Q:I want to test the ability of students to read a passage and answer questions about it. Could you please come up with a good question for the passage "Sassou Nguesso aligned the country with the Eastern Bloc and signed a twenty-year friendship pact with the Soviet Union. Over the years, Sassou had to rely more on political repression and less on patronage to maintain his dictatorship."?
A:
How did Sassou operate during his course of rule?