[AmishDude]

Sanctions are over-credited with South Africa's conversion away from apartheid. It wasn't the sanctions themselves, but the worldwide debate that they generated and the heat on SA. It became a huge cause and forced the westernized white minority to take a hard look at their country. Mugabe's reaction to sanctions will be similar to Saddam's: Hunker down, make the little people suffer. If they complain, kill them. If they complain more, blame the US.

And maybe SA isn't the best example of a success story.

[cyborg]

No SA isn't a good example but the point about the sanctions and worldwide debate is what I was getting at. I suppose we won't know his reaction until they actually happen. Then what? If he doesn't listen, are we going to invade Zimbabwe? Probably not, not that I think we should but it is a moral quandry. If Japan didn't bomb us in Pearl Harbor, would we have involved ourselves in WW2? I wonder about that.