Wednesday, June 1, 2005

Sole Survivor?
Zimbabwe: It just seemed like things couldn't get any worse under the rule of Robert Mugabe. They could, they did and they will — as long as he retains control.

When we last visited "The Shame Of Africa" last summer, we noted that Mugabe had taken the nation to a new low in his quest for absolute power. This he defines as "when a man is starving and you are the only one able to give him food."

The description is apt, since a large part of the population was — and still is — going hungry.

At the same time, of course, Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed, unemployment hovers near 70%, poverty is everywhere and the value of the nation's currency has melted away.

Today, food riots, gas lines and government repression are common as Zimbabwe is ever closer to ruin. Welcome to Mugabe's Marxist meltdown.

The trouble — a term that doesn't do the situation justice — began when Mugabe seized private farms and turned them over to squatters and political cronies who had neither the incentives nor the skills to keep them running at prior levels.

The country has since gone from breadbasket to basket case: Much of it is dependent on international food relief. The New York Times reports that Zimbabwe needs roughly 1.6 million tons of grain a year.

Yet Mugabe resists the aid. Better to control a country through starvation than to feed the hungry who might become political opponents once they have enough to eat.

Mugabe's farm seizures set off a domino effect that first spilled into farm-related sectors of the economy but now is felt across a broad front.

Mugabe's answer to the damage he did was to force the dispossessed poor to the capital of Harare, where they voted against him in March, to destroy their shacks. If six miles of burning shacks wasn't enough of a message, some were beaten by police.

This, after Mugabe terrorized "black-market" traders by razing their stalls, trashing their wares and arresting thousands. An official demonized the traders for being "greedy" and "cheap." But how else could they act in the face of such economic failure?

Like the slaughters in Darfur and Rwanda, much of the world treats Zimbabwe like a reality show starring Mugabe as host: compelling TV, but be careful of emotional attachment.

This show must end. The West must force out Mugabe before the tragic conditions he has created make it totally unwatchable.

Investor's Business Daily

The West need do nothing except watch and wait.
The people of Zimbabwe must rid themselves of this guy and all his cronies themselves. Mugabe is sowing the seeds of his own distruction. Well fed people bitch and grumble but hungry people revolt. The hungrier the people get the sooner we are rid of "Robber Bob".

I doubt the polticaly correct government would do anythign anyway. We should have stepped in during the so called revolt years ago..

Someone help me out here - - - - -

Why doesn't another country step in and help these people, military style if needed. other countries have needed help in the past and they got it. I don't understan why they aren't getting it......
Robber Bob has destroyed a incredable country....

Widowmaker416,
As for why "some other country" has not attacked Zimbabwe in order to force a regime change, I would have to think that would be well beyond what is necessary at this point. Overall, the country remains peaceful and the locals are not yet demanding political change beyond their frustrated attempts at the ballot box. As long as the west and others give food to Mugabe so that he can placate enough supporters to keep him in office, I see little reason to expect an uprising from the bulk of the country's citizens. The degree of impoverishment the locals are willing to endure without demanding change is on a different scale than what you see in most areas of the world.
As for outside military intervention, I know I wouldn't want to send my son there to fight, particularly considering the locals haven't yet decided that's what they need to do as well.