“Zimbabwe a laughing stock, says Mugabe”

Possibly the understatement of the day, Zimbabwe formerly known as Rhodesia teeters on the brink of total chaos. Rhodesia was the common name of the former British Colony that declared independence under the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965. Rhodesia under Prime Minister Ian Smith was subject to UN sanctions until the UDI ended in 1979. During the 70’s a vicious brush war was fought between the minority white government under Smith and the communist backed forces of ZAPU under Joshua Nkomo and ZANLA under Robert Mugabe. When the Smith government finally threw in the towel, supervised elections were held in in 1979. The election results showed that Bishop Muzorewa's United African National Council had taken 67% of the vote. This government was doomed from the start and and lasted 195 days until the next election when the avowed Marxist Mugabe was elected and assumed power on April 18, 1980. Mugabe promised to share power and the victorious black nationalists were rather less concerned by Operation Quartz, a possible coup attempt by the Army than by the possibility that there might be a mass exodus of the white community of the kind that had caused chaos in Mozambique. He agreed that he would abide strictly by the terms of the Lancaster House Agreement and that changes in Zimbabwe would be made gradually and by proper legal process. This of course was the first of many of Mugabes lies. During the years since independence Mugabe has shown what a nice little Stalinist dictator he is, quick to blame the evil west for his own disastrous policies. He nationalized the press, suppressed all opposition, nationalized most industries and destroyed agriculture starting in 2000 by seizing the land of the white farmers and giving it way to his cronies, the final grab was completed just a few weeks ago. This has left the country of Zimbabwe in total chaos, Zimbabwe's current hyperinflation and food crisis, described by some observers as the country's worst humanitarian crisis since independence has the country on the edge of the abyss. What is sad is Rhodesia used to be known as the breadbasket of Africa and was a net exporter of food stocks. Today life expectancy in males has dropped from 60 to 40 one of the lowest in the world and there are over 5 million people suffering from HIV/Aids. In addition there have been widespread reports of various civil and political human rights abuses throughout Zimbabwe, in particular against opponents of the government as reported by Amnesty International and Human Rights watch. Most Americans have no idea what is going on in Zimbabwe today, could this be because the left MSM is once again simply ignoring the suffering under another Stalinist dictator, who's is just like their hero’s, Mao, Castro and Chavez? I wonder what would have happened if the west had actually backed Bishop Muzorewa government and beaten back the Marxists?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/09/wzim109.xml