Zimbabwe sanctions vetoed at UN

[pampango]

Source: BBC

"A draft resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and a number of his key allies has been vetoed at the UN Security Council.

China and Russia both rejected the proposed measures, including a freeze on their financial assets and travel.

The resolution would have imposed an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and financial and travel restrictions on President Mugabe and 13 of his top officials.

UN SANCTIONS VOTE
FOR
Belgium
Burkina Faso
Costa Rica
Croatia
France
Italy
Panama
UK
United States
AGAINST
China
Libya
Russia
South Africa
Vietnam
ABSTAINED
Indonesia"

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7502965.stm

---

The Russian ambassador said that sanctions would go beyond the UN's "mandate". Guess we have to look elsewhere for an international organization that can do something about the oppression in Zimbabwe.

I hope that the UN will at least send Mugabe a sternly worded letter. If sanctions are beyond the UN's mandate what exactly is its mandate.

[Zynx]

1. China, Libya, and Russia. Why I am not surprised?

[ohio2007]

7. China supplies all the weapons they can use to keep the peace

but it seems to be a moot point that may Chinese made weapons keep the African oil flowing to China .

[Ian David]

2. We need to call in TEAM AMERICA!

AMERICA...



FUCK YEAH!

[Zynx]

3. Actually, that wouldn't be the world's worst idea.

[Ian David]

4. I RELAY don't think pResident Blowmonkey is the one to be "spreading freedom" again. n/t

[mithnanthy]

25. Hell YEAH!

Team America...one of the funniest movies EVER!

[WriteDown]

5. Can the world no t even agree...

on stopping basic, primal evil? This is ridiculous.

[David__77]

9. "Basic, primal evil?"

Interesting choice of words with "primal" in reference to an African leader. It's a word often paired with other words like "savage," etc.

[Robb]

13. I find your use of the word "paired" interesting.

It's often used as a euphemism for sexual congress. Wait, I find my use of the word "congress" interesting....

[WriteDown]

28. Thanks for making my point

better than I could have. Hillarious :).

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

14. Mugabe is a savage

he just happens to be a savage with a taste for $8000 suits.

[classysassy]

24. Savage

I believe savages are the ones wearing military uniforms,that go into other countries kill their leaders and steal the wealth of the invaded country.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

26. so it isn't savage if it is your own country?

There are few places on earth that have been more throughly destroyed and looted of its wealth than Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe who has single handedly destroyed the most productive nation in Africa.

Don't blame whitey, Zimbabwe continued to prosper for a good 15 years after the end of white rule until Mugabe began his rampage in the mid-90's

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

30. what the hell are you talking about?

I am blaming Robert Mugabe for his actions over the past 15 years that have destroyed Zimbabwe. Very much like I blame George W. Bush for his actions that are putting America on its own path to ruin.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LeftishBrit]

32. Smith was a disgusting evil monster...

BUT he's been gone for 30 years. There comes a point when a leader has to take responsibility for his own handling of his country, and not blame his predecessor for everything, however bad he was.

And Zimbabwe was one of the more prosperous African countries until Mugabe went off the rails (which didn't happen till quite some time after he'd taken office). He has fucked up his country disastrously.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

35. The Bush War did about $13.64 in damage

Zimbabwe passed from white to black rule 100% intact and continued to thrive for more than a decade because Mugabe's communist authoritarian tendencies were kept in check by the more moderate elements of his own ZANU-PF party. When Mugabe wanted to establish a single party state it was his own party that shut him down. Once the moderates were successfully ostracized from the ZANU-PF Mugabe was able to begin his rampage that brought us to where we are today.

As for Smith's racist thugs, you will find a who's who of the Smith regime in close proximity to Mugabe. They were in business with Mugabe before the Rhodesian flag was at the bottom of the flag pole. Even the Brendenkamp's who were war criminals and smugglers found themselves a comfortable niche in Mugabe's Zimbabwe - returning from exile at his personal invitation.

And as awful a leader as the delusional peasant Ian Smith was he or even the bones of Cecil Rhodes himself would be an improvement.

[ut oh]

6. It's probably in all those country's best interests to keep

the world as chaotic as possible, obviously for their own reasons...

Russia... They're fucked anyway, might as well make things difficult on everyone

China... Waiting for the west to fuck up big time so they can step in as a world power again...

Lybia... ok, I don't know about this one, I thought they were trying to make amends with the world??

[David__77]

10. It's the US making international affairs unstable, not China or Russia.

It's the US invading other countries and surrounding others with military bases. Russia and China correctly opposed the US bombardment of Iraq. They are also trying to use their influence to restrain the US from further military misadventures.

[Zynx]

11. China's motivations around the world are hardly pure. Their stances on Sudan and Zimbabwe are good

examples.

[LeftishBrit]

34. Russia and China - and most countries - were quite right to oppose the invasion of Iraq

That doesn't mean that everything they support is great!

[Dorian Gray]

42. Just because the war in Iraq

is a quagmire doesn't mean that UN (not US led) Sanctions imposed upon Zimbabwe is a bad idea. Sometimes evil is evil, and it needs to be countered. Or should we just let it destabilize to become like the disaster that was Rawanda.

[David__77]

8. South Africa and the others voting NO were right.

Just my opinion. I support the position of the ANC in South Africa, which is to use African diplomatic means to achieve national reconciliation in Zimbabwe. The West has already ruined Iraq and Afghanistan, among others. We needn't extend the tragedy to others.

[Zynx]

12. Zimbabwe is the most economically ruined country in the world at the moment.

Your continued support for Mugabe speaks volumes about your view of the world. What pisses me off is that you are not honest about it.

[jzodda]

17. Its people like that who didn't want any intervention in Rwanda also

and we saw what happened there. In the 90 days when the killings were going on you could read apologists for Rwanda also. There is no genocide, let Africa handle its own problems, bla bla bla.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

15. the only thing the ANC has to do with this issue at this point is that...

Jacob Zuma and his version of the "war veterans" (presently busy necklacing african immigrants) have found a pattern to follow for their desire to "Africanize" South Africa or Tshakaland or whatever the hell they wind up calling the place.

[Critters2]

19. You don't think there's "tragedy' in Zimbabwe now?

Fucking unbelievable. There's always some soul-less entity around to cheer on evil.

[Zynx]

22. If he had been around the time of Joseph Stalin he would have said "He just gets a bum rap."

[harun]

37. I agree. Either way Zimbabwe is not our (U.S.) problem.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

16. All it would take to shut down Mugabe is to freeze the assets of his Rhodesian bag men

While Mugabe spares no wrath for the white farmers, he has a very different relationship with the wealthy Rhodesians. A whos who of the Ian Smith days can be found in close proximity to Mugabe along with some wealthy international criminals he harbors.

The money used to keep the lights on for Mugabe is concentrated in the hands of a few key families. While other Rhodesians such as John Brendenkamp are active in the security side of the opperation.

Freeze their overseas assets and the house of cards will fall rapidly.

[Hannah Bell]

39. thanks for that. i figured no way mugabe stayed in power w/o some $$$ behind him.

on edit: what's the angle for his backers, in your opinion?

& what's the conflict between his backers & the us/uk, since us/uk seem to be adamant in wishing mugabe gone (not that i think it's for humanitarian reasons) & i'd always thought s. african/rhodesian capital was loosely allied with british capital....

trying to understand the big-power politics under the surface, thx.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

40. it is really just business

In exchange for supporting Mugabe they have been more or less left alone during the land reform process, others like Nicholas Hoogstraten, now the largest landowner have actually received land seized from other whites. The Brendenkamps as professional smugglers for Ian Smith and Robert Mugabe have become extremely wealthy.

They saw which way the wind was blowing and they made their move, they are now however in so deep with Mugabe that if he falls they will go down with him.

And there is no shortage of valid reasons to remove Mugabe,

[Hannah Bell]

43. Seems though, that UK/US are hot to remove M - so why is it (if it is)

that Smith et al are able to defy/undermine the wishes of the bigger powers?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

44. wishes don't equal action

The west has outsourced the Zimbabwe problem to South Africa - who has failed on Zimbabwe at every turn.

[Hannah Bell]

45. thanks, it makes sense - do you have personal knowledge of the situation, btw?

[Q3JR4]

18. Well duh...

I, for one, fully support sanctions against Robert Mugabe's unelected ruling class in Zimbabwe.

I'm also pretty sure that the U.N. is incapable of doing anything. They failed to intervene in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide (resulting in the death of a million people), they failed to effectively deliver food to starving people in Somalia (and they failed to prevent the seizure of said food by war lords), they've completely screwed up any attempts to intervene on the Israeli-Palestinian front and when they pass a resolution don't enforce said resolutions, and they've failed to do anything substantive about the crisis in Darfur (which I might add is still ongoing).

Not to mention the fact that you can't design a system giving six or seven "permanent" countries veto power to protect your own ass, and then freak out when they use it.

Did anybody really expect anything else to happen?

Q3JR4.

[ohio2007]

20. Looks like all eyes will be on south Africa to 'impose' the worlds sheepish demands on Mr Magu

snip
South Africa supplies food, fuel, money, remittances and electricity to its neighbor. The electricity runs Zimbabwe's vital platinum mines, in which South African firms own a large interest. Platinum prices have hit record levels, and anxious manufacturers, including the Chinese, are desperate to prevent disruption of supplies......
snip

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/757961/will-south-africa-act-over-zimbabwe.thtml

ooops.

smile and wave boys


smile and wave

[Zynx]

21. Mbeki is useless.

[LeftishBrit]

33. Yes, but he's also term-limited.

He will be replaced within the next year, and I hope his replacement is better.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

36. His replacement is far worse

Jacob Zuma will be the next president of South Africa provided he isn't in prison, dying from AIDS or assasinated first. He first came to international attention during his rape trial when he claimed that after he had sex with an HIV positive woman he had a shower to prevent infection, he believes AIDS is caused by poor hygine and has had many HIV infected partners. He got off because of a racist white judge who was indifferent to crimes between blacks and only scolded him for involvement with such a young woman.

[LeftishBrit]

38. What is it about some South African leaders and HIV/AIDS denial?

Mbeki also insisted, at least until recently, that HIV doesn't cause AIDS.

Considering the AIDS epidemic in Africa, it's unfortunate to have leaders spreading this sort of misinformation.

[pampango]

23. "Zimbabwe hails sanctions failure" (At least someone is happy.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7503441.stm

"Zimbabwe's Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu described the resolution as an attempt to make the people of Zimbabwe suffer so they would turn against their government.

Britain, he said, "wanted to divert attention by bringing unfounded allegations against Zimbabwe, against the people of Zimbabwe, trying to make the people of Zimbabwe suffer more with the economic sanctions... so that they can turn against their own government".

Mr Ndlovu thanked Russia and China for upholding, as he put it, the United Nations principle of non-interference with member states.

"We... would like to thank those who helped defeat international racism disguised as multilateral action at the UN." "
--------------------------------------
Good to know that the new definition of international racism includes attempts to stop the killing of Africans by their own governments for political reasons.

Russia, China and Mugabe seem to have come to the conclusion that the purpose of the UN is protect genocidal dictators from international pressure to live up to the UN's own Declaration of Human Rights. The UN, in their view, becomes a great place for lofty proclamations and endless discussion, but in the end actually protects men like Mugabe from real international pressure that they might be subjected to if there were not UN.

[ohio2007]

27. No wonder he doesn't want to relinquish power

Guess who's living like a colonial ruler



No wonder he doesn't want to relinquish power... http://ker-plunk.blogspot.com/2008/07/no-wonder-he-doesnt-want-to-relinquish.html

[Dorian Gray]

41. Such bullshit.....

this is the problem. Consensus can't be reached, and Mugabe can continue to rape his country and murder the Zimbabwean people.