You can tell a lot about a country from its government website

It is clear to everyone that Zimbabwe is literally starving to death with a population malnourished, lacking the energy to revolt, living in fear of the repression of the government. The fact that Zimbabwe now produces virtually no goods, has nothing to sell abroad is made strikingly clear from the official website of the Zimbabwe government.

Clicking on this site you expect to see news, press releases, announcements, but no, not in Zimbabwe. Literally nothing is happening, and still the world looks on doing nothing.

Thabo Mbeki - Blood on his hands

What a refreshing change the new leadership in South Africa is bringing to the crisis in Zimbabwe. Gone is the apologist tones of Thabo Mbeki who could see no wrong in the wanton destruction of Zimbabwe by his friend Mugabe, and in comes a harsher more forthright condemnation of Mugabe by Jacob Zuma, a man we were led to believe was a Marxist with sympathies for nationalists like Mugabe.

Sadly though, too much time has been wasted in Zimbabwe and Thabo Mbeki's greatest achievement as leader of South Africa will go down as allowing a wealthy nation fall apart and starve whilst he sat back and watched.

Time to kick Russia out of the G8 ?

The G8 might only be a club or richer countries, but Russia fought hard to be admitted and said ti wanted to take its rightful place amongst the other seven nations.

So why was it last night that despite assurances given, despite Russia supporting a G8 resolution for tougher sanctions against Zimbabwe, Russia chose to stab its G8 friends in the back and veto the resolution ?

Sadly, yet again, it is a sign that when it comes to dictatorships, Russia is the number one friend of tyrants and murderers.

Why is the UK Government sending MDC activists back to Zimbabwe ?

I was only thinking yesterday that I ought to write something about the shameful history this government has of sending opposition activists who rightly fear for their lives back to Zimbabwe and the Zanu-PF death squads. Then, I read the West Brom blog and read that someone has done the leg work for me.

The way we treat people seeking asylum in the UK trying to escape from Mugabe is appalling and is a national disgrace. How can we be leaving MDC activists in this country unable to work, but unable to be granted asylum because our government does not know what to do.

Hopeless confusion is the best way to sum up everything this government does.

The "brush it under the carpet" solution - Africa's answer to everything

It really does make your blood boil to hear the appeasing friends of despots who make up the African Union trying to urge the MDC to form a government of national unity with Robert Mugabe.

This is typical of Africa's answer to such problems before, most notably when President Kibaki stole the election in Kenya, leading his opposite number to be forced in to a government of national unity and become Prime Minister. Interestingly, Prime Minister Odinga of Kenya is the only leader on the African continent who seems prepared to openly criticise the elections in Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe directly, which tells us much about the way he feels after himself being cheated out of victory and seeing hundreds of his activists and supporters killed in post election violence.

The question for the AU is why should the MDC go in with Mugabe ? MDC activists have been tortured, stolen from, beaten, raped, their children have been tortured or had bones broken (including children as young as 11 months old) and on top of that scores have been murdered, but given all this brutality, the AU still expects the MDC to forgive and forget ?

Let's not forget, if Mugabe stays in power, even in a government of national unity, he will expect sanctions to be lifted, he will expect a welcome throughout the world and he will be allowed to get away with all that he has done.

Forget even the brutality towards the MDC. Let us not forget that under Mugabe Zimbabwe's average life expectancy has fallen to just 37 for women and 35 for men. These levels are similar to those suffered 150 years ago in Victorian Britain. It was not okay then, and it is not okay now. Mugabe is a murderer of hundreds of thousands of people whose lives have been cut short, and Africa's attempts to simply "sweep it under the carpet" is a desperately poor solution from a continent that ought to start showing real leadership.

Things we CAN do about Zimbabwe

Given the way Thabo Mbeki has shielded Zimbabwe's murderous regime and shown his ANC led South Africa to be traitors to the struggle for freedom in Africa, many people will wonder if there is anything we can do to affect Robert Mugabe's ability to cling on in Zimbabwe. So here is my list of suggestions of things we can do.

1) Boycott Barclays Bank.
Barclays Bank have provided funds for Mugabe's henchmen to illegally acquire farms whilst they provide a conduit for getting money out of the country for Zanu PF members. The evidence of all this is HERE, but Barclays are not interested. it is high time organisations like the NUS stopped allowing Barclays to market themselves at Freshers Fayres at Universities and people in the UK consider very strongly closing their Barclays accounts.

2) Check your other investments
Many other companies seek to trade in Zimbabwe, with fears that many pay Zanu PF in order to do so. If you have a pension or other investment, why not write a letter to the company asking if they invest in companies that trade in Zimbabwe. There are plenty that do. If enough people did this, if companies felt obliged to invest ethically, the value of shares in some leading companies who invest in Zimbabwe would be effected. Only this month one British company announced plans to spent £200 million in Zimbabwe. In reality only shareholders will have any effect on this company.

3) Make sure government leads by example
Steve Green on the Daily Referendum Blog makes the point well this morning that Northern Rock does business through its Channel Island subsidiary offering accounts to Zimbabweans. Northern Rock is a government owned company. The government should be leading by example on this. Write to your MP about this.

4) Make sure politicians lead by example
It has been reported today that some MP's have large investments in companies that do business with Zimbabwe. I don't condemn them for owning shares in companies like RTZ and BP, far from it, but now everyone is more aware that British business is indirectly propping up Mugabe, we should all be prepared to divest ourselves of shares in companies who do not choose over the next few months to withdraw from Zimbabwe. Write to your MP asking them to sell their shares and remind them that there is an election in less than two years.

Yes, I know this is all small fry compared to the big action that needs to be taken. But whilst Mbeki has blood on his hands protecting is friend Mugabe, this may be all we can do.

Why ever was Mugabe given a Knighthood by the Tories in the first place ?

I was pleased to see the government had asked the Queen to revoke Robert Mugabe's Knighthood today, but it begs the question as to why the Tories ever thought it was a good idea in the first place.

Mugabe was given the honour in 1994 thanks to John Major's government. Now if Mugabe has been some sort of saint up until 1994 and had only turned bad in the last 14 years, you could accept it, but Mugabe's henchmen had been committing atrocities for some time by 1994 yet he was still rewarded with a knighthood.

Apparently the then Tory government did not consider that the murder by Mugabe's henchmen of more than 2000 (and possibly up to 10,000) opposition activists and supporters was enough of a reason to prevent him being given honours by the Queen ?

Its so odd that our leaders felt that appeasing a tyrrant and a murderer would make him change his ways.

Zimbabwe's genocide begins

Zimbabwe took a rather disturbing step towards a "Year Zero" today when the Zimbabwean government ordered the halting of aid work across the country by foreign non governmental organisations (NGOs). This effectively means that Mugabe's henchmen can feed only those that they want to feed whilst the rest of the country, and by that we mean those who support the MDC, will be left to starve.

So what Mugabe is doing is systematically starving to death thousands of the citizens of his country.

What will the world do whilst this happens ? Are we really going to sit back and watch thousands of people die ?

At least Vietnam invaded when Pol Pot did this in Cambodia. It appears, through lack of oil or raw materials that are of benefits to the West, and through the impotence of neighbouring Southern African countries, Zimbabweans will be allowed to starve.

Will anti foreigner violence push South Africa to take Zimbabwe seriously ?

The world is utterly sick of the pathetic way most of Africa has dealt with Robert Mugabe. Southern Africa's sycophantic have fawned over Mugabe for years and despite ruining the best economy in Africa, despite letting thousands of his citizens starve to death, and despite deliberate pre-mediated government inspired violence, South Africa and its leaders insist there are no problems in Zimbabwe.

Yet in the last few days South Africa has been hit by rioting and xenophobic violence by South Africans against foreign migrant workers, the largest group of which is Zimbabweans. Despite three million Zimbabwe citizens forced to flee from Zimbabwe under Mugabe, South Africa has claimed there is nothing wrong, but clearly South Africa's own citizens disagree.

Perhaps it will take the South Africans people to make their leaders wake up to the problems in Zimbabwe. Sadly, South Africa's appalling attitude to Mugabe has allowed him to get away with murder, but it has drive its own citizens in recent days to murder too. We used to shake our heads in horror at the way the Apartheid Regime in South Africa thumbed its nose at the world as it allowed thousands millions to be disenfranchised, children were not educated and political torture and murder was common. Now South Africa turns its back and allows Zimbabwe to do all these things.

History books will treat Nelson Mandela well, but those that succeed him and his party, the ANC, will forever heave blood on its hands.

Better to be a dot as opposed to a murdering despot

According to the Zimbabwean Dictator Robert Mugabe, Gordon Brown is a "dot on the world". Better that I say than an nasty pussy boil that needs lancing, which is exactly what Robert Mugabe is.

If anyone didn't see the excellent "Headcases" on ITV last week, I've included the "Bob Mugabe" sketch that was so spot on in taking the piss out of Mugabe.

Will Africa's inactivity over Zimbabwe cost millions of lives in other African countries ?

It has been commented on by me, but also but scores of others how Africa has rendered itself impotent and unable to take on the mantle of a vibrant modern continent over the prolonged and deliberate inactivity in dealing with Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwean regime. The African Union's uselessness over many years has seen Zimbabwe turn from the very model of a modern African state, with good health care, education and an open door to investment, to an utter basket case. But the latest reports from Africa show just how short sighted African leaders might have been in pandering to Mugabe's slow strangulation of Zimbabwean agriculture.

The EU development commissioner is warning that the recent hike on food prices, which looks set to continue, could well lead to what he refers to as a "food price Tsunami", which will see millions of African people starve as they are effectively squeezed out of the market for food.

And to think that Zimbabwe was one of the largest food exporters in the world and was referred to as the breadbasket of Africa.

Sadly Africa's leaders stand up for dictators and criminality more than they stand up for the poor and oppressed. For a continent so troubled by conflicts supposedly aimed at liberating and making people free, it's leaders show themselves to be the very worst kind of stuffed shirts lining their pockets or quietly ignoring atrocities because they don't have the backbone or moral fibre to speak up.

We might have some poor leaders in western democratic states, but when they cock up it very rarely leads to millions of deaths. The difference is in Africa that one bad leader can cause millions of deaths, but put them all together in one place and it could be tens of millions. Sadly this looks like the situation they now face in Africa now. African nations fawned at Mugabe's feet and ignored him killing the goose that laid the golden egg fro Zimbabwe and Southern Africa. Very sad indeed.

Time for Africa to grow up over Zimbabwe

Mugabe is known throughout the world as a tyrant who has destroyed a prosperous economy and cheated his way to power in successive elections. Despite this and the thousands of deaths he has caused amongst the black population of his country, he is still revered by many Africans as some sort of hero because he cocks a snoop, pulls faces and shouts at the former colonial master.

Now, with Mugabe about to steal another election, isn't it about time Africa grew up ?

The fact that the African Election Observers declared the election to be free and fair before the results were even announced says something about Africa's attitude towards Mugabe. How can you say an election was fair since a key part of the election is checking that the votes are counted fairly and accurately. The African Election observers were nothing more than a rubber stamp for Mugabe and were simply window dressing designed to legitimise mass fraud.

Africa, if it is to be seen as a modern vibrant place that should be seen as the equal (rightly so) of the rest of the world, needs to stand up and be counted. Zimbabwe's neighbours need to make clear that a stolen election is not acceptable and put aside Mugabe's rhetoric about Britain, and accept that he is a criminal and his time is up.

Brown may be right, but isn't it hypocritical of the government to boycott Zimbabwe ?

I agree with Gordon Brown not wanting to attend a meeting at which Robert Mugabe will be attending, but cannot help but feel Labour are being hypocritical in its dealings with Zimbabwe.

I remember the England Cricket Team looking for guidance from the government a few years ago when they were committed to play matches in Zimbabwe, but didn't want to play them for fear of legitimising Robert Mugabe and because of the propaganda he would gain from being at the matches and shaking hands with the players. At the time the government failed to offer the English Cricket team any way of getting out of these matches. At the time the ECB wanted the government just to make a statement saying that they should boycott the matches, but the government even refused to do that.

So yes, Gordon Brown is right to snub Mugabe, but lets have more joined up thinking from the government and prevent our sporting teams having to greet and legitimise Mugabe's regime too.

Barclays Bank - Mugabe's biggest supporter

This story in The Sunday Times today says it all.

Barclays Bank, it is alleged, funded and organised Mugabe's stealing and handing over of farms to his supporters.

Time for a campaign to boycott Barclays ?

The South African supporters of Mugabe's destruction of Zimbabwe

South Africa has a lot to answer for regarding the mass starvations in Zimbabwe, the political murders and the collapse of the economy there. Whilst the world denounced Mugabe's regime, South Africa maintains its tacit support for Mugabe and forgets that it has responsibilities to stand up for the oppressed people in that country.

In the same way as Russia defends the inhuman treatment of protesters in Burma, which bodes ill for the Russian democracy, we all ought to look at South Africa and question the ANC's commitment to democracy and free speech whilst they maintain their support of Mugabe.

One clear sign of South Africa's overt support for Mugabe can be found in this story HERE, which explains that South African police now arrest anyone putting up anti Mugabe posters in South Africa, even when they are on bought and paid for advertising hoardings.

Hat tip to Liberal England for pinting me the way of the blog in question via this story HERE.

More idiocy from Robert Mugabe

When you country is collapsing around you, when foreign companies are already fleeing the country with their foreign currency reserves, when unemployment is at an all time high, when what you desperately need is jobs, investment and hope for your people, Robert Mugabe consistently fails to deliver and does the worst thing possible.

Luckily for Mugabe, he has friends in Russia, Burma, China and no doubt with Hugo Chavez too. Te problem is for Zimbabweans that Africa, and in particular South Africa, care little about the suffering of Black People in Zimbabwe. All they care about is that Mugabe is seen to attack the now tiny white population in Zimbabwe (now less than 50,000 people).

All those people in Europe who joined the ANC to fight for human rights in Southern Africa in the 1970's and 80's must feel very let down by the ANC now.

What does Russia's response to Burma tell us about Russia's democracy ?

If you were an alien just arrived on Earth who knew nothing of world politics, you might be able to divide the world by it;s political systems very easily by examining each country's response to the situation in Burma.

The EU, the USA, indeed virtually every democratic society in the world has spoken out against the undemocratic and brutal military regime in Burma.

On the other side. standing as opponents to the protests are China, of course, the puppeteers in chief to Burma's regime, and with them Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, a country that cares little for democracy or the rule of law.

So what ought it to tell us that with Zimbabwe and China stands Russia ?

Zimbabwe and China have a history, a very recent history, of butchering thousands of its own citizens, in China's case literally tens of thousands in Tianamen Square (and then spent several weeks burning the bodies). They both refuse to accept democratic reforms. Both nations have ruling elites who are grossly corrupt, incredibly rich and show a complete contempt for the law. yet Russia stands side by side with these countries.

Whilst Russia may not have butchered its own citizens for protesting (yet), surely Russia shows all the other signs of becoming a repressive one party state of a country. I always say you can judge a person by the company they keep. Russia's company tells us all we need to know.