http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ring=mugabe#p6483054

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

He's likely a dead man, not that he has much time left at 93, but his wife will be lucky to survive. Mugabe has managed to run the economy into the ground and have 20% of the citizens move to South Africa or Botswana so lets hope the next dictator can do a bit better.

there was a short thread on it, i think - africa generally doesn't get much traction in the LR.

my zimbabwean friends have said for years that mugabe's play has long been to just get himself immunity - if anyone had offered that years ago he might well have taken it.

having lived and spent time in a few southern african states i'm generally not too sympathetic to the liberation armies that have become governments - they're generally not super at it and haven't siloed their 'freedom fighters' from their politicians the way that, say, the irish have sinn fein and the IRA.

i think we should all watch closely - a problem with many of these states, but zim especially, is that the fat old guard does absolutely nothing to groom the next generation. in fact they mostly alienate and antagonize the youth or use them as blunt instruments. so who's going to take over from mugabe when he steps down? if it's just another of his (slightly younger, slightly more palatable) cronies, nothing much will change.

i've given up hoping that mugabe will face any satisfying justice. so at this point succession is my main question, but i'd like far more sunlight on the timing of the general's visit to china too.

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

We’re still recovering from the Kony debate.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Not much to add, but this reminded me of something.

One day back in 1981, Ms. Tostig and I were passing some time listening to a crusty old white guy ranting at speaker's corner in Hyde Park, London. He would have fit right in with one of the current alt-right groups in the US. At some point during his ravings, he got into an exchange with a young white couple in the crowd. He ended up asking them, "Where are you from?" They responded, "Rhodesia." He came back with, "Rhodesia! You mean Zimbabwe!" This started him off on a whole new rant.

Harmless guy, but he sure had his opinions on black rule in Africa.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

The story I heard was that this wasn't really targeting Mugabe but his wife. The Army in supposedly controlled by the same people who helped Mugabe take power in the first place and they have been waiting around for him to die for one of them to take power. His wife made a play to take control and they acted.

And it isn't a coup because a lot of countries have polices in place that automatically reject working with a military coup. So the new strategy is for bloodless coup-like events where the old leader resigns for a peaceful transition.

The dictator then gets taken down by a military coup (nothing unusual there).
But then the surprise!
Its a bloodless, peaceful coup. The military does not seem intend to set up a junta rule.
Quite frankly - I'm very impressed by Zimbabwe and how its all going down.

I lived in Thailand during one of their many military coups and it was fairly bloodless but it really doesn't mean anything. It's all about who has the power to control corruption.

In Zimbabwe, the corrupt military want the corrupt ex - VP to be the next President. If Grace Mugabe takes over, which she is trying to do, then there is a chance that some of the corrupt officials in government and the military will lose their power. Since the people surrounding Mugabe and the military all despise Mrs. Mugabe, it's no surprise that it is peaceful.

No one really wants her to be President and as long as the military treat Mugabe himself well, there shouldn't be any problems. Mugabe's supporters are loyal to him, not to her.

It might be a bloodless coup for now but the country has lots of problems that will not be solved unless the Zanu-PF party of Mugabe is defeated.