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There is no such thing as assisting dictators while keeping your hands clean. Those who think they can "do the right thing" while also complying with dictators are tragically deluded. Even more deluded are those who think they can "use the dictator in order to do some good":
Dictators are marked by their disregard for all* checks on their behavior. Corruption, crimes, abuses and gross injustices aren't a bug in the system, they are the system itself.
Abdulrahman Al Kawakibi defined a tyranny as: A government that is not bound by laws, traditions, the will of the people, therefore acting with virtual impunity.
Once you comply with a dictator, you *will* be involved in planning, carrying out, or covering up crimes. That is the daily business of dictators. Often, the dictators will use you like they use toilet paper - the shit will only stick on you and they'll just walk out.
As for those deluded enough to think they can "outsmart" a tyrant and "use" him to do good things - the dictator is actually using you. He has all the power, all the funds, all the intel, and the moment he doesn't need you, he'll throw you away. The dog is smarter than its tail.
Worse, you will delude yourself into thinking you're following your own agenda while actually implementing the dictator's agenda. And if you do that eagerly enough, more often than not, they *will* compromise you and get you implicated in crimes.
To think you can keep your hands clean while also complying with a dictator is to think you can shovel shit all day without stinking.
To think you can "use the dictator for good" is like a donkey thinking it gets to decide which direction to go in while being ridden. And with a tight rope around its neck, and a rifle on the back of its head.
Up there I said dictators do not accept any* checks on their power - there's one exception. Dictators are very sensitive to power, and respond to incentives that threaten their power. The language they understand is force because that's the incentive system they inhabit.
Now take this and apply it in all directions. I'm gonna apply it to the poor so-called "Muslim scholars" who think they're wagging the MBS/MBZ dog while the dog is actually wagging them. The dog is smarter than its tail.
It is reported that Ahmad bin Hanbal's jailer asked him if he's morally culpable because he's "assisting the oppressors". The jailer thought hey I have no choice, it's my job. Ahmad bin Hanbal responded: You're not merely assisting the oppressors, you're one of the oppressors.
