Time for a New Trick

The world's despots are quickly running out of tricks.

One of the oldest has been to (absurdly) use the U.S. as a bogeyman for their failures and repression.

See this excerpt from The Economist:

"I'm going to reveal a secret," announced Yemen's increasingly embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to an audience at the university of his capital, Sana'a, on March 1st. "There is an operations room in Tel Aviv that aims to destabilize the Arab world." He added, unwisely for a ruler who relies heavily on American aid, to the tune of $300m last year: "It is all controlled by the White House." Playing on fears of foreign involvement is an old trick. Mr Saleh needs new ones quickly if he is to fend off the rising tide of opposition at home.

And not to be left behind,

Cuban Television will broadcast on Monday evening a documentary about "the U.S. subversive plans" against Cuba, local media said on Monday.

Problem is: a). people are not stupid and b). despots have no credibility left.