Two flashpoints have emerged recently, threatening regional wars and pitting global powers against each other.
They happen to be run by accidental dynastic heirs, each representing a new generation of dictatorship whereby sons inherited jobs which they might never have wanted.
One is North Korea, which draws in the competing wills of Beijing and Washington with the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific. The other is Syria, where Russia and America are holding each other in check over influence in the Middle East.
Syria’s Bashar al Assad began his career as a competent junior ophthalmologist, training at the Western Eye Hospital in London, until he was plucked away in 2000 – after his brother’s sudden death – to learn the trade of Middle Eastern dictatorship instead.
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, replaced a brother who was being groomed but then fell out of favour.
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