Zimbabwe

[LeedsRhinos]

Would the situation in Zimbabwe be more more news worthy & would the UN be (more) involved if the situation was reversed i.e. Blacks not Whites being persecuted?

[Oneeyedvic]

Firstly, blacks are being persecuted out there.

 

Secondly, Zimbabwe does not have any oil or many precious metals that the 'western world' requires, so it becomes unimportant.

 

Thirdly, they have no big army and are not developing nuclear weapons and are not within easy fighting distance of the 'western world' so again not important

 

But I may just be cynical

[El D]

to be perfectly honest, zimbabwe seems to have dropped off the news here. Likely due to political pressures imo. as a consequence, I only have a vague idea of what is happening there beyond the 'repatriation' of white land to black farmers and political intimidation, terror squads etc. Apparently a great many people are going to starve there very soon, so we will see what the international community makes of that.

 

This question was sort of raised on question time last nite - the consensus is that mugabe is a sneaky ****** who knows how to play the international stage for max sympathy. Add in his colour and it becomes a sort of no go area for intervention. Still, when he's ruined the country it wont be us picking up the pieces, as that would be idiotic . . . lol i wonder.

[Bangkok]

He is now dispossessing the black farmers he installed on previously white owned frams, and replacing them with cronies and those to whom he is indebted politically.

Oneeyedvic, if anything, you are not cynical enough.  You overlooked mentioning that they don't control a trade route (such as a large canal), and that the major export is tobacco, so the EU and the US can actually increase their sales of home grown leaf

[Natalie6]

Yes, very sad but true. Mugabe has been allowed to be openly racist against the white people and he has been allowed to single handedly destroy the economy and peace of what was one a wondeful country. He is a man who hates white people and is not afraid to say it. All racism is wrong and yet his has been condoned by the international community by not doing anything about it.The people of his country have suffered so incredibly. Watch out for the elections next year, he will get back in again as he runs the country by fear  and dictatorship, He ruins any oppsition as he is a scared old man who is trying to hold on to as much power as he can at the expense of peoples lives. He wants to die in power and live his life of luxury in his ivory tower at the expense of his people as he knows that will not survive if he is not re-elected. An utterly selfish and evil man.

[TTFresh]

As oneeyedvic said above, Mugabe is happy to attack blacks and whites alike - though he appeared to begin with the blacks loyal to or employed by whites.  I think that could be more to do with the fact that attacks on whites were reported more by western news agencies than anything else. 

South Africa did stand alongside Zimbabwe for a little while (and would also be a good a platform as any for an assault) but if you look around the continent, there are things going on that beggars belief.  Genocide, corruption, mass deaths from famine and disease,human trafficking, child prostitution, slavery, racism, rape, religious extremism, terrorism and all of this is on a huge scale. 

The west is reluctant to get themselves involved and when countries do they usually do it alone.  For some reason it is a political black hole and noone wants to touch it with a sh*tty stick - I mean Sudan is an example of overt racism, religious extremism, rape, murder, ethnic cleansing and government participation in this.  Yet we still await a UN resolution with a bite to go with the bark.