Looks like we're seeing some positive signs in Zimbabwe. My personal take: Mugabe will kill as many people as he has to in order to stay in power. I hope I'm wrong.
UPDATE: Instapundit has more coverage of Zimbabwe, and points to This Is Zimbabwe, a blog set up by the Sokwanele Civic Action Group. Their slogan? "Enough is Enough." Or, as they say in another part of the world, "Kifayah"...
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I've been following Zimbabwe for a few years now and have done a little research on the elections there. In addition to Mugabe's imposition upon political freedom in Zimbabwe, that nation's Constitution has built-in some obstacles for any opposition party.
I spell out some of those constitutional problems on my blogging about the elections. Personally, I'm not so optimistic about the upcoming elections based on my own observations and input from my contact in the country. At this point, I would count it an opposition victory if they simply prevented Mugabe's ZPF party from gaining the mere six seats needed for a super-majority and the power to rubber-stamp legislative changes to the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Joe,
This is country that hasn't been in the spotlight much. Zimbabwe is of little strategic interest to us. Colin Powell has mentioned it several times to draw world attention to it.
Zimbabwe Regime's attrocities are on par with those of the Mad Mullahs of Iran. That's not to say the MSM is giving wall to wall coverage on Iran either. Zimbabwe like most despotic and repressive governments must control the flow of news and information. An independent and vibrant free press is a prerequiste for any free society.
My wife graduated from college with the wife of a reporter of some fame who single handedly brought attention to this little part of the world, Andrew Meldrum of The Guardian.
Columbia U: Link here
BBC: Link Here
Meldrum wasn't posting the daily "boom boom" feeds and "b rolls" from his "posh" hotel room either. He sought out his stories. He put himself in great personal danger to bring his stories to the rest of the world. It's unfortunate that the current crop of MSM correspondents aren't so dedicated.
The British papers have done a good job focusing attention on Zimbabwe because of "historical links" to the country. The Commonwealth even suspended them, then Mugabe withdrew. Sad to say, France and Chirac stepped in hosting Mugabe, in defiance of EU rules; you see, Zimbabwe traditionally had lots of trade with the Commonwealth and France was hoping to get a piece of that.
A lead editorial on the subject in this a.m.'s washpost.com, pointing out the curious lack of approbation in other African nations of election abuses such as transparent ballot boxes!
>>Zimbabwe Regime's attrocities are on par with those of the Mad Mullahs of Iran.
This is a crude insult to the Mad Mullahs of Iran, as even a superficial analysis will demonstrate. (Given how lame the Mad Mullahs are, that's saying something.)
>>My personal take: Mugabe will kill as many people as he has to in order to stay in power.
Yep.