It is fashionable to be a critic of President Bush and Tony Blair, of any leader who is clearly replaceable at the ballot box but where are the words of war against Butcher Mugabe? Inflation at 254%; thousands starving, hundreds of thousands driven off into the bush, over 4000 farms ransacked and destroyed by Police and Army in order to line their own pockets. Workers hacked to death and Mugabe "celebrates" 25 years in total control of a "democratic" state. OK, so why has ben been allowed to live for so long? Why has he been allowed to torture and bleed Zimbabwe dry? Oh pardon me, sorry, there is no oil in Zimbabwe is there? Why do the other African nations not do anything? Why do the UN not invade? There are amongst you people who are two faced hypocrites. Its "chic" to attack America and her leaders, its not "chic" to defend the oppreseed people of Zimbabwe. Make you voices heard, tell your paltry politicians what you think and destroy this inhuman monster in the cancer that is a blight on the African continent. Happy Xmas Zimbabwe, tomorrow another few hundred will succumb to starvation and brutality.
If we truly are to be the "world police" then I agree, something should be done down there. However, I don't want us to be the world police. I believe that if people want change, they should do it themselves and not rely on others to do it for them. The people of Zimbabwe, just as I feel the people of Iraq, should revolt for it if they want change. If they choose not to do so or are unsuccessful at it, then they're just gonna continue living in their hell until they decide to do something about it. The people of Zimbabwe better start saying they found a lot of oil reserves or something on their land to get the attention of the big guys if they're in such desperation. That's the benefit of living in an area with resources. Governments don't help others just for the sake of being a good person, they do it for their own self-interests. If you don't have something to reward us with for helping you such as oil and whatnot, you're on your own. People gotta realize that if you want a job done right, or even a job done at all, you gotta do it yourself. - N
It does not work in reality. How can a people, oppressed and beaten, starved and killed, rise up against a state that is full of these thugs, they have no chance. If WE are not to do anything, and I see nothing to even suggest we would, then its up to the African nations to take the law into Zimbabwe and oust this person who makes Hitler look like an angel.
Operating outside of international law and majority world sentiment, we cannot gain acceptance as a policing agency on foreign soil. This means all endeavors falling under "nation-building" "policing" etc. will inevitably and inherently be self-defeating.
I dunno, tell that to the people of India that took on the #1 superpower at the time, the British Empire. Tell that to those that created America who took did so vs that same Empire and the rest of the world. Tell that to all the countries that have had a civil war and continue to exist to this day. Even an abused dog who's pretty darn sheltered like the people of Zimbabwe, they still snap and fight back against their master. Sooner or later once the people of Zimbabwe finally can't take it anymore and grow some balls, they'll overthrow their oppressors. If they don't feel that freedom is worth dying to achieve for future generations then they don't deserve to have it. If they value their horrible and abused lives more than freedom, they'll just continue to live in the hell that they're in. "If you give a man a fish, it'll feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, it'll feed him for a lifetime." That applies to nation-building as well. If you have someone like the U.S. or U.N. come in and save the people without them doing it themselves, they won't learn from their mistakes or learn how to correct it if the time comes ago which will just result in more cause and anarchy. At least some of the nation-building we've done in the past, the countrymen aided in the cause and helped fight for their cause. Even with Iraq, the U.S. did all the work and the people did nothing. This is why I feel Iraq is doomed. If someone corrupt comes their way, they didn't have the balls in the past to confront Saddam (well some did, they just failed at it), so why would they have em now? And just look at Africa and all the international aid they receive. What has been accomplished so far? Nothing. It's still a hellhole lead by corrupt people. The people have to take things into their own hands if they want to ever truly be free. - N
Isn't that exactly how Mugabe gained power in the first place ...a "people's revolution"? And, if I recall correctly, most of "those" African nations are led by similar powers from earlier revolutions. I.e., "revolution" does NOT mean that a benevolent power won't seize the reins of government. However, I do agree with the sentiments expressed in your post. I've found that we, the whole freakin' world, are little more than blatant hypocrites and often express concerns for one area of the world, while totally ignoring others that might even be in much worse shape! But I've also discovered that it's not so much out of ignorance as it is being "shaped" by the news media. If the news media wants us to focus on, say Africa, then with some "investigative reporting", we'll all turn our attention to it. If they don't want us to know something, the news media simply doesn't make an issue of it and, soon, we've all forgotten it (or happily ignore it!). In the years, months and days before the war in Iraq, if the news media had focused out attentions on Saddam's brutality and murders, we'd have all been ready and willing to DO something about it. But they didn't, so it was all simply forgotten or ignored in favor of whatever the news media wanted us to focus on. A good example is Natalie Whats-her-name who was kidnapped on Aruba ...we had weeks of non-stop reporting about it ...while millions of people were being slaughtered in Iraq and Africa and Southeast Asia! See? The news media simply controls our focus, and they do it very damned well! Baron Max
