Robert Mugabe baffles the nation.

[dendrast]

He doesn't even know what's going on is the problem. Talk about past the sell by date.

He took the country part way away from colonialism until he became a victim himself and turned into a despot.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/zimbabwe-mugabe-sunday-1.4409318

 

[Tom Sawyer]

As one comedian said, you don't overthrow a 93 year old man. You just don't wake him up.

 

[barbos]

As one comedian said, you don't overthrow a 93 year old man. You just don't wake him up.

True, but problem is people who take advantage of the situation, they always wake old man up In this particular case it was his wife.
Hard term limit is good idea.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

He doesn't even know what's going on is the problem. Talk about past the sell by date.

He took the country part way away from colonialism until he became a victim himself and turned into a despot.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/zimbabwe-mugabe-sunday-1.4409318

He was a despot from day 1 and promptly started turning it into a shithole as soon as he came to power. The signs were obvious but the western press didn't notice them until the damage was severe.

Reality: When you have a long-running war like that the result is always bad. Being able to lead such a war requires being too uncaring about people to be a decent leader.

When countries throw off colonial powers the results are sometimes good. The wars are relatively short and don't remove all good apples. When countries throw off truly hated leaders the result is very fast and generally pretty bloodless. The results very well might be good. (See what happened in eastern Europe.) However, when you have a long war against a local government (and Rhodesia was a local government, not a colonial power) the only question is how bad the result will be.

 

[Cycad]

Mugabe gone or not, it will still be the Zanu Croonies ruling the country.
Or better : securing their own privileges at the expense of the Zimbabweans.
Might even get worse.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Mugabe gone or not, it will still be the Zanu Croonies ruling the country.
Or better : securing their own privileges at the expense of the Zimbabweans.
Might even get worse.

I don't think that is possible. Mugabe was a fucking disaster. He had popular support his first year. But by 1981 he was a politically spent force, only clinging to power through corruption and intimidation tactics. Also, supported all the time by Sweden. Which is just baffling. The bizarre thing about Mugabe is that he was masterful at spin and getting positive press outside the country. He was just as bad as Gaddafi or any of the other insane tin pot dictators.

Fun fact. Zimbawe's first independent president in a free and fair election was called Canaan Banana. More fun facts is that he probably was gay. He didn't have any power though. Mugabe was number one all the time.

Zimbabwe is today in such a bad shape there's barely anything to skim off the top any longer. Whoever takes over has little choice but to put genuinely sensible policies in place. If only to get something to steal later.

 

[Cycad]

I don't think that is possible.

snip

Zimbabwe is today in such a bad shape there's barely anything to skim off the top any longer. Whoever takes over has little choice but to put genuinely sensible policies in place. If only to get something to steal later.

I do hope you are right but from experience fear it can and does always become worse before it improves.

Anyway : seems Mugabe just resigned.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Celebrations on the streets in Zimbabwae. This is the greatest thing to happen since Democracy was brought to Egypt when Mubarak was removed from power.


...


...

 

[Speakpigeon]

Gone after 37 years in power!

Now, we're not going to expect any other miracle after that. It's just one guy who's gone.

Still, this is a country with real potential. They could do well if they really try.
EB

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Gone after 37 years in power!

Now, we're not going to expect any other miracle after that. It's just one guy who's gone.

Still, this is a country with real potential. They could do well if they really try.
EB

Yeah, but they may not be conscious of it.

 

[DrZoidberg]

We might see true democracy. The Movement for Democratic change have a lot of popular support.They're well funded and well organised. As far as I know Morgan Tsvangerai is the most well known and trusted statesman. He could get the job. It's not likely. But not impossible. Crazier things have happened. It does sometimes happen that the military willingly hands over power.

edit: also... in theory Zimbabwe already is a democracy. All the military has to do to hand over power is nothing. They just have to make sure the election isn't rigged.

 

[whichphilosophy]

As one comedian said, you don't overthrow a 93 year old man. You just don't wake him up.

Make sure he's alive first.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

We might see true democracy. The Movement for Democratic change have a lot of popular support.They're well funded and well organised. As far as I know Morgan Tsvangerai is the most well known and trusted statesman. He could get the job. It's not likely. But not impossible. Crazier things have happened. It does sometimes happen that the military willingly hands over power.

edit: also... in theory Zimbabwe already is a democracy. All the military has to do to hand over power is nothing. They just have to make sure the election isn't rigged.

And I think back to Egypt. Where is the money? That shows you where the power is.

 

[DrZoidberg]

We might see true democracy. The Movement for Democratic change have a lot of popular support.They're well funded and well organised. As far as I know Morgan Tsvangerai is the most well known and trusted statesman. He could get the job. It's not likely. But not impossible. Crazier things have happened. It does sometimes happen that the military willingly hands over power.

edit: also... in theory Zimbabwe already is a democracy. All the military has to do to hand over power is nothing. They just have to make sure the election isn't rigged.

And I think back to Egypt. Where is the money? That shows you where the power is.

With a zillion billion billion inflation, nobody has money in Zimbabwe. The only thing of worth in that country is foreign aid.

Egypt is in a way better shape than Zimbabwe. Egypt actually has wealth

 

[Sarpedon]

Geez, don't mess with a guy who's nickname is 'the Crocodile.'

 

[bilby]

Geez, don't mess with a guy who's nickname is 'the Crocodile.'

- - - Updated - - -

We might see true democracy. The Movement for Democratic change have a lot of popular support.They're well funded and well organised. As far as I know Morgan Tsvangerai is the most well known and trusted statesman. He could get the job. It's not likely. But not impossible. Crazier things have happened. It does sometimes happen that the military willingly hands over power.

edit: also... in theory Zimbabwe already is a democracy. All the military has to do to hand over power is nothing. They just have to make sure the election isn't rigged.

And I think back to Egypt. Where is the money? That shows you where the power is.

With a zillion billion billion inflation, nobody has money in Zimbabwe. The only thing of worth in that country is foreign aid.

So in other words, the only way to get rich is to be the distributor of that aid - aka 'The government'.

 

[DrZoidberg]

So in other words, the only way to get rich is to be the distributor of that aid - aka 'The government'.

Which makes that government the bitch of whoever hands that money over. The cold war is over. They have to chose between western money and China. Western money means democratic reform. So that's no-go. The only other option is Chinese money. But China doesn't just hand over money. They want stuff. And they want a lot. China has for a while now been very skillful at exploiting the African situation. More so than the western powers. The Chinese aren't getting involved in the politics. They just want to make a profit.

There's no easy choices for them. And Mugabe is leaving them with a gawdawful mess.

 

[whichphilosophy]

We might see true democracy. The Movement for Democratic change have a lot of popular support.They're well funded and well organised. As far as I know Morgan Tsvangerai is the most well known and trusted statesman. He could get the job. It's not likely. But not impossible. Crazier things have happened. It does sometimes happen that the military willingly hands over power.

edit: also... in theory Zimbabwe already is a democracy. All the military has to do to hand over power is nothing. They just have to make sure the election isn't rigged.

And I think back to Egypt. Where is the money? That shows you where the power is.

With a zillion billion billion inflation, nobody has money in Zimbabwe. The only thing of worth in that country is foreign aid.

Egypt is in a way better shape than Zimbabwe. Egypt actually has wealth

Mugabe created a nation of billionaires.