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Headlines : InternationalZimbabwe Opposition Offices Ransacked
Mugabe has ruled since his guerrilla army helped force an end to white minority rule and bring about an independent Zimbabwe in 1980, but his popularity has been battered by an economic freefall that followed the often-violent seizures of white-owned commercial farms in 2000.
The election commission said it was still receiving ballot boxes from the provinces, raising questions about where the votes had been. The opposition has charged Mugabe planned to rig the results, and Western election observers have accused him of stealing previous elections.
Mugabe, who appeared on state television for the first time since the elections, was said to be pondering conflicting advice from his advisers on whether to quietly cede power or face a run-off, both humiliating prospects for the 84-year-old president.
[Posted By Dilated_Rebel]Republished from Yahoo! News
Intruders ransacked offices of the main opposition party and police detained foreign journalists Thursday in an ominous sign that President Robert Mugabe might turn to intimidation and violence in trying to stave off an electoral threat to his 28-year rule.
Earlier, Mugabe apparently launched his campaign for an expected run-off presidential ballot even before the official results of Saturday’s election were announced, with state media portraying the opposition as divided and controlled by former colonial ruler Britain.
Five days after the vote, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission still had not released results on presidential election despite increasing international pressure, including from former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, who recently mediated an end to Kenya’s postelection violence.
Posted by Dilated_Rebel
Born and raised very humbly in a “small town” in southern California, I was a product of different worlds. Literally, part of my family descends from Mexico the rest from Portugal and Uruguay. This mixture had kept me from supporting any racist psyche found...
Tsvangirai says Mugabe preparing violence
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s opposition accused President Robert Mugabe on Saturday of deploying loyal forces and liberation war veterans for a “war on the people” to reverse the result of last weekend’s election.
Election standoff in Zimbabwe — The threat of imperialist intervention
The British and US governments are engineering the transition to a new regime that will be more open to transnational investment, will allow the resources of Zimbabwe to be more freely plundered and make a well-educated English-speaking working class available for exploitation.
Whether Mugabe retires from the political scene gracefully or stands and fights, the present crisis is an indication of a shift in world politics that has brought to an end the period when nationalist regimes could present themselves as liberators of the African masses.
Zimbabwe is in the hands of the moneylenders who are laying claim to everything in sight. These standby credits will ensure a huge transfer of wealth from one of the world’s poorest nations to the international bankers and transnational corporations.
Mugabe has tried every method in his power to escape from the grip of the international bankers and corporations, without success. He refused to implement IMF measures, stopped repaying his loans for a time, and seized the land of white farmers and redistributed it to his supporters.
In his latest bid to maintain an autarkic economy that did not depend on international finance or Western companies he has turned to China, which has become one of the major backers of his regime. China’s need for platinum and chromium to feed its booming economy gave Mugabe the chance to survive a little longer. Mugabe’s “Look East” policy saw trade between the two countries increase to US$100 million.
China is one of the biggest investors in Zimbabwe.
But in recent months, Beijing has, if not cut Mugabe adrift, at least adopted a lower profile.
[NB – This is Australia talking]
David Dorwood of the Africa Studies Institute of La Trobe University, Melbourne, told Australian Broadcasting Company News that Beijing had concluded that it was only a matter of time before Mugabe went: “They want to secure their resources with the new administration and therefore are sort of taking less of an active role in propping up the ZANU-PF and Robert Mugabe.”
China’s interest in Zimbabwe would “persist irrespective of the government,” Dorwood said. Beijing would welcome a Tsvangirai administration because “Zimbabwe has become really quite dysfunctional. The Chinese need to have reliable infrastructure.”
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Does it look to you like China is using Zimbabwe to calm the Behemoth? As sort of a sacrificial lamb? Like they’re both going to pounce on the newly opened kimono and rip the poor virgin inside to shreds?
Yeh. It does. Kinda.
Why They Hate China
Well, you have to hate someone…