An interesting, if depressing, piece in the Economist . I can see what Scott Wickstein at Samizdata (hat-tip) is getting at when he says that the battered country still has a long way to fall yet. The basket case that is Zimbabwe is discovering that the well it’s fallen into is proving surprisingly deep before it hits the bottom.
I’m not sure why I have even a passing interest in Zimbabwe – after all, I have no connection with the place. I am a Conservative and therefore am not supposed to care about Africa, especially where there isn’t any oil. Us right-wingers’ interest in Zimbabwe should be limited to some Colonel Blimpish comment about “look what happens when you give the natives their independence”, while Guardian/Independent-reading “progressive” lefties wring their hands over Iraq or Darfur.
Perhaps it’s because here is a clear case for international intervention but where, yet again, that sacred temple of teeth-gnashing – the UN – has proved itself scoring around the chocolate teapot range in the usefulness stakes. Of course, one can add Darfur to the current litany as well. Running refugee camps is one thing, stopping the massacres before the savage nutters run out of victims is a harder job, but will serve humanity far better in the long run.
Perhaps it’s because Mugabe has proved the embodiment and logical extension of so many favourite lefty principles – land and property confiscation, a heavily controlled economy, anti-colonialism – which are visibly and catastrophically failing.
Recently, as a result of the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, Mugabe has decided to simply “outlaw inflation” by imposing price controls. Maybe next month he will ban bad weather.
Many have expected the situation to result in the end of Mugabe. I can remember talking to a South African who said that in ten years Zimbabwe would be another Ethiopia. That was ten years’ ago. As the Economist reports:
A local businessman repeats the widely-held prediction that the current system will collapse within six months—and that Zimbabwe, under new management, will become Africa’s fastest growing economy. “Then again”, he smiles, “we have been saying this for years.”
They probably also said the same about Cuba and North Korea once.
