Kim Jong Il, its despotic leader, is desperate for financial aid and his government had recently signalled that it was keen to return to the six-party talks.

ECONOMIST: South Korea's sunken warship

Similarly, Venezuela and its despotic leader Hugo Chavez, who frequently warns of a pending invasion by the United States, has placed asymmetric warfare at the center of his countries national defense doctrine.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: China??s assymetrical strategy

Leaving the press alone was one of the many things Zimbabwe's despotic leader, Robert Mugabe, promised as part of a power-sharing pact with Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which won a general election in 2008.

ECONOMIST: The media in southern Africa