By Andrew L. Jaffee

Wow. Robert Mugabe’s out-of-control insanity against his own people in Zimbabwe is “finally pushing [his] African neighbors away from ‘quiet diplomacy’ into tepid protest.” Hold meetings to talk about future meetings? A definite maybe? These nations are hesitant to do anything about Zimbabwe because of — you guessed it — the race card. When might Africa finally graduate from post-colonialism into true self-determination? Life moves on. In its simplemindedness, the extreme Left would have you believe that opposing Mugabe means you support Apartheid. But the West is willing to help this time, not dominate.

When faced with condemnation of his beating up opposition party members, Mugabe responded that Western critics can “go hang.” He’s expropriated the homes of his own people, whom he calls “filth,” and has created an economic catastrophe in his homeland:

More than 80% of Zimbabweans are living in poverty, with chronic unemployment and inflation running at more than 1,700% - the highest in the world.

Explaining Zimbabwe’s neighbors’ “tepid protest,” the Christian Science Monitor states:

… African leaders are breaking the taboo against criticizing Mugabe, who is still seen as a liberation hero for having led the struggle to free his country from white rule in the 1960s and 70s. Some analysts say that this change in attitude, together with growing Western pressure, could signal the beginning of the end for Mugabe’s regime if the opposition sustains a vigorous protest campaign.

I’ll believe it when I see it. If recent history is any lesson, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. Look at the re-ascendance of post-colonial “socialism” (round #2) in Latin America via the likes of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, or Lula of Brazil.

Are African nations willing to value a thug like Mugabe over the lives of his own people, just because he’s not white?

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Related: Dictator Watch, Africa

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