[EM] Zimbabwe

[Anthony Simmons]

>> From: "Narins, Josh" <josh.narins at lehman.com>
>> Subject: RE:Zimbabwe [EM]

>> >>>> However, I really don't know who the MPDC (the opposition)
>> >>>> was.

>> >> MDC.  Movement for Democratic Change.

>> I knew that much. What I don't know is what they stand
>> for, or, what sort of backgrounds their leaders have. Who
>> funds them? Are they just another band of thugs, who
>> happen to the illegal victims of political suppression?


No.


>> None of these questions have even been approached in the
>> articles I have read in the Economist, Bloomberg.com, or
>> in any media I've seen.


You will never find out the facts about it in the American
Press.  There are a lot of things you'll never find out about
in the American Press.  One of the benefits of the Internet
is that it is finally easy for Americans to read the foreign
press.


>> Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's opposition leader, under house
>> arrest for many years now, earned the Nobel Peace Prize.
>> Could her MDC counterpart come close?


While Tsvangirai is certainly very courageous, and is a saint
compared to Mugabe, he's not likely to win the Nobel Peace
Prize because the issue in Zimbabwe is not war.


>> The advantages of trading one band of thugs for another is
>> limited.


You believe that Morgan Tsvangirai is a thug???


>> For the record, there was a lot more violence in the 1982
>> Guatemala election than in Zimbabwe in 2002, and the
>> entire US establishment couldn't crow enough how wonderful
>> things had become with election in Central America.


Seems totally irrelevant to the question of whether Mugabe
is a tyrant.


>> This time, the winner is not the rest of the world's
>> choice, and 33 dead and a very large margin of victory (56
>> to 42) is insufficient.


There are a lot more than 33 dead.

As I recall, Mugabe got 52%.  There was massive documentation
that the election was stolen.  Ballot boxes were stuffed
(there's proof).  So many polling places were eliminated in
Harare and other MDC strongholds that there were huge lines
of people who couldn't vote when the polls closed.  The army
(under the direct control of Mugabe) was deployed at the
polls with instructions to help voters cast votes.  There's
no doubt that in a fair election, Mugabe would have lost by a
huge landslide.  He barely won the last one, and he has
become hated by the populace since then, yet the official
numbers show that his percentage of the vote increased.
Right.


>> Historically, we complain about elections where we don't
>> like the result, and ignore election irregularities where
>> we do.


I'm not speaking for "us".  I'm saying what _I_ think, which
is that Mugabe is a tyrant who stole and election.