Friday, October 21, 2005

Zim's starving soldiers

LINK
(I may have posted this earlier, but it's important)

Mugabe stood fast because he could count on his political party's security forces and the military. Now there are apparently signs of in the 40,000 man army. Some troops are protesting food shortages. Another beef in the military seems to be cuts in pay. South African sources report that troops involved in the protests have been confined to their barracks and some will be court-martialed. Mugabe is a dictator who relies on batons and bayonets to stay in power. If he's failing to pay the troops (the bayonets) his government's economic problems are indeed very serious. Mugabe needs to be removed from power. South Africa and Great Britain are the two foreign powers most likely to act against him, and both have demurred. That means Mugabe will either go by military coup, civil war, or, like Stalin, retain power into a frail, paranoid old age. Civil war has always been a possibility, but it appears military coup is no longer out of the question.


And, having been in Liberia at the start of that country's terrible civil war, I know that there is one thing worse than a murderous corrupt dictator: And that is a civil war and anarchy...

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