Bad dude dictators and general coconut heads.

A continent away from Kyrgyzstan, Africans like myself cheered this spring as a coalition of opposition groups ousted the country's dictator, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. "One coconut down, 39 more to harvest!" we shouted. There are at least 40 dictators around the world today, and approximately 1.9 billion people live under the grip of the 23 autocrats on this list alone. There are plenty of coconuts to go around.

This JULY/AUGUST 2010 Article was published by Foriegn Policy Magazine

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The Worst of the Worst : Revisited

Who will be the next coconut to fall?

When I listed the "Worst of the Worst" dictators -- or coconut heads, as I like to call them -- in Foreign Policy last summer, bemoaning their "ignoble qualities of perfidy, cultural betrayal, and economic devastation," few people thought the tyrants would fall any time soon. Then on Jan. 14, 2011, came a loud "THUD!" in Tunisia. A coconut dropped and smashed! Then another in Egypt on Feb. 11! Then on Aug. 24, rebels in Libya seized the "Brother Leader's" compound, forcing the rat to flee into his underground tunnels and disappear. Pro-democracy activists are now vigorously shaking coconut trees in Africa and the Middle East, hoping that their leaders' rickety autocracies will also come crashing down.

This September 9th 2011 Article was published by Foriegn Policy Magazine as a follow up on the July/August 2010 Article