Appeasing Hitler all over again (in Africa)

Appeasing Hitler in the 1930s did not work. We offered concessions and the nasty old Nazi just came back for more. But at least we learned a lesson right? Er no. It appears that the West (the EU actually) is planning to appease Africa’s Hitler, Robert Mugabe by lifting sanctions on Zimbabwe in the hope that this will make old devil less unpleasant. That the opposition MDC has welcomed the move says a lot about them (they are brave but useless) but does not make this right.

Is it fair to term Mugabe Africa’s Hitler? Without a doubt. Like Adolf, uncle Bob has a penchant for genocide, first showing this back in 1982 when he sent his 5th Brigade in to slaughter the folks in Matabeleland because there happened to be the “wrong tribe.” Rarely do I speak ill of Lady Thatcher but her failure ( and that of other Commonwealth leaders) to stand firm against Mugabe then , gave the old devil the green light to go ahead with what has happened since. Like Adolf, Mugabe has kept the pretence of democracy but by fixing elections and creating a police state he knows what the result will be. He has castrated the Church ( as did Hitler) and as the German people were left starving by 1945 Mugabe has turned a country which 30 years ago fed itself and all its neighbours North of the Limpopo into one where half the folk are starving. Adolf invaded other countries. Bob sends in his troops and arms to foster civil wars so that he and his henchmen and their Chinese allies can seize mineral wealth. Yes, Mugabe is Africa’s Hitler.

You are not allowed to say it, but I shall: the average Zimbabwean both black and white was a damn sight better of under that old racist Ian Smith and his Apartheid regime (1963-1978). The standard of living was higher, people did not starve, there were no organised rape camps and there was a free press and church. Yes blacks had no say ion Government under Smith. It is not as if they get to choose the Government under Mugabe. Of course using the Spirit Level measure of poverty, there is less poverty in Zim today than 30 years ago (because everyone is starving) but in absolute terms Zim is so much poorer as are its people than they were.
So the MDC/EU now claim that sanctions have merely made folks poorer. Tosh.

Smith operated under the same sort of weedy ineffective sanctions Mugabe has faced for years. What has impoverished Zimbabwe is the policies of Bob Mugabe. In the end Smith buckled and agreed to majority rule only when sanctions were really applied in a way that he felt, when South Africa said that it would play ball. If you want a better life in Zim the EU should be working with South Africa to turn the screw on Mugabe, cut off the oil and force his hand. As it is we are letting him off the hook. The old devil has cancer and so will probably die within a couple of years anyway – my guess is that he will enjoy those last years even more thanks to the craven EU, plundering more wealth for his family and cronies and making life for the average poor sod in Zim ever more miserable. I fear now that the only relief will come when Mugabe shuffles off this mortal coil and, if there is a hell, is given an express ticket for that place.

This appeasement brings shame on the EU (and Call Me Dave as Britain is playing ball), more shame on the South African regime and Bob Mugabe will be laughing all the way to the (Swiss) bank.