Don't look now, but you are being screwed

There is an interesting piece from CBC News and various other places:
Why Do Some Dictators Escape Justice?

The spotlight of international justice has shone on Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic to hold them accountable for alleged war crimes.
But many are asking: What about Suharto in Indonesia, Gen. Augusto Pinochet in Chile and Charles Taylor of Liberia?

Interesting, but facile! Why not ask the wider, more relevant question: Why Do Some Leaders Escape Justice?
Sure we are schooled to believe all that comes under the banner of democracy, or at least Western Democracy, is good and wholesome, whereas those who do not pay lip service to democratic principles are the clear baddies.
It is simplistic! Can we really say our system is any less totalitarian than a number of non-democracies? Do they lack the sanctioned violence of other types of regime? Is democracy really practiced to the fullest, at all levels?

My previous rant talks about a number of ‘democratic’ leaders who spend a good part of their time dodging bullets. These are people who have sought and accepted the delegated responsibility to act on behalf of their citizens. There should be no question that there behaviour is above reproach.
I don’t know if the folk at CBC have the wit to understand any of this. Even if they don’t, these types of stories are fed into the system as some kind of diversion.
Abuse of authority, corruption, sanctioned violence and selling influence are all part of our culture. Making an example of a few ‘black hats’ and pinning it all on them is a shallow but obviously successful tactic.