Ethiopia and Iran are both great examples of the West propping up pretty terrible dictators, who were subsequently replaced by something much worse. That forei

Ethiopia and Iran are both great examples of the West propping up pretty terrible dictators, who were subsequently replaced by something much worse. That foreign involvement certainly doesn't release the Derg from blame for their predilection for torture and mass-murder though... It's important to be a bit cognizant of the political situations, though. The willful ignorance of Ethiopia's political reality when Live Aid happened led to piles of charity dollars essentially going straight to the Derg, and thus into arms deals to continue the war with Eritrea.