How does a man become a tyrant capable of keeping an population under total control for decades? Intelligence combined with street cunning, complete ruthlessness capable of blowing his own son if suspected of treachery, complete indifference to deaths of thousands or millions, complete absence of conscience, the ability to tell any lie to suit circumstances or a forceful personality capable of dominating even inspiring others to do their bidding? Maybe all of these but I feel the most important tribute a tyrant must have is to be able to read people and know which ones are weak ready to be dominated. How did Stalin, Mao or Pol Pot engineer the death of millions and still were able to carry on without challenge? They did not kill anyone personally yet were able to create conditions where people turned into monsters happy to inform on, torture and kill friends, neighbors and relatives. They always had assistants to accept their orders without question and force others to carry them out. The circus in North Korea could inspire a series of comedy movies like the ' Carry On ' series if it were not for the fact that millions of children are starving and malnourished and will never achieve full potential. A whole generation of children wasted. How can anyone style himself a ' Great Leader ' or a ' Dear Leader?' You have to have complete absence of any sense of humor to walk around with a moniker like that. Surprisingly India is not far behind. You cannot make fun of any of our politicians. Their goons will beat you up or kill you. So how are we still hanging on? Perhaps we have so many tyrants that they cancel each other out. Adam Smith's hand?