Captain's Quarters -

Ed, I am sure I speak for everyone who reads Captain's Quarters. We all are thinking about the First Mate and the Donor. We all are looking forward to a very successful and happy outcome, send our best wishes to them and you and both families.

Unfortunately, I think most of us think this business in Dar es Salaam came out as we expected. This group of nations doesn't give people much cause for optimism. I wasn't expecting anything good from Mbeki. In addition to his, "aids and abets a bloody and incompetent tyrant", he aids and abets AIDS.

Africa wins again...

I for one won't be holding my breath waiting for the Left & Liberals to march in denounciation of the sell out of the Zimbabwe people.

I forget where I read this, but South Africa will go down the same path when Nelson Mandela dies. He is at this point the conscience of S. Africa. When he goes there will be no conscience anymore.

I find I have to agree with both rbj and musterion above. Africa looks more and more like a lost cause. And waiting for liberals to condemn them is not worth the effort. It would require moral courage, something sadly lacking on the Left.

Again Africa is its own worst enemy. It has been called utterly corrupt as a continent.

How much African blood has been shed by Africans?

It's racist to point that out, I suppose.

S. Africa itself is no garden spot today, with many of its citizens living in squalid camps, barely noticed by the government. Yet, several years ago, I happened to catch a documentary about the Zimbabweans who travelled the South African trains, illegally I think; but all were seeking anyplace EVEN THEN but Zimbabwe.

It is a measure of the moral compass of today's world situation that Zimbabwe's plight is countenanced. Even the UN has countenanced Mugabe's terrorism against his people. Mugabe was a featured guest a couple years ago at the UN Agricultural gathering, even as he starved his people.

Where are those who will fight the corruption of Africa?

Why would strong men who rule countries give any encouragement to those they rule that they can obtain change through protest whether internal or external. By thwarting any effort for reform or freedom in Zimbabwe, they discourage any similar efforts at home.

Besides, if they ever get criticized by Western governments, they can count on Mugabe to speak up for them in blaming all problems on the West rather than on native African misrule. So, there should be no surprise that these snakes will all stick together under their rock. .

The elephant in the room with regards to Mugabe is Rhodesia.

I am old enough to remember when Ian Smith and P.K. van der Byl and Lord Richard Cecil were saying that Mugabe was a Communist, Terrorist, Thug, I remember the White Rhodesians saying that putting Mugabe in charge would cause nothing but pain, devistation, and death for ALL Rhodeisans, black and white.

To speak out against Mugabe, to point out what an utter murderious mess he has made of a once rich nation would be to indirectly point out that Smith, van der Byl, and Cecil were (tragicly) right. The people living in Rhodeisa today, black and white, are not just worse off than they would have been had Mugabe not won, they are worse off than they were BEFORE Mugabe took power.

If however, anyone were to publicly point this out; they would be pointing out that another one of the Left's (and the UN and the Carter Administration's) main "crusades" was an total, bloody, failure. One would also be pointing out that Black Africans are just as good at murder, opression, and tyrrany as the White Africans and White Europeans were. This is something no one of the Left wants to do. If you point it out you also run the risk of being seen as a supporter of the racist White Rhodesian government, which is something nobody on either the Left or the Right wants to do.

So everybody goes on pretending that Mugabe isn't the worst thing that ever happened to the area, and the people of Zimbabwe just go on dying, and the folks who made it all happen just pretend that they aren't responsible.

So many posts denouncing the "left" and "liberals" Was it Monkei that said something about the GOP standing for the take no responsibility for any thing? That is the truest thing that could ever be said about republicans. Never take blame, blame the "left", yeah, and my dog ate my homework. IMHO the gop needs new talking points. The "the left is to blame for everything" didn't seem to work so well in the midterms. Its called denial, and people are calling them on it. That train has left the station, yesterday's news, and that dog don't hunt anymore,

Except the GOP wasn't the ones applauding Mugabe's rise to power, now was it, Liberal Democrat? It was the Left who supported the "National Liberation" goons in the third world, and it's the Left who should be hanging their heads in shame over the results.