Posted on 04/19/2008 10:17:20 AM PDT by canuck_conservative
We know most of our readers need no further proof that inter -nationalist organizations such as the Commonwealth, the United Nations and the African Union (AU) are nothing more than toothless debating societies. But those few who need more convincing need look no further than Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe is stealing last month's elections in plain sight, and not one of the major talk-shops is lifting a finger to stop him.
Sunday will mark three weeks since Zimbabweans voted for a parliament and president, and still the official results have not been released. The country's national election commission, appointed by Mr. Mugabe, has offered no convincing explanation for the delay, fuelling speculation that the results favour the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and that the commission is merely stalling
The world community has essentially washed its hands of Zimbabwe's crisis until it can stuff enough ballot boxes to swing the tallies back in favour of Mr. Mugabe's socialist ZANU-PF party.
This weekend will be crucial. If Zimbabwe's courts -- also full of Mugabe appointees --permit the election commission to go ahead with recounts in the 22 constituencies whose results are disputed by Mr. Mugabe's followers, but not in the 60 challenged by the MDC, then by Monday it may be possible for ZANU-PF and Mr. Mugabe to claim re-election.
The local results that trickled out after the March 29 election showed the main opposition winning 109 of 210 parliamentary seats to ZANUPF's 97. Meanwhile, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai captured just over 50% of the presidential ballots, while Mr. Mugabe received just under 50%. With such slim margins, it would not be necessary for Mr. Mugabe's handpicked commissioners to rig the vote much to reverse the results in his favour. (Even if the Mugabefriendly courts rule against the recounts he has demanded, the election commission says it will go ahead, another sure sign that Mr. Mugabe and his cronies are intent on winning at all costs.)
So where are the Commonwealth, the UN and the AU? They have each essentially washed their hands of the crisis. They all claim to have ceded responsibility for breaking the Zimbabwean impasse to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), an emerging union of 14 nations in the region, patterned after the EU.
But the SADC is dominated by South Africa, and South African President Thabo Mbeki is an old chum of Mr. Mugabe's. It is no coincidence that the SADC last week appointed Mr. Mbeki to broker a deal between Mr. Mugabe and his opponents, nor that Mr. Mugabe has felt free to crack down on the opposition in the days since, arresting scores of MDC officials and accusing Mr. Tsvangirai of treason, an offence punishable by death in Zimbabwe.
By off-loading responsibility to Mr. Mbeki, the Commonwealth, UN and AU have, for all intents and purposes, given their blessing to Mr. Mugabe's electoral theft. Mr. Mbeki is too cozy with Mr. Mugabe to force his old anti-colonial warrior-in-arms to play fair, and the large international organizations knew this when they agreed to step aside for the SADC.
On Friday, in a bizarre speech filled with the sort of conspiracy theories that Mr. Mugabe is fond of peddling whenever his iron rule is jeopardized, the 84-year-old strongman claimed that under his opponents, Zimbabwe would "go back to white people, to the British."
Many Zimbabweans no doubt wish this were true. Since independence in 1980, the annual income of the average Zimbabwean has fallen from $1,200 to under $500. Unemployment is currently as high as 80%, and inflation is well over 120,000%. Mr. Mugabe's land reforms, corruption and flights of central-planning fantasy are the reason, but the President has instead blamed his problems on foreign (especially British) conspirators.
As clownish as Mr. Mugabe's threats are, the joke is very much on the world community. For all our moralizing, he will never be forced from office so long as cowardly international organizations refuse to act against him. And Zimbabwe will never be able to recover so long as the international community timidly leaves Mr. Mugabe in power.
Africa.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Maybe Jimmah could stop by - and stay there .....
Typically, the most a government will do to protect your rights is to protect you from a foreign invader. When your own government is the problem, you're on your own. Here, we have the Constitution, and especially the second amendment which allows the citizens to take our country back from an abusive government. This needs to be an example in textbooks of why the American model of individual liberty is an almost unique bright spot in the history of the world.
Of course it won't be in textbooks, because the textbooks now are written for the government schools, and this is not something they'd like to bring up.
Remember, back in the days of Rhodesia, Robert Mugabe’s ZANU was backed by the Chinese while Marxist rival Joshua Nkomo’s ZAPU was backed by the Russians.
Why has no one questioned Obama about this? Mugabe has interfered with Kenyan politics as well, where Obama’s first cousin, Raila Odinga, is now Prime Minister.
How can Obama fairly deal with central Africa when his cousin is in such a position? Why does he get a free pass? Why does no one question him about this? What is his stand on Mugabe and the election in Zimbabwe? What is Obama’s stand on the theft of farmland from white Zimbabweans?
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