Dictator Style

FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Lifestyles of the Rich and Fascist

They are quirky, vibrant, and they march to the beat of their own military drums, when they're not off committing crimes against humanity. Since time immemorial, autocrats, absolute monarchs, dictators, and less than savory heads of state have shown a penchant for the unconventional and over-the-top, in both their personal lives and political careers.
When Senior General Than Shwe was spooked by a negative astrological reading, he abruptly ordered that the capital of Myanmar be moved from Rangoon to a dusty jungle town called Pyinmana. This billionaire old-boys club has been increasingly under the spotlight as pop culture has melded with their pomp culture. Ugandan president Idi Amin's antics were chronicled in a recent film, The Last King of Scotland, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone have given despots like Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il their 15 minutes in the cartoon creations South Park and Team America. In the book Dictator Style: Lifestyles of the World's Most Colorful Despots (2005), Peter York played Robin Leach to a catalog of garish and grandiose dictator homesteads from Mussolini manor to casa Tito.
As Cuban Commandante Fidel Castro, rumored to be on his deathbed, is poised to release his self-titled autobiography in early spring, and Saddam Hussein's O.J.-like trial has ended with him sentenced to be hanged by the end of next month, the fascist fascination is sure to grow. To bring you up to speed, Radar has compiled a list of ten autocrats that rate not so much for their ability to govern with an iron fist but for their personal levels of outrageousness and eccentricity. After all, there's no business like show business ... except maybe a career in totalitarian political domination.

http://www.radaronline.com/features/2006/12/autocrats.php