As we approach the end of the year, it's time to announce the shortlist of the 10 worst human beings of 2025.
Some of them appeared regularly on the lists for previous years, like Bashar al-Assad, Kim Jong Un, Putin, and Trump.
Bashar al-Assad [LISA News] Kim Yong Un Putin [both Wikipedia] Trump [BBC]
Others have made their "indelible marks" on the world just in the last 12 months, eg Milei, Maduro, and Netanyahu.
Maduro [EL PAIS] Milei [France 24] Netanyahu [BBC]
One has only just emerged, in December - José Antonio Kast, president elect of Chile. Is he a bad guy? We'll soon find out .....
10 "Bad Guys" for 2025 - in alphabetical order
Bashar al-Assad (ex-President of Syria)
A highly educated man, a medical doctor no less, Bashar al-Assad studied in England and speaks perfect English. He is married to an Englishwoman. To all intents and purposes a civilised and cultured human being.
When his father, in power for more than four decades, died, Bashar was summoned back to Damascus to take over the reins of this brutal regime.
[Leviathan]
For more than a decade he ruled Syria with an iron fist, imprisoning and killing opponents and dissidents with impunity.
Throughout 2024 large sections of the population had had enough and had taken to the streets to protest. Despite brutal violence meted out by the police and the army these agents of the regime were outnumbered and began to lose control.
On December 8th it was announced that al-Assad had fled the country and gone into exile in Moscow. It was reported by the German weekly Die Zeit that the al-Assad family and entourage are living in 20 luxury apartments in a tower block overlooking the Moskva river and that they also have a dacha in the countryside outside the Russian capital.
For his brutal record, his apparent chumminess with Putin and for being a "sick" human being, he is well worth a place on my list.
Jose Antonio Kast (President Elect of Chile)
José Antonio Kast Rist (b. Santiago, 1966) is a Chilean politician, lawyer, and the president-elect of Chile after winning the 2025 presidential election.
Between 2017 and 2021, Kast was described by some media and scholars as far-right, but in 2025 he adopted a more pragmatic policy agenda.
[Youtube]
José Antonio Kast Rist was born into a German family. His parents were originally from Bavaria. His father served as a lieutenant in the German Army during World War II and was a member of the Nazi Party.
Kast's father immigrated to Chile in December 1950. His mother and two siblings followed in 1951. In 1962, the family founded Cecinas Bavaria, a small sausage business that became the foundation of their wealth.
Kast started a law firm in 1990 and also directed a family-owned real estate company in the 1990s. He taught civil law and commercial law at Chile's Institute of Economics.
It's too early to say whether Jose Antonio Kast will turn out to be a bad guy, but it looks likely. He's cut from the same political cloth as former Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet and is already "cuddling up" to Javier Milei (qv) and Donald Trump (qv).
Kim Jong Un (President of North Korea)
Kim Jong Un (8 January 1983 or 1984) is the supreme leader and dictator of North Korea, and general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).
A member of the Kim family, he is the third son of Kim Jong Il, his predecessor as supreme leader, and a grandson of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea.
[El Mundo]
Following his father's death in December 2011, state television announced Kim as the "great successor to the revolutionary cause".
Kim Jong Un rules North Korea as a totalitarian dictatorship, which has been accused of human rights violations. He reportedly ordered the purge and execution of several North Korean officials including his uncle in 2013 and his half-brother in 2017.
Kim Jong Un's ideology departed from his father's military-first policy, professing a "people-first policy" and renewed commitment to communism. Kim revived the policy of parallel development of the country's economy and military, focusing on its nuclear weapons programme.
Kim oversaw four nuclear weapons tests and extensive missile tests, which led to heightened tensions with South Korea the USA and China, culminating in the 2017–2018 North Korea crisis.
In 2018 and 2019, Kim took part in summits with South Korean president Moon Jae-in and US president Donald Trump leading to a brief thaw in relations.
In December 2023, Kim declared that North Korea had formally abandoned efforts to reunify Korea. In June 2024, Kim signed a security and defense treaty with Russia. In October, Kim sent North Korean soldiers to assist Russian units in the Kursk campaign of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
So, is he nuts or what? Evil beyond comprehension, say I. Worse than Putin? Possibly. A strong contender for 1st place in my list.
Nicolas Maduro (Prime Minister of Venezuela)
Nicolás Maduro Moros (born 23 November 1962) has been president of Venezuela since 2013.
Beginning his working life as a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade union leader before being elected to the National Assembly in 2000. He was appointed to a number of positions under President Hugo Chávez.
[BBC]
After Chávez's death was announced on 5 March 2013, Maduro assumed the presidency. He has ruled Venezuela by decree since 2015 through powers granted to him by the ruling party legislature.
Shortages in Venezuela and a lowering of living standards led to a wave of protests in 2014 that escalated into daily marches nationwide, repression of dissent and a decline in Maduro's popularity.
An opposition-led National Assembly was elected in 2015 and a movement toward recalling Maduro began in 2016, which was ultimately cancelled by Maduro's government; Maduro maintained power through the Supreme Tribunal, the National Electoral Council (CNE) and the military. The Supreme Tribunal stripped the elected National Assembly of power and authority, resulting in a constitutional crisis and another wave of protests in 2017.
In response to the protests, Maduro called for a rewrite of the constitution, and the Constituent Assembly of Venezuela was elected in 2017 under voting conditions that many concluded were irregular. On 20 May 2018, presidential elections were held.
President Maduro was sworn in on 10 January 2019 with widespread condemnation, and the president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, was declared interim president on 23 January 2019 by the opposition legislative body—kicking off a presidential crisis that spanned nearly four years and divided the international community.
In 2024, he ran for a third term in an election which the Maduro-aligned National Electoral Council claimed he won—without providing evidence—plunging Venezuela into another political crisis. Vote tallies gathered by the opposition showed that their candidate, Edmundo González, had won the most votes. Maduro was sworn in for his third term on 10 January 2025.
On 24 November 2025, he was designated as a member of a foreign terrorist organization by the USA.
Maduro is widely considered a dictator, leading an authoritarian government characterised by electoral fraud, serious human rights abuses, rampant corruption, and severe economic hardship.
According to estimations by the United Nations (UN) and Human Rights Watch, under Maduro's administration more than 20,000 people have been subject to extrajudicial killings and seven million Venezuelans have been forced to flee the country.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela concluded that the country's justice system's independence has been deeply eroded; the mission also identified frequent due process violations, including external political interference and the admission of evidence through torture.
Most Venezuelan television channels are controlled by the state, and information unfavourable to the government is not covered completely.
In 2018, a Board of Independent Experts designated by the Organization of American States (OAS) alleged that crimes against humanity have been committed in Venezuela during Maduro's presidency.
In 2021, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced the opening of an investigation regarding the situation in the country.
Maduro is a fan of John Lennon's music and his campaigns for peace and love. Maduro has said that he was inspired by the music and counterculture of 1960s and 70s, mentioning also Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin.
This guy is worse than I thought before I did the research. Why are there so many bad people in powerful positions in the world? Sorry ..... bad men! There are no women on my list!
Javier Milei (President of Argentina)
Argentina, the most European of countries in Latin America, with its influx of Italians, and fleeing Nazis after World War II, plus a significant number of Welsh shepherds who headed for the region of Patagonia, has never had a stable, democratic government.
The regime of Juan Peron and his wife Eva was by no means the romantic one portrayed in the Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical "Don't Cry for me Argentina".
[El Confidencial]
After the Perons there were military leaders like General Galtieri who invaded The British Falkland Islands (Las Malvinas) leading to a brief war with the United Kingdom.
And now with the election of the eccentric, foul-mouthed, right-wing clown Javier Milei, it's no better.
Why are Argentinians leaving their home country in droves and coming to Spain? Because they need to earn money and not live in fear of imprisonment and death if they do or say the wrong thing.
Milei is not the worst, but he still deserves his place in this top ten.
Benjamin Netanyahu (Prime Minister of Israel)
Once upon a time I liked Mr Netanyahu, but he's spun out of control, is clearly a war criminal and should be indicted as such.
The October 7th 2023 attack by Hamas was unforgiveable and the Israeli government was right to respond in the way it did initially.
[Noti Bomba]
But now it's got completely out of hand with attacks on areas occupied by women, children and old men, massacring them on a massive scale.
The reaction in many countries of the world against Jewish communities is an outrage. Most Israelis are Jews, but Jews living in London, Manchester, Madrid, Berlin and other cities ARE NOT ISRAELIS! Is that so difficult to understand? I despair.
Netanyahu has to be a shoe-in for the number 3 slot.
Viktor Orban (Prime Minister of Hungary)
Hungary is a member state of the European Union. That means it has obligations. So, why is Orban allowed to cosy up to Putin and pretty much align himself with the outcasts of this world, namely North Korea, China, India and, of course, Russia.
Kick Hungary out of the EU, I say, and look for a legal way to chuck Orban into gaol and throw away the key!
[France 24]
Vladimir ("Hijo de") Putin (President of Russia)
What more can we say about this vile sonofabitch (hijo de puta is much stronger)? Judged a war criminal by the ICC for the way in which he has invaded Ukraine, a sovereign territory, there is a warrant out for his arrest if he sets foot in a NATO country. Despite international sanctions he has still been able to sell oil and buy arms.
He seems intent on razing Ukraine to the ground and is not interested in a peace treaty. He's my number 1 bad guy for 2025.
[The Guardian]
Donald J Trump (President of the USA)
Is this convicted criminal, adulterer, rapist(?), and embezzler, who claims to be a peacemaker while planning to invade Venezuela, expect to be taken seriously?
Well, he is by a majority of the US electorate, apparently, whereas the rest of the sane world despises him and looks on aghast as he breaks every rule in the book. I don't approve of assassinations, but why were the apparent attempts on his life such abysmal failures. Must be a strong contender for the No. 1 spot against Putin.
[NBC News]
Mel Gibson (Hollywood film star) Sylvester Stallone (Hollywood film star)
[El Mundo] [Anon.]
Two examples of famous celebrities who express their views loudly in support of Donald Trump. They should keep their deluded opinions to themselves.
Last Words
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[Freepik]
Links
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Thanks:
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