Grim tidings

The Rhodesian Bush War was not a pleasant affair at all. I would think it would take a very callous man to wish something like that on citizens of his country without a very good reason.

The former guerrilla commander [and president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe] told ZANU-PF youth members in Harare a day earlier that liberation war veterans had told him they would launch a new bush war if he lost the run-off.

"They said if this country goes back into white hands just because we have used a pen (to vote), 'we will return to the bush to fight'," Mugabe said. (NYT)

Crap.

This is deeply troubling. All prior reports were that Mugabe had no intention of peacefully stepping aside in the event that the MDC won the forthcoming runoff elections. Yet hope sprang eternal that he might not find the necessary military backing for his kleptocratic power grab. I wonder if Mugabe realizes how crippled Rhodesian counterinsurgency efforts were by international condemnation of the white minority government, and how different things might be if he were to engage in a "Third Chimurenga". Then again, looking at Rwanda and the international community's track record in Zimbabwe so far, Mugabe might be wholly justified in believing that the same quantum of international aid might be forthcoming to any armed opposition to his dictatorial rule--if only for reasons of apathy rather than principle. I can't see this ending well at all.