol doesn't worry about what happens to his maids after they've outlived their usefulness, why should he worry about his dictators?

(Thanks to Dan for sending me this.)