Dictators No Peace Trade List [extra Quality] Jun 2026
On the List’s three-hundredth entry, Aurel added a short addendum: a list of questions to ask before entering any trade with a dictator, a checklist a negotiator could carry in a pocket.
He called it the No-Peace Trade List.
The chain of causation: Loss of trade revenue → Inability to pay military and security forces → Regime fragility → Peace negotiations. In ideal cases (Libya, Apartheid South Africa in the 1980s), this works. In others (Cuba since 1962, Zimbabwe since 2002), it produces frozen conflict, not peace. dictators no peace trade list
He watched the Trade List scroll, the red names of his enemies turning green with envy. On the List’s three-hundredth entry, Aurel added a
“You tell us this, and then refuse to give an example of a successful trade,” Nara said. On the List’s three-hundredth entry