Precisely correct. This isn't genocide, it's a callous manipulation of the means of production in favor of one political class and to the detriment of all others. And as long as Mugabe controls the means of distribution as well there is absolutely nothing the U.N. can do to alleviate the starvation. Move the food into warehouses and the thugs will take control of the warehouses, as in Somalia. Air-drop it and the thugs will intercept it on the ground. Move it around the country to distribution points and the thugs will be there to "provide security." This is not really a production problem, nor is it a distribution problem, it's a thug problem. And Western media are stubbornly refusing to admit it.
Exactly, neighbor, exactly.
I'm pleased to see more than the usual number of replies to this post. Maybe people are starting to pay attention to the little horror show going on in Africa.
Who Is To Blame for Africa's Woes?***Here is how Shari Eppel, the director of the African civil-rights group Amani Trust, describes the process: "International food donors are setting up feeding centers aimed at destitute families, but once the donors have moved on, the bullies move in and decide who gets fed and who doesn't." Even the relatives and children of opposition supporters are condemned to starvation.
How can the United Nations allow this? The U.N. and its Western donors are just playing along with the post-colonialist ground rules. The West is supposed to regard Africa's poverty as the product of our evil interference, never mind the facts. So it's our duty to send buckets of money and food - but we are not supposed to enforce any rules on how the money is spent or how the food is distributed, because that kind of control would, after all, be colonialism.
In the middle of the famine he created, Mugabe had the effrontery this week to attend a U.N.-sponsored World Food Summit in Rome. There, representatives from African nations dined lavishly while they blamed their famines on the West's failure to give more aid. Welcome to the "post-colonialist" world, where Third World dictators blame the West for their sins. The West caves in - and lets the dictators keep on sinning.****