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[Mark]

Very good move indeed

[nkp2]

Prevents bloodshed I guess. It's incredibly disappointing. I wish the UN would act and not just say "we condemn this and that blah blah blah".

[measdale]

The entire world knows he will lose because of Mugabe cheating so why play his stupid game when you know the outcome especially when it will mean more death?

That's not a given, since the actual electoral process (and the judiciary, hard to believe) is still pretty independent from the military and the government ...
... just look at the original results, which Mugabe lost.

But the longer it goes on, the more people involved in running the Opposition's campaign are being beaten and murdered ... as are a lot of people who are simply believed to be voting for them.

I actually think Tsvangarai would win, but I think that would immediately lead to a coup (too many of the military are heavily involved in the Mugabe government, and have too much to hide and too much to lose).
And Tsvangarai would likely end up exiled or executed ...

Dreadful situation.

I remember when Southern Rhodesia was a prosperous jewel in southern Africa ... hard to believe, looking at it now. In that whole area, only Botswana isn't a total f**k up.

[measdale]

What do you mean it's not a given? Supporters and their families are being murdered and therefore many people will not risk their lives to vote AKA Mugabe cheating.

There's no denying Mugabe is cheating.

A huge number of people are being killed and intimidated but (compared with the size of the electorate) it's not that significant - they're relying on the threat of retribution, more than the actuality, so Opposition supporters are still likely to be in the majority.

But I'm saying that despite the intimidation, as with a couple of months ago, a lot of the population is still quite likely to put their faith in the electoral system and vote against him.
And since the electoral process is fairly independent, those votes would end up being counted and the result in that case would go against Mugabe.
But I doubt Tsvangarai would be allowed to take power ...

[Mark]

Yup, completely pisses me off

[nkp2]

Not entirely true. CHina is providing diplomatic protection for Zimbabwe and not only that, but Russia signed a UN treaty drafted by Britain - the first sign of any condeming of the violence from them. Along with two other nations I forget. Hard ti justify putting in troops if not everyone is behind you. We don't want another Iraq situation.

People care, and people are doing things, but the situation is highly unstable.

[Bevc]

Apparently the ICC will step in here - they are to discuss a world ban of the Zimbabwe cricket team - that will really hurt

[measdale]

 Hard ti justify putting in troops if not everyone is behind you.

Whoa -
Surely hard to justify putting in troops ... period?
On account of that being an illegal invasion of a foreign country?

If we're going to start invading countries because they're killing and intimidating their own people, and they're not "democratic" in the way we define it, then there's a whole list of countries higher up on that than Zimbabwe.

Apart from a purely moral objection to war, a military intervention in Zimbabwe would probably kill more people in the first week than Mugabe's managed to kill in the last decade.