Zimbabwe leadership hangs on hunger -Rumors of possible end to Mugabe reign

Mugabe wouldn't be in power today if he hadn't rigged the election. In reality the opposition won but on Monday, Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, goes on trial for his life***At his trial, Mr Tsvangirai will be represented by George Bizos, the veteran South African anti-apartheid lawyer who came to prominence when he defended Nelson Mandela in the 1963 Rivonia trial. Despite his impressive defence, Mandela spent the next 27 years in jail. The treason charge is based on a secretly filmed meeting between Mr Tsvangirai and a Canadian consultancy company hired by the Zimbabwe government to improve its international image. When the tapes were first broadcast on Zimbabwean state television, viewers noted that the digital timing did not run in sequence between frames.

The defence will claim that the video had been doctored to misrepresent the conversation and that key exchanges are inaudible. The prosecution's chief witness is Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli intelligence agent who runs the Canadian firm, Dickens and Madson. Last week he said that he had been subpoenaed to appear and would testify if called, ending speculation in Zimbabwe that he would not attend the trial. The timing of the hearing may be awkward for the government as it launches a diplomatic offensive to persuade the Commonwealth "troika" of South Africa, Nigeria and Australia to lift its suspension. The case also comes as Zimbabwe attempts to take advantage of a French invitation to visit Paris to have sanctions lifted on Mr Mugabe and his allies.

"I think Tsvangirai and his colleagues are going to use this trial to highlight Mugabe's violent campaign against the opposition, his record on human rights," said a Western diplomat in Harare. "I think Mugabe's politics will end up in the dock and the president's and the government's image is likely to suffer." Last week, Mr Tsvangirai said: "We will defend ourselves strongly because we are innocent. We're victims of a government frame-up."***

"Since then, drought in southern Africa, combined with the disruptions in farming, have pushed more than half of the population to the brink of starvation."

yeah right, gotta throw in the "drought" thing, cant put ALL the blame on bad policy/Mugabe Madness can we??? (San Francisco Chronicle: WAKE UP)

...cant put ALL the blame on bad policy/Mugabe Madness can we???

No, they save up all that venom for conservatives.

Britain's cricket team has even considered boycotting the World Cup matches to be held in Zimbabwe, a snub equal to an American team refusing to attend the Super Bowl.

Oh, I'm sure that will knock Mugabe's socks off! How daring! How bold! How breath-taking! [/sarcasm]

Can anyone say, "Rhodesia"?

IT'S AMAZING WHAT A LITTLE COMMUNISM AND THE LACK OF FARMERS WHO KNOW WHAT THEIR DOING CAN DO TO A COUNTRY ISNT IT?

Just in case anybody still doubts that National Public Radio is the home of liberal bias, they ran a piece on the troubles in Zimbabwe on their "All Things Considered" program this evening. The commentator characterized Mugabe's theft of the white farmer's property in that country as, get this, "land reform."

The prosecution's chief witness is Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli intelligence agent who runs the Canadian firm, Dickens and Madson. Last week he said that he had been subpoenaed to appear and would testify if called, ending speculation in Zimbabwe that he would not attend the trial.

Anbody remember where we've seen this name before?

The PROMIS/INSLAW controversey!

Now isn't that interesting......... what a coincidence.

Who is Ari Ben-Menashe? This is what Media Research Center found out ***BEN-MENASHE. Ari Ben-Menashe appeared three times in the first show, highlighted as an Israeli intelligence officer. PBS reported that "Israeli intelligence officer Ari Ben-Menashe says he was one of half a dozen Israelis sent to Paris at Casey's request to help coordinate arms deliveries" and "Israeli intelligence officer Ari Ben-Menashe claimed that he saw intelligence reports about Casey's trip to Madrid." After Newsweek and The New Republic published their exposés of the sources pushing the October Surprise story, including the fact that Ben-Menashe's wife called him a liar, Frontline's second program admitted: "His credibility with reporters collapsed because some of his assertions proved implausible, particularly his claim about George Bush."

THE HASHEMIS. While Frontline disavowed Brenneke and Ben-Menashe, the producers stood by their belief in the Hashemi brothers, Jamshid and Cyrus, a pair of Iranian arms dealers. This despite the New Republic exposé, which declared Jamshid Hashemi had "even worse credibility problems" than Brenneke and Ben-Menashe; and the Village Voice placed Cyrus as flying from Paris instead of to Paris on August 14, when the meetings supposedly took place. ***

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Zimbabwe Diamond Deals Exposed - Zimbabwe Independent ^ | February 22, 2002 | Vincent Kahiya - *** SENIOR Zanu PF politicians and members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces have with the help of Canadian lobbyists Dickens & Madson turned Zimbabwe into a hub for trade in "blood" diamonds illegally brought into the country from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), it emerged this week.

The Zimbabwe Independent has been told how gemstones from the DRC have been laundered to line the pockets of Zanu PF big-wigs.

American international diamond buyer, John Marsischky, managing director of gemstones company Flashes of Color, revealed in an interview this week that Dickens & Madson, the company which last week claimed it was hired by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai to assassinate President Mugabe, has been working as a conduit for the transfer of funds between Zimbabwean officials and buyers.

Dickens & Madson, Marsischky said, were employed to do security checks on international diamond buyers. Marsischky said he met representatives of the lobbyists last year when they did a security check on Flashes of Color before he met businessman Bob Codrington who said he represented ZDF commanders in the diamond trade.

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Feb 22, 2002 - Tsvangirai video evidence 'doctored' *** THE surveillance video footage which purportedly shows Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe has been extensively "doctored", evidence made available to the Zimbabwe Independent this week shows.

Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) director Andrew Moyse said the video footage shown last week by Australia's Special Services Broadcasting (SBS) station was tampered with. Moyse said a common cut-and-paste editing method was used. "Notably, what Tsvangirai was heard to say did not match the titles on the screen," he said.***

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Feb 20, 2002 - Government propaganda blitz on Mugabe assasination plot puzzles voters in Zimbabwe***"I don't know what to believe any more. If he did it, why isn't he in jail?" Dambiti said. Mugabe himself, campaigning for the presidential election scheduled for March 9-10, has told supporters he knew his assassination was hatched last year but did nothing out "for fear of plunging the country into chaos," state television reported Tuesday.

Mugabe dismissed opposition claims of a sting operation orchestrated by the government to incriminate Tsvangirai ahead of the election. "We have not manufactured that story," state television reported Mugabe as saying. The report said Mugabe scoffed at the assassination fee allegedly offered. "Only 500,000 American dollars. Only that, for me, it's nothing," Mugabe reportedly said.***