Mugabe Watch!

[Incendiary Lemon]

in our latest episode (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070728/ap_on_re_af/zimbabwe_economy;_ylt=Ai8kheXscclQ5JDVrhCHbF9vaA8F )


HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe has promised to print more money to fund municipal projects, a government newspaper reported Saturday. The pledge came despite hyperinflation that has created severe shortages of cornmeal, meat, milk and other staples.

[RepoMan]

How long can this shit go on?

[jpinard]

in our latest episode (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070728/ap_on_re_af/zimbabwe_economy;_ylt=Ai8kheXscclQ5JDVrhCHbF9vaA8F )

WTF - he is so beyond stupid its... dumbfounding

[RepoMan]

I just really hope that he fucking gets staked out, skinned alive, and then left for the ants someday.

[Funkula]

Sounds great! More barbaric regime change is just what sub-Saharan Africa needs!

Or is it just that "I hope he gets ousted, called to account for his crimes, and sent to jail for the rest of his life" doesn't have the same rhetorical zazz?

[RepoMan]

Yeah, rhetorical zazz is definitely lacking there.

[Lum]

How long can this shit go on?

Not too much longer. The economy has collapsed. Not in danger of collapse - it fell down and went boom. Mugabe probably can't print all the money he wants, because the $Z is rapidly approaching the point where the ink used to print the currency is worth more than the currency's face value.

Every dictatorship requires a support system. Mugabe's is the privileged class of party cadres and the army/paramilitaries. They're going to start running out of food along with everyone else. At that point Mugabe will be eased out of power and someone almost as brutal but not nearly as insane will take control and right the economy to something approaching functioning.

However it won't ever be back to where it was, because much like Idi Amin in the 1970's, Mugabe eliminated an entire pillar of the economy (ex-Rhodesian white farmers) for blatantly racist reasons. They're not going to be allowed back anytime soon, and the vast majority would probably not come back were the Zim government to suddenly about-face and lay out the red carpet.

In case you think it can't get worse, South Africa is making noises about large-scale expropriation as well.

[RepoMan]

Ah, so now I get why South Africa has been so hands-off. They're waiting for it to collapse so they can put in a puppet regime and loot what remains. Sigh.

[Peter Frazier]

In case you think it can't get worse, South Africa is making noises about large-scale expropriation as well.
Do you mean of Zimbabwean territory or of white farms in South Africa?

[Factory]

However it won't ever be back to where it was, because much like Idi Amin in the 1970's, Mugabe eliminated an entire pillar of the economy (ex-Rhodesian white farmers) for blatantly racist reasons.

It wasn't so much the removal of white farmers that was the problem, it was the allocation of the land to cronies that was a larger problem. Not to mention the slum clearances. And even both of the above don't cause hyperinflation, no doubt the government has been overprinting money for some time.



In case you think it can't get worse, South Africa is making noises about large-scale expropriation as well.
While the SA government isn't the best run in the world, it doesn't appear that the process will be affected by the cronyism that affected Zimbabwe.

[Factory]

Do you mean of Zimbabwean territory or of white farms in South Africa?
Google for "south africa expropriation".

SA nicking bits of Zimbabwe is just crazy talk.

[Bill]

WTF - he is so beyond stupid its... dumbfounding

I think "stupefying" is the word you're looking for :)

[XPav]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/04/30/vatican.beatification.mugabe/index.html


Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe arrived in Rome for the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II, airport officials said Saturday, despite his EU-wide travel ban for alleged human rights abuses.

http://www.map-of-italy.net/images/vatican-map.gif

So... stake out the exits?