5-stage dictator removal

A programme about Libya on the telly reminds me of my post a year ago where I remarked that Col Gaddafi was transitioning between Dictator Stage 2 and 3. The Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad, is currently hovering between those two stages himself - sometimes offering concessions, sometimes crushing revolt by killing innocent people.

I can only advise him (he is a keen follower of this blog, but likes to lurk rather than comment) to remember that I was right last time. And I'll probably be right again. The only question really to be settled is whether what comes after him will be better or worse.

Ἐποίησεν κράτος ἐν βραχίονι αὐτοῦ,

διεσκόρπισεν ὑπερηφάνους διανοίᾳ καρδίας αὐτῶν·

καθεῖλεν δυνάστας ἀπὸ θρόνων

καὶ ὕψωσεν ταπεινούς,

πεινῶντας ἐνέπλησεν ἀγαθῶν

καὶ πλουτοῦντας ἐξαπέστειλεν κενούς.