Mugabe sworn in after disputed Zimbabwean election

[Hugabear]

Source: CNN

President Robert Mugabe was sworn in Sunday after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission declared he overwhelmingly won the country's disputed runoff election.

"I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, do swear that I will well and truly serve Zimbabwe in the office of president, so help me God," Mugabe said at the State House complex in Harare, standing before a red-robed judge wearing a white wig.
...
The international community has roundly called the election -- allegedly marred by violence and vote rigging -- a "sham."

Many voters expressed fear of government retaliation if they did not take part in the vote to extend Mugabe's rule. Some said they were required to report the serial numbers on their ballots to Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union -- Patriotic Front.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/06/29/zimbabwe.sunday/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

---

Gee, what a fucking shocker. Brutally attack anyone who shows any signs whatsoever of supporting the opposition, and then bask in the "overwhelming" victory.

Goddamned fucker.

[Benhurst]

1. American-style democracy is spreading all over the world.

What further proof do we need?

[Mudoria]

2. You have to be joking, right?

:eyes:

[Zynx]

9. I don't recall where Bush lit opposition Democrats on fire.

[Benhurst]

12. What opposition?

Pelosi?

I would hope he wouldn't be so brutal, but he's hardly been put to the test by the more than loyal, almost sycophantic, "opposition."

[Zynx]

13. Is that why Bush could not get through the thing he has wanted his whole political life?

The Democrats, in the minority at the time, prevented him from privatizing Social Security which was his one big goal throughout his entire political life.

[Benhurst]

15. Do you have a link for privatizing Social Security being his one big goal?

He has left the federal government so weak as to be vulnerable to Grover Norquist's famous drowning in a bathtub. The country may be a pathetic mess, but it's not far from what Bush and Company had planned.

In the coming collapse, do you really think Social Security is going to survive?

[Zynx]

16. I am not going to be a cure to terminal laziness or ignorance.

However, what does it tell you that his first big push after winning re-election with the biggest Republican majorities under a Republican president since the 1920s was for Social Security privatization and that this has been the one issue that he has always talked about and stayed consistent on since at least 2000? If you have read anything about the guy you would know that ever since the 1980s when he met with one of Pinochet's economic advisers who told him about Chile's program of a similar nature to what he proposed, he has been apeshit crazy for Social Security privatization.

[Benhurst]

19. Yeah, he's been so unsuccessful getting what he wanted through

Congress. Other than tax breaks for his rich cronies, stealing the country blind, shredding the Constitution, waging an illegal and immoral war, and even now having "our" Pelosi/Reid driven congress go along with the FISA compromise, he's been totally powerless.

Cheney's agenda is still being pushed through. And Social Security will fall victim to the coming economic collapse.

[freedomnorth]

23. Bush did not

Because he did not have to. That doesn't mean he WOULD not, if need arises. People are already so controlled trough indoctrination et cetera "soft power" that there is no need to use physical power to control people and their actions.

[LeftishBrit]

14. That is trivializing the problems of Zimbabwe IMO.

Bush got himself installed as president by very dodgy means, when the legitimately elected president was Gore. However, he and his gang did not go around murdering his opponents and setting fire to their family members and making death threats against voters if they voted for Gore.

'American-style democracy' in the Bush vs Gore sense is very common across the world. Corruption 'rules OK' and without much check in many countries! It was particularly shocking in America, both because America is the world's most powerful country and the whole world is affected by who is president, and because it has a great and long-standing tradition of democracy and constitutional law, and one would have thought such things would not happen there. But corruption and fraud and undemocratic government are not unusual in the world (sadly!) Mugabe is exceptional, even among dictators, not for his fraud, but for his absolute brutality to his country's citizens.

[Benhurst]

17. Without trivializing the horrors going on in Zimbabwe,

we really have no idea how far Bush and company were willing to go when they staged their coup.

The United States folded like a cheap tent.

A million dead Iraqis civilians might give some indication of how ruthless our current rulers can be, however.

See: http://www.alternet.org/rights/89834 /

The coming election should be interesting, especially if the powers that be want to hold on to power. If so, we'll have our third stolen presidential election. Not to worry, though. The American people won't even manage a protest march, and violent suppression will not be necessary, just a round up of the usual suspects, at most.

There is always the chance, though, they will decide it's better to let Obama take a Carter like fall. How many Americans remember that Ford as president was wearing WIN -- whip inflation now-- buttons for the inflation Carter was later conveniently vilified?

[Mike Daniels]

21. Mugabee was pulling this shit well before Bush was president

Do some research.

[anakie]

3. pity there is no oil in Zimbabwe n/t

[sbyte]

4. Other side of the story....

Zimbabwe: UN blocks British, US attempts to halt run-off

http://www.trinicenter.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1869

Britain, the current president of the Security Council, tried to use Belgium to halt Friday's presidential run-off election and illegally install Tsvangirai as president, but South Africa's Ambassador to the UN, Mr Dumisani Khumalo, blocked these attempts.

Associated Press reported that the US and France also tried to include in the Security Council statement language asserting that Tsvangirai should be considered the legitimate president of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's permanent representative to the UN Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku said submissions by South Africa and Zimbabwe convinced the 15-member Security Council that it would be legally improper to halt the run-off and install Tsvangirai
--------------------------------
As if you didn't know there are two sides to every story.

Bringing you balance to the news,,, (where did that come from? )

[jzodda]

5. I hope you are being sarcastic

linking to articles with quotes by Zimbabwe officials blaming the violence all on the opposition removes even the slightest hint of credibility.

Mugabe is a fool. To try to pull this type of sham election in an era of mobile phones, text messaging, cell phone cameras and instant worldwide communication was foolish. He is showing his age with his lack of knowledge of the internet age. It must be rough these days to be a traditional style dictator. He can certainly try to prevent information from getting out but with just about all the tactics of him and his murderous thugs out there for everybody to see, it has obviously failed.

[Hugabear]

7. There are Mugabe defenders on DU

For some people, all they need to know is that someone doesn't like Bush, or is anti-West, and that's good enough for them.

[jzodda]

10. How distasteful

But I am glad we allow all sorts of viewpoints on this forum. Keeps discussions lively and allows for learning things that one would not learn elsewhere. My instinct is to read a post that would defend whats been going on there and get angry. I am glad though that I get the chance to read something that can inflame my sentiments. Some people like forums where everybody agrees with them or the posts are deleted. <Cough...err.....FreeRepublic....>

I am glad this is not that place.

[Zynx]

11. Some points of view aren't welcome in rational debates.

For example, I am glad we don't have Holocaust deniers on this forum, that I know of. I don't take the post-modernist view that all viewpoints are equally valid.

[jzodda]

20. I agree

I also have limits. Mugabe support approaches that limit for me

[Mike Daniels]

22. And if a Bush supported politician pulled a similar stunt they'd be screaming bloody murder

Gotta wonder how they reconcile the hypocrisy.

[Zynx]

8. Sometimes the other side of the story is not legitimate.

This case is a perfect example.

[gratuitous]

6. ABC News had a story

Can you imagine? ABC reported that Mugabe was sworn in today before a small hand-picked audience of military people and supporters. I find it completely astonishing that ABC would notice such a thing. They've been totally oblivious to such things in this country.

[jasmine621]

18. When Mugabe attends the ANU, they should seize him and arrest him for crimes

against humanity.