med character and highly-publicized brutality. During theIran-Iraq war, Saddam constructed immense bronze arms with his likenessabove the helmets of felled Iranian soldiers to reinforce and testify to theharshness of his regime. His brutality created a god-like persona; he was a manto be respected, revered, and even worshipped. According to AmnestyInternational: "allegations received have included the following: the extraction offingernails, beatings, whipping, sexual abuse, electrical shock treatment, anddeprivation of food and of the use of toilet facilities."16 Furthermore, according tothe Human Rights Watch: "Torture has been reportedly used not only againstmen and women but also against children . . . to punish them for acts ofopposition."17 Although the Middle East has been the residence for manifold autocraticregimes, the Orient is a prime example of the Nimrod Effect. Hong Xiuquancompounded the traditional Chinese belief in their own superiority with arecognition of Europe's technological and military advantage in his era. However, now he, as the new son of God would reclaim Chinese supremacy. He announced: "Father [God] had ordained the heavenly Kingdom to be inChina, since China was originally the home of the Heavenly Kingdom. BeforeFather descended to the earth, China belonged to Father, and yet the barbariandevils [the Manchus] stole into Father's Heavenly Kingdom. This is the reasonFather decreed that I should come to destroy them."18 Although Hong Xiuquanwas the leader of the Taiping rebellion, misnamed the Great Peace, when theQuing dynasty again came into power, he merely replaced the tyrannicalgovernment of the Manchus with a despotic regime appointing himself as thehead.Throughout all of these examples, there is one underlying factor thatappears everywhere excepting Germany. This element is one of excessivebureaucracy. Jacob Burckhardt in 1860 said the following: "When Dantecompares the city which was ...
