Autocrats and the road to ruin

Tyranny is both seductive and destructive. Libya's Muammar Qaddafi and Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo so believe in their right to rule that they would rather see their nations torn apart than leave office. Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and North Korea's Kim Jong-il drove their countries to economic ruin rather than allowing others to challenge their ideas.

So it's heartening that Russia, which not long ago was under colossal misrule, seems increasingly aware that political reform leads to economic progress. Russia knows how destructive one-man rule can be. Under Joseph Stalin, millions died from famine, forced relocation, and imprisonment. Shaking off autocracy has been a long process -- from the post-Stalin era through the collapse of communism, from the rise of oligarchs and mobsters to the reasserting of the heavy hand of the Kremlin to stifle dissent.

Now advisers to both President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, likely rivals in next year's presidential election, are calling for a more open system. It could be political maneuvering, but it is hard to escape the logical link between freedom and prosperity.

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