FUNNY: A hot-air balloon shaped as Darth Vader from Star Wars takes part in the Quik Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning. (Mel Evans, AP)

Ok so I have pretty much had a real hearty laugh as I always do at our news, back to reading it again after a little sanity vacation.

'A World That Stands as One'
Barack Obama addressed a crowd of 200 000 people in Berlin. Watch the video and read the speech.

Can someone please explain to me why it is acceptable that a political candidate from the States is doing speeches in foreign countries such as Germany.  I obviously don't understand, did I miss something? Is Obama the new US President? Please in all honestly I would love someone to explain this to me as I don't see the Presidential candidates from say France going around the world nor do I see the British candidates doing the same.  I am one confused blonde.  I am asking in all sincerity as I really would like to understand a bit more.

Cop held for car theft
A Johannesburg metro police officer has been arrested for being part of a vehicle theft syndicate that allegedly smuggled cars into foreign countries.

Who you going to call when they come for you? Call batman or the ghostbusters, doesn't really matter because he will be out pretty soon.  Much like the Chief of Police crashing his swanky car while intoxicated saying "Im shot drrrrrrank I kin wilk strit linnnne" Yers we believe you as well.  Best yet? All on video, makes funniest home videos look like childs play!

Wallets come out for Zuma
Free State African National Congress members and guests have pledged nearly R1.5m for ANC President Jacob Zuma's legal battles.

Let me just say that already the big guy in the judicial courts is in trouble for trying to "be super friendly" with the court judges involved in Zuma's case where he is being tried for corruption/fraud/bribery (you choose).  Now the main political party ANC, which he is president of, is sponsoring his legal fees.  Is it only me that thinks this smacks of ahem interesting?

Bush widens Zim sanctions
US President George W Bush has signed an executive order to expand sanctions against individuals and organisations in Zimbabwe associated with President Robert Mugabe.

I was speaking to a Zimbabwean the other day, yeah I know there are still some alive, about these sanctions.  The general consensus is "Why are there no travel bans on Mugabe himself???", a good question if you ask me.  Why are his bank accounts holding millions and billions not frozen? Why is he still living in such lush luxury while the people of Zim are suffering from the Sanctions? Perhaps it is my blondeness coming out again - yes I am brunette.

Can you imagine going to a shop and the shelves are bare? I am not talking about just one shop I am talking about all shops. Imagine not finding one loaf of bread to buy, milk, fruit juice, jam, toilet paper or washing powder... There is one place in Zim that has it all, there is a shopping centre on Mugabe's street, they even sell diesel jeans and rolex watches, cakes and 30 different types of bread... imagine.

If anyone can answer these questions you will make my day.

Thank you

P.S. Thank you Cape Town for standing up against a sadistic raisin!

VIDEO: Protest against Qwelane
Watch as members of the gay community gathered in Cape Town to protest Jon Qwelane's column.

I'm going back on news vacation

We are having a running argument among ourselves as to what, if anything, Zimbabwe's hyperinflation has in common with our own inflation. Three of us say it's relevant, one of us (the smart one) says it's bullfeathers. Here's why I think it relates.

1) "Inflation is, always and everywhere, a monetary phenomenon" - Milton Friedman

Friedman may have invented the hated witholding tax, and enabled autocratic and totalitarial governments (as well as obfuscate the real causes of the Great Depression), but he was right on the money here - inflation is caused by central banks'creation of money out of nothing, for no better reason than to fund wars that the people oppose and generate profits for the banks by impoverishing everyone else. In our two cases at hand, Zimbabwe and the US, both country's inflations are fundamentally creations of their respective central banks for the purpose of funding wars, Mugabe's war against his own people (the productive class), and Bush's Wars also against brown Muslim people as WELL as his own people.

2) "Thanks to a weakening dollar, companies in the United States are selling more goods and services overseas...But the biggest U.S. export right now isn't tractors or ball bearings or computer consulting or anything else American industry does. Our biggest export is inflation." Jim Jubak, MSN Money

Our financial structure isn't just busy printing money, it is also judiciously packaging government debt into securities that it sells all around the world to eager buyers. In other words, trade in goods and securities with China, et al, gets a lot of the funny money out of circulation here and into China before the excess can bid up prices too overtly. Zimbabwe, while once a food exporter, now has no goods to export, thanks to Mugabe's "Land Reform", which consisted of little more than killing or deporting the most productive farmers, most of whom happened to be white. Those farms are idle now, and Zimbabwe has nothing to export except its bad paper, which no one wants.

So, why is this bad? Sooner or later, sellers of goods stop accepting inflated currencies at face value, because they realize that the unit has lost value. This is a major contributing cause of the Arab Oil Embargo in 1973. Even more than our support of Israel, the OPEC nations turned against our money (as evidenced by oil prices that stayed well above the pre-crisis price even after the embargo was removed), the debasement of which Nixon had previously accelerated. It's why first Iraq and then Iran formulated plans to open oil bourses trading in euros instead of dollars. Particularly important is when foreigners stop purchasing US government paper, or start shedding our paper. This hurts the economy.

3) "Please China, Sell Your Treasury Notes" - Felix Salmon

Even worse is if those same foreign buyers of paper start selling in a panic. In this case, the flow of money out would stop, or even reverse, causing massive spikes in prices due to this reversal. Foreigners currently hold approximately $2.6 TRILLION of US-dollar-denominated debt. How much of this paper would these other countries have to shed to cause massive inflationary destruction in the economy? As bad as Zimbabwe is, everyone who ever held Zimbabwean paper has long ago cut his losses.

4) "These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others" - Groucho Marx

Inflation is effectively a stealth tax levied on the poor, the middle class, and the elderly by the government for the benefit of the armaments manufacturers, banks, and oil companies. Any amount of inflation does this, which means any amount of inflation is evil. Some governments are simply more evil than others.

As bad as that is, inflating into the teeth of a big recession could spell disaster. The system is so overleveraged, any significant loss of confidence in the dollar would trigger an unstoppable wave of rebound inflation that the Fed would be simply overwhelmed, an inflation that would utterly destroy the US economy. I hope I'm wrong.

The Kremlin, for its part, reacted peevishly to the West’s dismay. Russian officials said there had been no change in their policy, and that the West was once again distorting their position maliciously. The G8 statement had indeed carried Russia’s signature, but it made no mention of UN sanctions. The main point, they added, was that Zimbabwe’s travails posed no threat to regional or global stability; they were outside the Security Council’s remit.

[ . . . ]

Western illusions that Russia might side with America against the regime in Zimbabwe betray a basic lack of understanding of what makes Russia tick, says Dmitri Trenin of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, a think-tank. These days, Russian thinking divides the world into America and its docile friends on one hand, and “sovereign” countries, like China, India and South Africa on the other. Given Russia’s aim to speak for the second camp, its veto was logical—and as Russian officials stressed, it reflected the African Union line.

[ . . . ]

But Russia’s move doesn’t indicate that it has any constructive aim in southern Africa—other than exploiting whatever vestigial ties may linger from the era when Soviet arms (like the Kalashnikov, a national symbol in Mozambique) helped to overthrow white rule.

This quality of analysis isn't found in Time or US News and World Report. If it were, it would be found in scanty crumbs, floating in briny mediocrity.

Regardless of what happens next this is a powerful image.

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In contrast, new sanctions are being announced today by both the U.S. and the European Union against Zimbabwe's current administration, in a further display of gross international inequalities in power and the double-faced morality that accompanies it. No sanctions have ever been imposed on the powerful who violate international law, and conduct dubious elections of their own, and none have been called before war crimes tribunals for their actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Note that the sanctions against Zimbabwe are taking place even as the government holds formal talks with the opposition on forming a government of national unity, suggesting that sanctions are not part of a process to force a lessening of Zimbabwe's political violence but are instead oriented toward "regime change." In the process they end up eroding the credibility of the opposition as well.

Leggi l'articolo:
120 - Zimbabwe

Young and old were equally entranced by the music and poetry of Albert Nyathi and Imbongi.

]]> http://pavelmiller.wordpress.com/?p=22 Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:03:22 +0000 bubaganoosh25 http://pavelmiller.wordpress.com/?p=22 China and Russia’s veto in the recent UN Security Council vote for imposing a new round of sanctions against Zimbabwe has caused quite a stir in the British media. The huge disappointment is understandable as President Mugabe’s continuing repression continues unabated. Nevertheless, the difference in attitude towards sanctions brings up some vital questions about the future of the UN and international law in general.

    Interestingly, China came under far less criticism than Russia. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, China’s engagement with states that have inexorable human rights records, from Burma to Sudan, has been well documented over the past year. Therefore, it came as no surprise that China once again vetoed in favour of a regime that it supplies arms to. Secondly, at the G8 summit in Hokkaido, Dmitry Medvedev indicated that Russia would support “financial and other measures" in response to Robert Mugabe’s crackdown against opposition activists, leading the U.S. and Britain to believe that they would change their obstructive stance within the Security Council. The consequent ‘nyet’ vote from Russia provoked cries of broken promises. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, was particularly critical, claiming

 “The U-turn in the Russian position is particularly surprising and disturbing ... [and] raises questions about its reliability as a G8 partner”.

However, both Russia and China’s response to the criticism alludes to a far wider problem than those given credence to by the media – that of Russia and China’s foreign policy commitment to traditional Westphalian, state-centric principles of international law.

   The mainstream media portrayal of Russia’s apparent u-turn is of a power political response to U.S. and E.U. foreign policy moves in Kosovo and the post-Soviet space that are to Russia’s distaste. However, analysis of the language used in Russia’s riposte to the criticism demonstrates a consistency in foreign policy originally outlined by former President Vladimir Putin and continued by his successor, Dmitry Medvedev. Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the UN, argued that sanctions would have taken the body beyond its mandate to deal with threats to international peace and security. Sanctions

"would have created a dangerous precedent, opening the way for Security Council interference in the internal affairs of states in connection with one or another political event ... which is a gross violation of the UN charter,"

Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement. This commitment to the maintenance of a strictly state-dominated view of international law should in principle be welcomed. Russia will certainly be held to her word in regard to the Abkhazia dispute with Georgia where she has certainly been involved in the domestic affairs of its neighbor.

      The wider problem concerns the international community’s most pressing challenges in Darfur, Burma and Zimbabwe, which demand more of the UN than it is mandated to do. In the de-colonised, post-Soviet world, civil war has posed the biggest military threat to humankind the world over, ranging from Rwanda to Kosovo. In 2005, world leaders agreed on the Responsibility to Protect through a UN General Assembly Resolution. While exciting in principle, China and Russia’s alternative interpretation of international law is demonstrated by their preference of state sovereignty over human rights and self-determination. Dmitry Medvedev made Russia’s stance clear in a recent speech to the country’s diplomats outlining his foreign policy values -

 “It is absolutely essential to identify and resist the attempt of national or group interests to ignore international law. After all, this is the set of rules that has been and remains the most solid foundation for relations between nations”.

     Russia’s vision of a multi-polar, rule based international order creates a paradoxical situation for the West’s vision of global relations. On the one hand, it is encouraging that both China and Russia are committed to a set of principles enshrined by the UN in 1945 which maintains international peace and security. However, 21^st century challenges require nations to bear a greater responsibility for solving problems that transcend their borders – from climate change to poverty and increasingly, the responsibility to protect those who are not treated humanely by their government. Russia has shown no inclination up until now, that it will assist in setting any kind of precedent for interfering in another nation’s domestic affairs.

      Although this may contradict the political realities of Russia’s meddling in the affairs of it’s ‘near abroad’, in terms of values, Russia has become one of the leading voices in a camp of nations that values its sovereignty to develop politically and economically as it wishes. The UN has therefore become redundant as a vehicle to confront challenges which push the limits of international law. Disagreement in the UN Security Council over Kosovo, Iraq and Zimbabwe is not tit-for-tat political point scoring but rather, a genuine split along a values-orientated line.

     Despite the doom and gloom over the prospect of future disunity in the UN and other international institutions, there are indications that Russia would like to confront the breakdown in the principles-based relationship. Talking about international law in his foreign policy speech, Medvedev commented that

“[i]f these principles retain their universal importance, we have to honestly examine why they have ceased to be universally applied. We must decide whether they are adequate to the new conditions of life, or come up with something fundamentally new for the construction of a modern European architecture that would be designed for 21st-century realities. I'm absolutely convinced that this requires new approaches. The resources of previous approaches have to a large extent been exhausted”.

A willingness to address the problems of the rules-based international order, albeit for different reasons, is a positive sign, particularly when we still live in a nuclear infested world. Unfortunately, in the short term, frustrations over the plight of Zimbabweans and Darfurians will continue.

Zimbabwe / humanitarian aid /
End ban on aid, stipulate ecumenical leaders hailing Zimbabwe memorandum of understanding

HARARE, Zimbabwe, July 25, 2008/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The World Council of Churches (WCC) has joined with a coalition of church organizations calling for an end to restrictions which have banned humanitarian aid distributions in Zimbabwe. In a statement issued yesterday by the WCC, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, World Student Christian Federation, World Alliance of YWCAs and World Alliance of YMCAs congratulated Zimbabwean and African leaders involved in current negotiations for signing a memorandum of understanding to continue discussions over the future of Zimbabwe. At the same time the letter said steps need to be taken to end the ban on distributing humanitarian aid, end all forms of political violence and intimidation and create an environment for true healing and reconciliation.

SOURCE : World Council of Churches

Salah satu Negara miskin di Afrika ini, berhasil tercatat sebagai Negara dengan hiperinflasi sepanjang sejarah dunia. Gila itu sih namanya. Belanja sayur aja musti juta-jutaan. Begitu juga dengan angka pengangguran, mencapai 80%. Membeli seikat sayur aja, 5 juta dolar Zimbabwe, emas 170juta dolar Zimbabwe, satu butir telur aja 6 juta dollar. Buat beli lemon aja mereka mikir belinya. Waduh, kebayang aja dengan anak-anak disana. Pasti orangtuanya mikir panjang kalau mau belanja, gimana ngga?

Sekian juta atau bahkan ratusan juta di mereka, itu setara hanya dengan puluhan ribu di Indonesia. Memprihatinkan. Dan baru kali ini aku tau, ada Negara yang mengeluarkan uang dengan pecahan ratusan juta dalam satu lembar. Aduh

Banyak orang menuding, penyebabnya adalah presiden Negara ini sendiri, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, atau yang lebih akrab disebut Robert Mugabe. Presiden yang sudah berkuasa lebih dari 20 tahun, tepatnya 21 tahun sejak 1987. Dia ini merupakan salah satu tokoh controversial saat ini. Gimana ngga, diawal menjabat sebagai presiden, gaji yang dia terima, kurang dari $i juta, tapi belakangan ini (tepatnya kapan aku kurang tau), dia menaikkan sendiri gajinya hingga 1000%. Bagaimana mungkin dia tega melakukan itu? Tidakkah dia melihat keadaan negaranya yang begitu miskin? Tidakkah dia prihatin dengan keadaan rakyatnya? Malah dengan pendapatan luar biasanya itu, dia membangun Mugabe’s Place, yang menelan biaya sampai sekitar 6 juta poundsterling. Rumah yang terdiri dari 3 tingkat, 25 kamar tidur beserta kamar mandi, serta ada spa pribadi. Wow. Dia ini memerangi homoseks, dalam salah satu pidatonya, dia mengatakan bahwa perilaku homoseks adalah penurunan derajat manusia. kalau babi dan anjing tidak melakukannya, kenapa manusia mau? (aku langsung berfikir, kawan ini belum pernah nonton Legally Blonde 2, yang anjingnya homo). Lagian kalau difikir-fikir, homo mah bukan kejahatan, kecuali macam si Ryan yang membunuh orang itu. Kalau homo kan, sakit aja dia sendiri tak dirugikannya negara ini sama masyarakat banyak. Sementara, kalau kelakuan si presiden ini, bisa dibilang sangat buruk. Bukan hanya dia, istrinya juga Imelda Marcos kedua kayaknya. Grace Marufu, ini adalah istri keduanya, setelah Sally Hafron istri pertama nya meninggal dunia karena penyakit yang kronis di tahun 1992. Lantas menikahlah dia dengan si Grace yang lebih muda 40 tahun darinya. Dan dia inilah si gila belanja yang bisa menginstruksikan pesawat dan seisinya untuk menunggu dia memuaskan hasrat belanjanya. Dia ini juga monster belanja, sanggup menghabiskan 7000 poundsterling, dalam hanya dua jam saja. Bah poang, ai akka aha do ituhori? Dan satu lagi, dia ini dulunya sekretaris si Mugabe ini. Sampai-sampai negara di Uni Eropa sana, melarang dia untuk berbelanja di negara mereka, karena tidak sesuai dengan tingkat kemiskinan di negaranya. Udah gitu, perangai ini dimiliki ibu negara lagi. Wah parah tuh.

Tragis, harga di negara ini bisa naik dua kali dalam sehari, atau bahkan berkali-kali dalam seminggu. Buset, tak terbayangkan kalau itu terjadi di negara ini. Keadaan sekarang aja udah membuat orang menjerit dimana –mana. Apakah tidak ada cara untuk menyelesaikan konflik berkepanjangan di negeri itu? Bagaimana dengan jalan mengganti aja tuh presidennya. Supaya era kedikatatorannya berakhir. Dan lagipula, masa sudah sampe 21 tahun dan sudah berusia 84 tahun, dia masih keukeuh untuk terus memimpin negeri itu. Kenapa dia ngga jadi dewan penasihat presiden aja nantinya. Eh, jangan jangan deh, tar dia malah kasi pendapat supaya presiden bunuh semua masyarakat, baik dengan cara yang dia lakukan sekarang, atau dengan cara lain. Tapi ini masih jauh dari harapan, karena tampaknya si Mugabe ini sudah sangat kesetanan, dia sanggup melakukan apa saja untuk tetap di posisinya sekarang ini. Terbukti pada pemilu terakhir, tahun 2000, dia sanggup melakukan pembantaian terhadap pendukung oposisinya. Awalnya, oposisinya Tsvangirai sudah menunjukkan tanda akan menang telak. Bagaimana tidak, tentu rakyat sudah tidak ingin lagi dipimpin oleh si Gabriel Mugabe, yang telah berubah menjadi Lucifer Mugabe itu. Tsvangirai, melakukan diskusi dengannya jauh sebelum hasil pemilu keluar, dan menawarkan kemungkinan untuk pensiun dini dari jabatannya saat itu. Boro-boro mikirin tawaran pensiun, dia malah makin bringas menebar teror di kalangan masyarakat. Dan pada saat pemilu berlangsung, bahkan banyak masyarakat yang memutuskan untuk tidak keluar rumah, karena takut dengan teror yang dilancarkan Mugabe.

Lama kelamaan negara ini nanti akan menganggap hiperinflasi itu sebagai hal yang biasa. Padahal, harusnya tidak begitu. Mungkin rakyat di negeri ini, kecuali yang pro dengan Mugabe, sudah lama tidak tau artinya sedih dan menangis yah.

Sepuluh tahun silam, dibawah kepemimpinan Mugabe, negara ini termasuk salah satu negara maju di Afrika, bahkan bisa menjadi salah satu negara tumpuan benua Afrika. Di negara ini, orang-orangnya terbiasa dengan tata krama dan sopan santun. Apalgi di ibukotanya, Harare. Dulu, setiap lampu merah, pengendara mobil akan berhenti dengan teratur. Dan walaupun tanpa aliran listrik sekarang, mereka masih terbiasa berjalan dengan teratur disana. Walaupun kepedihan dan penderitaan sudah menjadi makanan sehari-hari mereka, tampaknya mereka masih bisa teratur.

Semoga konflik berkepanjangan ini bisa segera berakhir. Kita juga tidak ingin berkembang menjadi konflik perang saudara, seperti yang pernah terjadi di Kongo.

Last evening in the Royal National Theatre Square the crowd clapped and danced exuberantly to the sounds of Africa.

In all honestly I have avoided the local news for many reasons, Zimbabwe's fake talks - not one Zimbabwean believes it to be true or useful. They still have their 7pm curfews. They still fear their lives every moment of every day. They still have to cross the border to get milk and coffee. You go to the shop and there are different loaves of bread. There is more than just 500ml milk bottles and what is more you will find that you can choose between non fat, 2% and full cream... they don't get a choice, if they get milk at all it is a miracle, if they get a loaf of bread that they didn't have to bake there is a party. Jam or Jelly? Hell that is a true luxury to Zimbabweans.

In our news we get reports of who the police have caught because, yes, it is a true news worthy event, something that happens very rarely.

Cape Judge President Hlophe allegedly approached some of the Constitutional Court's judges improperly while they were deciding on cases involving African National Congress president Jacob Zuma. That is the polite way of saying he tried to bribe them. Jacob Zuma is said to be the next president of our country, he is currently up for corruption and who knows what else.

The world loves Zuma because he says what they want him to say, the western world thought the same about Mugabe *shrug*. By the way what number wife is he on now? No not divorce I mean at the same time? Is it his 4th or 5th? Ah Africa we love you.

Right now for the big one that just solidifies in my mind why South Africa is the definition of hypocrisy and contradiction. One moment a politician is caught saying "The foreigners are taking all our jobs, they are causing all our problems" next moment we have Xenophobic attacks killing well over 50 people and causing devastation. Then the next week the lovely man from the ANC Youth League announces that they will kill for Zuma. Fabulous I tell you. Least now you know who you are currently killing for.  There is death everywhere we look. You know, it really does make me feel a bit more calm, a bit better, knowing there is a purpose and reason for all the killing, murder and pillage. The relief I can not quantify into words, heaven in Africa!

Sorry I got side tracked so easy once I get started on South Africa, can't exactly just narrow it down considering there is so much to cover.

Now my favourite human in all of the world...

Jon Qwelane

He is a man that either has really small raisins, I mean forget prunes, I am talking raisins now or is gay and just can't come to terms with it. What is the big fuss? I won't add any more, Amandzing (Jon Qwelane) and Sanitypoint (Jon Qwelane is gay) said it all.

I just have one thing to ask...

What would happen if the topic was race?

What would happen if it was any other topic of human rights?

What would happen?

One day soon I will write about the similarities of then and now

You will be sickened to your core.

Enough

I will leave you with this....

Two recent court cases have earned the attention of newspaper readers in South Africa .

1. One person was fined R1 000 ($130) for not having a TV license.
2. Another was released on bail for R500 ($60) after being arrested for murder.

The moral of this South African story:

If you do not have a TV license and the inspector comes round, kill him. You'll save R500.

....It's the Right Thing To Do....

(yes we need licenses to own TV's...)

JOHANNESBURG: Senior negotiators from Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change and the governing ZANU-PF party began talks Thursday and a report indicated they were close to reaching a deal on forming a unity government.

The talks were under way Thursday, said Mukoni Ratshitanga, a spokesman for President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. Senior officials of Movement for Democratic Change and two Zimbabwean cabinet ministers were leading the rival negotiating teams meeting at an undisclosed location near Pretoria, the South African capital.

Preliminary talks began Tuesday after Mbeki secured a framework deal Monday between President Robert Mugabe and the leader of Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, for talks to end the deadlock over Mugabe's re-election June 27. The election was boycotted by the opposition because of violence.

Ratshitanga said that even if negotiators missed a two-week deadline set under the framework agreement, that would not mean the end of talks.

"It does not mean if the talks are not done in [continue reading]

Brian James, an MDC official who was once arrested for allegedly attempting to assassinate Robert Mugabe, has been voted in as the new Mayor of the City of Mutare. The Mutare Council which is made up of all MDC councillors, was sworn in on Thursday and on the same day elected James as Mayor, placing their trust in a man who has been at the receiving end of a victimisation campaign by the regime.

Other senior MDC officials who were alleged by government to be involved in the assassination attempt included MDC Treasurer Roy Bennett and MP Giles Mutsekwa. This was the case that resulted in Bennett fleeing to South Africa. The state claimed it found an arms cache, meant to overthrow the Mugabe regime, at the home of an alleged ex-Rhodesian army officer Peter Hitschmann. Hitschmann remains in prison despite the case against the others being thrown out by a magistrate because of lack of evidence.

Brian James runs several businesses in Mutare, including an engineering company called Manicaland Welders, and his company Crest Distribution is a major distributor of chicken and fish in the province. He had a commercial farm in Old Mutare which was invaded and taken over in 2003. The 57 year old is also the [continue reading]

The government is reported to have run out of paper to print money and is believed to be panicking over how to pay salaries for civil servants, especially soldiers and police who are the backbone of the Mugabe dictatorship. Giesecke & Devrient, the European company that was providing the paper, was last month pressured to cut supplies by the German government, after protests were threatened. In addition, a company that provides the software licences for the design and printing of the banknotes, is reported to be considering withdrawing their contract.

The military has helped run the country for some years now and the Mugabe regime needs to sustain military and police operations in order to maintain political control. There is much consensus among observers that Mugabe’s recent decision to sign the Memorandum of Agreement with the two MDC formations was clearly based on increased economic pressure. One English pound this week is trading at Z$1.3 trillion.

The software for the notes, which is supplied by a [continue reading]

The HIV epidemic is shaking up Zimbabwe, like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and the shock is being reflected in the collapse of the public health-care system.

According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2006 World Health Report, the African continent bears 24% of the global burden of disease but has only 3% of the global health-care workforce and 1% of the world’s financial resources.

The report identifies 57 countries that cannot meet a widely accepted basic standard for health-care coverage by physicians, nurses and midwives; 36 of these ‘critical countries’ are in sub-Saharan Africa.

The WHO estimates that it will take an additional 2.4 million physicians, nurses and midwives to meet current needs, along with an additional 1.9 million pharmacists, health aides, technicians and other auxiliary personnel.

In simple terms, the public health-care system can no longer accommodate the millions of ill people who require medical attention, care and support. Ironically, the money that is flowing into Zimbabwe to combat HIV has done little to resolve the problems of the poor and weakened public health systems – problems made worse by the ‘brain drain’ of qualified medical personnel.

Critically ill people, it seems, are being offloaded from the public health system onto the community. Increasingly, the burden of HIV care is being borne at the community level, particularly at the household level, where much of the care work and support costs for people living with HIV (PLHIV) are now being taken on.

Caring for sick relatives has been a traditional practice in Zimbabwe, but only at an informal level. Today, it is a bulwark that is indispensable in efforts to respond effectively to HIV and TB.

As the HIV epidemic mushroomed in 1990, it became apparent that there was a need to institutionalize the process of home-based care to cater for the huge numbers of people in need. Consequently, community-based organizations have emerged to fulfil the need for the care and support of PLHIV.

Throughout Zimbabwe, innovative programmes are emerging to compensate for the shortages in the health-care system. More often than not, women are in the vanguard of care and support work for sick people. Men have tended to remain in the back seat in performing care work. A key challenge for community-based organizations has been how to influence men’s involvement in the care of sick people in the community.

Caregivers need to be adequately trained and equipped to make a difference to their clients. Currently, caregivers have to make do with very few resources and this significantly undermines the work that they do.

When caregivers lack adequate supplies in their home-based care kits, it can increase their risk of HIV exposure and the respect that they garner within the community can be diminished.

In addition, many caregivers are very poor, and the time that they commit to care work could be devoted to raising incomes for their households. As the HIV epidemic unfolds in Zimbabwe, it is clear that there will be greater demands on the services that caregivers provide. This will mean that caregivers will need to be fully equipped with the appropriate knowledge to enable them to cope with these new demands.

More importantly, home-based care programmes will need to develop innovative ways to support the livelihood needs of volunteer caregivers so that they can fulfill their roles within the community without distraction.

Veni

Kissing Suzy Kolber’s Drew Magary wrote an article for Deadspin called “The NFL Season Brownie Point Calculator.” (Thanks to Dan for the heads up). It provides a system for guys to accumulate hours of male-bonding football time with their buddies by performing certain tasks for their wives/girlfriends.

Doing some rough calculations, let's see: I did Brookie’s taxes, conceived and completed a Godforsaken house project, fixed something (barely) without having to call a service to do it, and went out on a “couple” date where the girls are best friends but the guys have little or nothing in common.

That’ll get me 62 hours of eligible hours to spend with my manly man friends watching football this fall. 52, technically, since I finished a bowl of Doritos the other day without offering her any. Now, Brookie actually likes watching football, but, as Magary notes, “Sorry ladies. NFL season is gay male bonding season.” Maybe we can compromise and I'll transfer those 52 NFL hours into a Montreal Canadiens marathon all by my lonesome self? Sigh.

Vidi

I still cannot comprehend this: two million, two hundred thousand, percent inflation. Robert Mugabe is blaming the world and the world is blaming Robert Mugabe. Lovely. All the while, Zimbabwe’s citizens are getting f’d in the a. A recently printed 250,000,000 Zimbabwe banknote is worth $2 US now.

"The inflationism of the currency systems … has proceeded to extraordinary lengths. The various belligerent Governments, unable, or too timid or too short-sighted to secure from loans or taxes the resources they required, have printed notes for the balance."

That was a quote from John Maynard Keynes on the hyperinflation of Germany in the 1920s. The situations are eerily similar and I get the strange feeling that things are going to get worse in Zimbabwe before they get better.

(On a side note, watch this TED lecture from Hans Rosling. Some intriguing statistics about our tendency to clump “Africa” into a single homogeneous unit)

Vici

Lastly, the following video was fo’warded to me by C-los, my homeslice from the C-Shizzle. (Was I just doing a brown guy posing as a white guy posing as a black guy?).

Whatevs. This guy gets the new math:

"Whats a bag of chips divided by five? – That’s a Nike worker's meal."
"And having sex is like doing fractions, its improper for the larger one to be on top."
"If there’s a fat guy in a pastry shop with a twenty dollar bill and he's ready to buy, in order to predict his volume change you need to know the value of pi."

Brilliant.

This time I'm going on a safari to Botswana, a country that sits in the south of Africa, next to Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Roughly speaking, over the next three weeks I will be in Johannesburg, Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe), Chobe National Park and Okavango Delta (Botswana) and Cape Town (South Africa).

This means, you animal lovers, that by the time I get back to Washington, DC, I will have seen my share of buffalos, elephants, lions, leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs, hyenas, giraffes, hippos, sable antelopes, wildebeests, kudus, lechwes and sitatungas. I admit it, I don't know how some of these animals look like, having copied this list from the official documentation I was sent from the operator. You can now add me to the list of animals. The good thing is that by the time I come back, I will know my Africa animals. (I even bought in Pentagon City a little book with pictures of safari animals that I will check mark as I go).

I will be traveling with a group of folks who were kind enough to invite me and whom I will mention from time to time. They are Giorgio 'The Chief', Teresita, la Doña, Jamie, Juan and Mikaela. I am also taking with me Santa Battaglia, who is a Morocco and Zambia veteran. I am most grateful to one of my 2008 Nieman buddies for allowing me to make Santa with me. I will treat her well. Without her, I couldn't bring these news to you. Speaking of Niemans, I will see two of them in Cape Town.

I have no idea how often I will be filing but do check from time to time, or add the RSS feed. Postings will include anything from mundane staff to meaningful comments about the experience. Please add your comments below. I promise I will not do twitter, facebook, follow my RSS or check my daily doses of news sites. I will only blog about elephants or the mighty Zambezi river

I am humbled by the relevance of God, as expressed in Habbabkuk, to this pastor living in a country where lawlessness is the norm and prevailing power. How difficult it must be to live under the conditions the people of Zimbabwe are subject to, and continue to uphold Christ in the face of chaos and despair.

The Zimbabwean pastor raises an important question for me and, really, all of us -- will I trust God when the circumstances give the appearance of the absence (perhaps non-existence) of God?   How will I live my faith when faced with a situation that is tragic?

On Monday, a deal agreeing to the negotiations has been signed by president Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvanigirai, opposition leader, paving the way for the talks. It was their first meeting in a decade.

The talks, which are slated to last two weeks, intended to end a crisis following disputed presidential polls.

For the talks to be concluded within that timeframe, progress will have to be swift, said the BBC's Jonah Fisher, in Johannesburg. He adds that the future of Mr Mugabe and the structure and composition of a new government are yet to be decided.

Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), as well as Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, claim to have won this year's elections.

Violence

Though the first round in March was won by Mr Tsvanigirai, official results gave him less than the 50% required for outright victory.

Then, in the second round Mr Mugabe claimed victory, after his rival pulled out, complaining of a campaign of violence against his supporters.

The office of Thabo Mbeki, South African president, who has been leading mediation over Zimbabwe, confirmed the start of the talks on Thursday.

There had been conflicting reports about when negotiations would start, and the deal bans parties from talking to the media.

The negotiators from Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and the MDC travelled to South Africa on the same flight on Wednesday, reported Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper.

‘Green light’

Patrick Chinamasa, justice minister, and Nicholas Goche, public services minister, represent the Zanu-PF party, while the MDC has sent Secretary General Tendai Biti and Deputy Treasurer Elton Mangoma.

The Herald has been told by a Zanu-PF official that, at a meeting on Wednesday, the party’s politburo had been briefed on the negotiations.

"We gave Comrade Chinamasa and Comrade Goche the green light for them to go ahead with the negotiations within the parameters signed by the principals", said Ephraim Masawi, Zanu-PF deputy secretary for information and publicity.

At least 120 of its supporters have been killed, about 5,000 abducted and 200,000 forced from their homes since the first round of the elections, in a campaign of violence by pro-Mugabe militias and the army, said the MDC.

But the charges have been denied by cabinet ministers and military officials.

This is down to cutbacks on paper following a number of sanctions on Mugabe's regime which have limited the supply of European banknotes.

At a time when Zimbabweans are limited to daily withdrawals of just $100bn from their bank accounts, to put into some perspective less than half the cost of a loaf of bread.

What strikes me is why South Africa and the rest of the international community are not even highlighting, let alone taking steps to stabilize a horrendous inflation rate and ruined economy.

It strikes me why Gordon Brown, who prides himself on his "economic competence" as a former Chancellor of Exchequer has not spoken on this issue. They want to stabilise the Middle East and give there citizens the best quality of life, but why not do more to aid Zimbabweans.

After all they are a major source of trade to major supermarket giants for the essentials we eat.

In the space of a few days one British pound is now equivalent to over 80 million Zimbabwean dollars.

It is quite staggering to believe that bundles of notes reminiscent of the German 1920's hyperinflation is necessary to buy below an adequate meal.

This is obviously easier said than done, but I think that Mbeki is in no means able to mediate or drive forward any type of power sharing deal. While he is unable to control the growing violence in his own country, he is too incompetent to influence the gradual exit of Mugabe and allow those who care to start pouring some food into the hungry bellies of the Zimbabweans, jobs to the jobless and homes to the homeless.

Zimbabwean people are facing dire situations on a daily basis and this now must be STOPPED.

We think our 3.3% inflation is bad, well go and live in Zimbabwe.