At the height of their power and authority, they command fear and respect. But a fallen dictator’s crimes often include not just those against humanity but also against good taste.
So it was this week, as the first street fighters tentatively made their way through the open gates of the official residence of Viktor Yanukovich, the fallen president of Ukraine.
Inside the Mezhyhirya estate, they found a private zoo filed with rare breeds of goat, a golf course and a garage full of vintage cars. Also in the grounds was a restaurant designed to look like a pirate ship, with the word “galleon” engraved on the prow.
In a country where the average wage is Dh48, such opulence was almost unimaginable.
Yet the exploitation of his country’s resources on extravagant whimsy is modest by comparison to the lifestyles of other tyrants exposed after their deposition.
As far back as the 18th century, the hungry peasants of France gazed in awe at the crystal chandeliers and silk wall hangings of Louis XVI’s palace at Versailles.
More than 100 years later, during the Russian Revolution, came the storming of the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. The mob that looted the palace in October 1917 were fuelled by the some of the world’s rarest vintages they had pillaged from the cellars.
In 1977, Jean-Bedel Bokassa proclaimed himself emperor of the Central African Republic in a ceremony inspired by his hero, Napoleon Bonaparte, that included a crown encrusted with diamonds estimated to be worth $5 million.
A crew from the BBC reached his former palace in the bush this month and found a swimming pool choked with algae and a rusting water slide. The ruins were guarded by army recruits who had been abandoned by their commanders and left to defend themselves against rebel forces with nothing more than wooden replica rifles.
Almost exactly a decade later, it was the turn of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, who fled the Philippines after a popular uprising prompted by allegations that the presidential election had been rigged.
Inside the Malacañan Palace, demonstrators found 15 mink coats, more than 1,000 handbags and, famously, an estimated 1,060 pairs of shoes, all belonging to Mrs Marcos. About 700 shoes later formed the centrepiece of a Marcos museum. The rest had been eaten by termites.
Two years later, the people of Romania rose up against the communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who despite having an official salary of just Dh11,000 managed to construct a string of palaces in one of the poorest countries in Europe.
At the time of his death Ceausescu was in the final stages of building his vast 1,000-room “Palace of Parliament”, whose construction involved the destruction of entire districts in the capital, Bucharest.
Ceausescu’s death, by a firing squad on Christmas Day 1989, seems to indicate that the greater the extravagance, the greater the likelihood of an untimely death at the hands of those you oppressed.
American forces occupying Iraq in 2003 discovered everything from boxes of Cuban cigars and Oakley sunglasses to suitcases of uncirculated dollar bills totalling US$650 million, in a string of palaces used by Saddam Hussein and his sons Uday and Qusay.
Crystal chandeliers and man-made lakes were standard fittings in the nearly 50 mansions that the US state department estimated Saddam had built since the end of the 1991 Gulf War and despite tough international sanctions. Others featured private cinemas and dolphin pools.
Uday and Qusay were killed in an assault by American forces in Mosul in July 2003. Saddam met the hangman’s noose in December 2006.
For outrageous bad taste, though, it will be hard to equal Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, whose overthrow in 2011 revealed a private world that featured fairground rides and a gold couch in the shape of a mermaid.
As looters helped themselves to everything from gold-plated pistols to racks of designer clothing, others picked through Qaddafi’s private photo albums and marvelled at the contrast with their own lives of poverty. Within weeks, Qaddafi was dead, after capture by members of a rebel militia.
Peter York, the British style guru, is the author of Dictators’ Homes: Lifestyles of the World’s Most Colourful Despots. Most residences, he says, follow three rules: make everything much too big; go for repro, for an imagined vulgarised, fake antique style; and “have as much gold as you possibly can”.
Writing in The Independent, York observes that “dictators, like flaky pop stars, install things they can never really use”, for example zoos, fairgrounds and replica galleons.
After looking at Yanukovich’s estate, he concludes it is “absolutely par for the course, which is chain hotels. The Kiev Sheraton circa 1975: put up a breezeblock and metal frame and slather it with as many cheap chandeliers and veneered panelling as you possibly can.”
jlangton@thenational.ae
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
FIXTURES
All games 6pm UAE on Sunday:
Arsenal v Watford
Burnley v Brighton
Chelsea v Wolves
Crystal Palace v Tottenham
Everton v Bournemouth
Leicester v Man United
Man City v Norwich
Newcastle v Liverpool
Southampton v Sheffield United
West Ham v Aston Villa
The low down
Producers: Uniglobe Entertainment & Vision Films
Director: Namrata Singh Gujral
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Nargis Fakhri, Bo Derek, Candy Clark
Rating: 2/5
Citizenship-by-investment programmes
United Kingdom
The UK offers three programmes for residency. The UK Overseas Business Representative Visa lets you open an overseas branch office of your existing company in the country at no extra investment. For the UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa, you are required to invest £50,000 (Dh238,000) into a business. You can also get a UK Tier 1 Investor Visa if you invest £2 million, £5m or £10m (the higher the investment, the sooner you obtain your permanent residency).
All UK residency visas get approved in 90 to 120 days and are valid for 3 years. After 3 years, the applicant can apply for extension of another 2 years. Once they have lived in the UK for a minimum of 6 months every year, they are eligible to apply for permanent residency (called Indefinite Leave to Remain). After one year of ILR, the applicant can apply for UK passport.
The Caribbean
Depending on the country, the investment amount starts from $100,000 (Dh367,250) and can go up to $400,000 in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take between four to five months to receive a passport.
Portugal
The investment amount ranges from €350,000 to €500,000 (Dh1.5m to Dh2.16m) in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take a maximum of six months to receive a Golden Visa. Applicants can apply for permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after six years.
“Among European countries with residency programmes, Portugal has been the most popular because it offers the most cost-effective programme to eventually acquire citizenship of the European Union without ever residing in Portugal,” states Veronica Cotdemiey of Citizenship Invest.
Greece
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Greece is €250,000, making it the cheapest real estate residency visa scheme in Europe. You can apply for residency in four months and citizenship after seven years.
Spain
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Spain is €500,000. You can apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship after 10 years. It is not necessary to live in Spain to retain and renew the residency visa permit.
Cyprus
Cyprus offers the quickest route to citizenship of a European country in only six months. An investment of €2m in real estate is required, making it the highest priced programme in Europe.
Malta
The Malta citizenship by investment programme is lengthy and investors are required to contribute sums as donations to the Maltese government. The applicant must either contribute at least €650,000 to the National Development & Social Fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
The second step is to make an investment in property of at least €350,000 or enter a property rental contract for at least €16,000 per annum for five years. The third step is to invest at least €150,000 in bonds or shares approved by the Maltese government to be kept for at least five years.
Candidates must commit to a minimum physical presence in Malta before citizenship is granted. While you get residency in two months, you can apply for citizenship after a year.
Egypt
A one-year residency permit can be bought if you purchase property in Egypt worth $100,000. A three-year residency is available for those who invest $200,000 in property, and five years for those who purchase property worth $400,000.
Source: Citizenship Invest and Aqua Properties
Company profile
Date started: Founded in May 2017 and operational since April 2018
Founders: co-founder and chief executive, Doaa Aref; Dr Rasha Rady, co-founder and chief operating officer.
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: Health-tech
Size: 22 employees
Funding: Seed funding
Investors: Flat6labs, 500 Falcons, three angel investors
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
Specs%20
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
- Floor Standing - Dh495
- Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
- Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
- Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
- Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
- Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
- Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
Results
6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: Celtic Prince, David Liska (jockey), Rashed Bouresly (trainer).
7.05pm: Conditions Dh240,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Commanding, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
7.40pm: Handicap Dh190,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Grand Argentier, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.15pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 2,200m
Winner: Arch Gold, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed Dh265,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Military Law, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
9.25pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Ibn Malik, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi.
10pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Midnight Sands, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
HOSTS
T20 WORLD CUP
2024: US and West Indies; 2026: India and Sri Lanka; 2028: Australia and New Zealand; 2030: England, Ireland and Scotland
ODI WORLD CUP
2027: South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia; 2031: India and
Bangladesh
CHAMPIONS TROPHY
2025: Pakistan; 2029: India
Tips for taking the metro
- set out well ahead of time
- make sure you have at least Dh15 on you Nol card, as there could be big queues for top-up machines
- enter the right cabin. The train may be too busy to move between carriages once you're on
- don't carry too much luggage and tuck it under a seat to make room for fellow passengers
BANGLADESH SQUAD
Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan (vice captain), Mohammad Mithun, Sabbir Rahaman, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Jayed (Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EShaffra%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDIFC%20Innovation%20Hub%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Emetaverse-as-a-Service%20(MaaS)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Ecurrently%20closing%20%241.5%20million%20seed%20round%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Epre-seed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%20Abu%20Dhabi%20and%20different%20PCs%20and%20angel%20investors%20from%20Saudi%20Arabia%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enine%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
