it's a start. Now that country needs to stop starving to death.

Weaver95: it's a start. Now that country needs to stop starving to death.

Zimbabwe can probably bounce back from this far better than most other nations in similar situations, so there's a glimmer of hope. The absolute necessary step for that to begin has just occurred.

Ughm thank GOD.

You go die now, Mugabe. You piss off and you die.

I think we can only believe it when we see Mugabe himself conceding defeat. We heard this rumor yesterday only to see it refuted by both ZANU-PF and MDC.

But subby's right--if the army turns against Mugabe, it's over for him.

I'm shocked. I had him pegged as a "drag my corpse from this office" kind of dictatorial thug. Here's hoping their new boss ain't the same!

democracy is awesome when it works

win

fifthhorseman I'm shocked. I had him pegged as a "drag my corpse from this office" kind of dictatorial thug.


Yeeaaah... somehow I don't really feel this is over with so nicely.

Don't worry farkers, someone will be along shortly to explain how Bush is equally bad or worse, and we cannot criticize Mugabe since all the problems in Africa were caused only by Western colonialism, or that we should make ourself perfect first.

This makes the BBC's episode of World Have Your Say yesterday entertaining rather than sad.

Don't celebrate yet (new window)

Zimbabwe opposition offices reportedly raided
Police also seize foreign journalists covering presidential election

HARARE, Zimbabwe - A top opposition party official said police raided its offices Thursday in what he called the start of a crackdown.

Opposition party secretary-general Tendai Biti told The Associated Press that police raided and ransacked several rooms used by the party at a downtown hotel. No one was arrested.

Swampthing in Korea: explain how Bush is equally bad or worse

Well, Mugabe and Bush do both have millions of internally displaced black people in their countries due to their mismanagement.

vernonFL Well, Mugabe and Bush do both have millions of internally displaced black people in their countries due to their mismanagement.

Very well done.

vernonFL: Swampthing in Korea: explain how Bush is equally bad or worse

Well, Mugabe and Bush do both have millions of internally displaced black people in their countries due to their mismanagement.

Well Played.

FTFA it seems he's "privately" conceding defeat. Still not holding my breath.

links farked. argh...

This is very hopeful news. Now he just has to step down from power and help with a smooth transition and maybe Zimbabwe can go back to being an exemplar of African success. Err, eventually.

Do the honkeys get their farms back?

or maybe my school's network just blows...

vernonFL: Well, Mugabe and Bush do both have millions of internally displaced black people in their countries due to their mismanagement.

You win

Anyone have any idea where I can get a couple dollars exchanged for however many hundred thousand Zimbabwe dollars they go for now? I'd like to become a millionaire if their economy magically turns around.

/Serious

Faith in Democracy and Guns restored.

/Faith in people not so much.

Falcc: Anyone have any idea where I can get a couple dollars exchanged for however many hundred thousand Zimbabwe dollars they go for now? I'd like to become a millionaire if their economy magically turns around.

/Serious

I think at 100,000% inflation currency traders just don't bother. The money becomes worthless in a matter of seconds.

I wish a certain other politician would gracefully concede defeat...

He got overthrown! Now he's just a stinkin' flight attendant. Hey, where's my pillow?

Falcc:
Anyone have any idea where I can get a couple dollars exchanged for however many hundred thousand Zimbabwe dollars they go for now? I'd like to become a millionaire if their economy magically turns around.

/Serious

a bank

Anyone have any idea where I can get a couple dollars exchanged for however many hundred thousand Zimbabwe dollars they go for now? I'd like to become a millionaire if their economy magically turns around.

/Serious

The ZIM$ is so farked (no other way to put it) that it will probably have to be demonetized, or at the very least crushed into a new monetary system where 10 million billion old dollars are worth 1 new dollar. Go ahead and buy a few hundred million Zimbabwe dollars, but they won't be worth anything but their historical value if Zim ever gets back on the right track.

Falcc: Anyone have any idea where I can get a couple dollars exchanged for however many hundred thousand Zimbabwe dollars they go for now? I'd like to become a millionaire if their economy magically turns around.

/Serious

Wouldn't work that way. Mugabe era bank notes would be pegged at a value against a new currency. Think Turkish New Lira.

Link (new window)

This is a wonderful thing. The question is whether or not he will be replaced by a new "big man" type figure.

This doesn't necessarily mean an end to Zanu-PF domination.

gilgigamesh: You go die now, Mugabe.

I'm thinking more along the lines of the 'buried to his neck in the sand with fireants' approach to solving this problem.

I couldn't stand living or working in some run down, post-colonial third world country where a thuggish criminal leader, surrounded by his mob of criminals, could kill, lie, cheat and steal with impunity, all while intentionally displacing those of European ancestry in order to benefit those of African ancestry, with the result of a completely destroyed infrastructure and economy.

Oh, wait, I work in Detroit. I guess I'm already there.

The BBC has had excellent running coverage on Zimbabwe ever since Mugabe kicked them out of the country. They may be a bunch of buck toothed limey pinkos, but they put America's coverage of foreign news way past shame.


FTA: Senior ZANU-PF official Didymus Mutasa declined to comment on whether the party was planning for a Mugabe run-off against MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.


The refusal to comment was out of fear that he might have said, "A Mugabe run-over of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai"

Good. Only sad thing is he didn't concede by killing himself. Rotten prick.

Straelbora: I couldn't stand living or working in some run down, post-colonial third world country where a thuggish criminal leader, surrounded by his mob of criminals, could kill, lie, cheat and steal with impunity, all while intentionally displacing those of European ancestry in order to benefit those of African ancestry, with the result of a completely destroyed infrastructure and economy.

Oh, wait, I work in Detroit. I guess I'm already there.

I smell a bigot, a really strong smell of a bigot.

jake_lex: Weaver95: it's a start. Now that country needs to stop starving to death.

Zimbabwe can probably bounce back from this far better than most other nations in similar situations, so there's a glimmer of hope. The absolute necessary step for that to begin has just occurred.

I remember reading in the WSJ that a neighboring country, realized what a dumb move it was to kick off their white farmers and brought them back. They also invited the Zimbabwe farmers to farm in their country, with benefits tied to them teaching the black population how to farm the soil so they could become farmers later on.

BoozePenguin: This is a wonderful thing. The question is whether or not he will be replaced by a new "big man" type figure.

This doesn't necessarily mean an end to Zanu-PF domination.

The winner is NOT a Zanu-PF candidate, he is an opposition candidate who has been fighting Mugabe for a long time.

This sounds hopeful on its face, but I am going to be cautious and say this is not over by a stretch. I will be very surprised if the Friday Politburo meeting doesn't end with him declaring himself leader for life...I am surprised it hasn't happened sooner.

Crossing my fingers, because Zimbabwe deserves better.

I'm not getting a warm fuzzy here. More like a cold slimy.

Sorry folks, looks like things are going down hill fast.

All the major media outlets are covering a crack down by police forces, with raids on the opposition parties headquarters, and arrests of foreign journalists.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/04/03/zimbabwe.election/index.html

/sorry no html skills

Ed Willy: I remember reading in the WSJ that a neighboring country, realized what a dumb move it was to kick off their white farmers and brought them back. They also invited the Zimbabwe farmers to farm in their country, with benefits tied to them teaching the black population how to farm the soil so they could become farmers later on.

Mozambique and Zambia have both worked very hard to have the whites come back...This is not a racial superiority thing, it's a technology and engineering thing. Because of the colonial systems that made technical education almost unattainable to blacks, the sad truth is, there was no one else to keep the trains, farms, and power plants operating.

As late as 1972, when we lived in Botswana, my dads hiring criteria for native workers were simply finding men who had ANY mechanical aptitude or training of any kind. Botswana has spent forty years encouraging and paying for young black africans to go to technical schools and colleges. Conversely, Robert Mugabe did nothing to replace the technically proficient whites who were run out of Zimbabwe.

This is why it took a decade for the wheels to come of the Zimbabwe economy...Shiat just wore out, and no one knew how to fix it.

Actually he just had his thugs raid the opposition offices and rounded up all the foreign journalists. He ain't going anywhere.

FarkOf40000Years: I'm not getting a warm fuzzy here. More like a cold slimy.

I think its 'cold prickly'. I went through years of therapy when I was a kid and to this day I can remember those books.

The rub is that the new guy will likely be just as bad or worse as Mugabe. They always are.

I am sure he has managed to stash enough away in his Swiss Bank account to see him through retirement.

skink: Botswana has spent forty years encouraging and paying for young black africans to go to technical schools and colleges. Conversely, Robert Mugabe did nothing to replace the technically proficient whites who were run out of Zimbabwe.

I read recently that Botswana is trying to parlay their diamond/mineral wealth into becoming the "Switzerland" of Africa by starting up a diamond processing and market center, so the diamonds don't have to leave the continent for processing and wholesale.

Eventually they want to branch out into the financial services sector this will likely generate in central Africa. According to the article, it seemed like the biggest stumbling block was AIDS, and its effect on the core of the potential workforce.

If I had any real money, I might think of investing.

/I've got US$5 that the gov't is going to be the "new" Zanu PDF guy(Simba Makoni) as a compromise with Tsvangirai, when the election results have been shown to be rigged (poorly) for Mugabe.

It is my purpose in life to make Fark a bastion of pro-Botswana fervor.

skink: Mozambique and Zambia have both worked very hard to have the whites come back...This is not a racial superiority thing, it's a technology and engineering thing. Because of the colonial systems that made technical education almost unattainable to blacks, the sad truth is, there was no one else to keep the trains, farms, and power plants operating.

People miss this point about colonization: the colonies were not set up to succeed on their own. Britain, in particular, learned from their mistake of letting their North American colonies have too much autonomy (which allowed at least some of them to tell the British to GTFO) and did not repeat that process in Africa.

And when the time came to give these countries independence, it was basically "Well, cheerio, dark blokes, good luck to you" with very little actual transition of power.

jake_lex: And when the time came to give these countries independence, it was basically "Well, cheerio, dark blokes, good luck to you" with very little actual transition of power.

The British left the railways, hospitals and schools behind. The Other Europeans took all the infrastructure back with them.

Bonzo_1116

I read recently that Botswana is trying to parlay their diamond/mineral wealth into becoming the "Switzerland" of Africa by starting up a diamond processing and market center, so the diamonds don't have to leave the continent for processing and wholesale.

Eventually they want to branch out into the financial services sector this will likely generate in central Africa. According to the article, it seemed like the biggest stumbling block was AIDS, and its effect on the core of the potential workforce.

If I had any real money, I might think of investing.


Botswana's got a really really good thing going on. Balanced government spending, political and social stablity...

As long as they beat HIV back, I can really see them pulling this off.

noneyourbase: democracy is awesome when it works

Sometimes democracy comes from the barrel of a gun.

ManicParroT:
Botswana's got a really really good thing going on. Balanced government spending, political and social stablity...

As long as they beat HIV back, I can really see them pulling this off.

God, I hope they don't have oil.

That's a death sentence for 3rd world governments.