background:
President is old and have succession problems. In recent years his wife trying to grab more and more power to be the next president but not everyone in the ruling party like that. last week she (from the mouth of the president) fired "number 2" in the country. since then everyone who was "friend" with number 2 was fired too. when they tried to get rid of the army general (friend of number 2) he refused to leave his office in claim that president wife doing undemocratic things. yesterday he did the "takeover". its not yet clear if the president will switched with the number 2 guy (the friend of the general).
Zimbabwe's Military in Apparent Takeover, Says It Has Custody of President
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Re: Zimbabwe's Military in Apparent Takeover, Says It Has Custody of President
#22There have been several coups or other undemocratic assumptions of power recently: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, China (Xi seems to have made himself dictator-for-life), Turkey, and to a degree in Japan, in at least one Eastern European country, and even in France (which AFAIK now has an indefinite state of emergency curtailing rights of citizens). I wonder how much and in what way they are related to the U.S. changing its…
France has lifted its state of emergency two weeks ago after a new anti-terror law was passed by the government. While I wasn't fond of it, I am not sure it is fair to call it "undemocratic".
It was hard to get out of that state of emergency precisely because it was 1/ popular 2/ politically dangerous (what happens if a major scale attack happens right after it is being lifted?).
Re: Zimbabwe's Military in Apparent Takeover, Says It Has Custody of President
#23There have been several coups or other undemocratic assumptions of power recently: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, China (Xi seems to have made himself dictator-for-life), Turkey, and to a degree in Japan, in at least one Eastern European country, and even in France (which AFAIK now has an indefinite state of emergency curtailing rights of citizens). I wonder how much and in what way they are related to the U.S. changing its…
Saudi Arabia? China? Neither was a democracy to begin with.
Also it’s funny that you’re referring to the US - the greatest supporter of Saudi Arabia - as the noble protector of democracy and human rights. Seems like someone drank too much Kool-Aid?
Re: Zimbabwe's Military in Apparent Takeover, Says It Has Custody of President
#24"While denying that the military had seized power, they said that Mr. Mugabe and his family “are safe and sound, and their security is guaranteed.” “We are only targeting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice," This doesn't look good.
According to (whoever controls...) the official Zanu-PF twitter account, Robert Mugabe and his wife has been detained. The former vice president, Mnangagwa (who was sacked by Mugabe last week, so that his wife Grace could take the #2 spot) is acting president, according to an army statement. Also, reports of gun and artillery fire from northern Harare - the district where Mugabe and his cronies live. Also, predictabl…
I know people that live in northern Harare and they haven't heard any gun and artillery fire. They live within a 3-5km radius of RM and his cronies also they haven't seen any tanks - yet. All very curious, but something is up.
Re: Zimbabwe's Military in Apparent Takeover, Says It Has Custody of President
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
As they say - Either you die (or step down in this case) a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. There are multiple cases in developing countries where the family/friends takes over in case of someone powerful going senile.
> Either you die (or step down in this case) a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Evil is a choice, not a consequence of time. He destroyed that country, at the expense of the poor and to the profit of his cronys. I wonder if this will impact North Korea. Zimbabwe is a major source of hard currency in exchange for weapons.
> I wonder if this will impact North Korea. Zimbabwe is a major source of hard currency in exchange for weapons.
I smell CIA. :- )
Re: Zimbabwe's Military in Apparent Takeover, Says It Has Custody of President
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
And initially he was a very good leader. But lately, if you listen to his speeches, he is downright senile. And he can hardly walk on his own. That's why the general convention of serving a maximum of 2 or 3 terms is so important.
Long before he turned senile, he turned corrupt. He has ruined his country economically. This is the real reason for a maximum of 2 or 3 terms. Power corrupts.
Also when a regime has been involved in crime, they need to perpetuate themselves in power to avoid prosecution.
Re: Zimbabwe's Military in Apparent Takeover, Says It Has Custody of President
#27There have been several coups or other undemocratic assumptions of power recently: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, China (Xi seems to have made himself dictator-for-life), Turkey, and to a degree in Japan, in at least one Eastern European country, and even in France (which AFAIK now has an indefinite state of emergency curtailing rights of citizens). I wonder how much and in what way they are related to the U.S. changing its…
First of all, please don't call the U.S. the "guarantor of international order". It sounds as if the U.S. were a benefactor to the world. It is not, it has been all political alliances and power-play. Sometimes the U.S. backed democratic leaders, sometimes not (c.f. Pinochet, Park Chung Hee...).
Second, I myself consider the degradation of the current state of affairs in the world to be due to the global slowdown of economic growth. Less growth means less disposable income, means more social unrest and the rise of autocraty to maintain order.
Re: Zimbabwe's Military in Apparent Takeover, Says It Has Custody of President
#28background: President is old and have succession problems. In recent years his wife trying to grab more and more power to be the next president but not everyone in the ruling party like that. last week she (from the mouth of the president) fired "number 2" in the country. since then everyone who was "friend" with number 2 was fired too. when they tried to get rid of the army general (friend of number 2) he refused to…
>"when they tried to get rid of the army general (friend of number 2) he refused to leave his office"
That was never confirmed
Re: Zimbabwe's Military in Apparent Takeover, Says It Has Custody of President
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
And initially he was a very good leader. But lately, if you listen to his speeches, he is downright senile. And he can hardly walk on his own. That's why the general convention of serving a maximum of 2 or 3 terms is so important.
When was he a good leader? When he was sanctioning the genocide of the Matebele people in 1983?
No, when he hyperinflated the currency and bankrupted the country (in the 90s, not the most recent hyperinflation).
Re: Zimbabwe's Military in Apparent Takeover, Says It Has Custody of President
#30There have been several coups or other undemocratic assumptions of power recently: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, China (Xi seems to have made himself dictator-for-life), Turkey, and to a degree in Japan, in at least one Eastern European country, and even in France (which AFAIK now has an indefinite state of emergency curtailing rights of citizens). I wonder how much and in what way they are related to the U.S. changing its…
>I wonder how much and in what way they are related to the U.S. changing its long-standing policy from being the guarantor of international order, and from being an advocate for democracy as a universal right.
I wonder how much it related to the U.S. deciding to become a global military empire after the fall of the Soviet Union, instead of declaring victory and seeking to create a world where the rule of law was respected.