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Contrary to what the article says, this is a good time for this sham trial to proceed.

Everybody's attention is focussed on Iraq.

Also, in North America, the Columbia disaster will drive anything about Zim totally off the press, not just to the back pages, so at least the first week of the trial will go totally unremarked and uncommented upon.

The independent press is routinely being arrested and deported and their attendance at public events, let alone a trial, are entirely dependent on the whim of the government and the police.

Europe's sense of indignation, what little there was of it, is evaporating and will yield to the wishes of France and Portugal.

The Commonwealth is under a great deal of pressure from its African members to sweep the Zim mess under the rug.

Tsvangirai will probably be convicted.

But he will probably not be hanged as Mugabe will not want to revive Europe and the Commonwealth from its somnolance.

Does the US media even cover events in Zimbabwe? I rarely see mention of it. I try to avoid the NY Times (even though I live in NYC) but I usually glance at the front page of its daily chronicle of distortion and never see Zimbabwe mentioned. It seems the UK papers give it plenty of coverage. I spent some time in Zim about three years ago -- what a beautiful place with wonderful people and at least the semblance of an educated, hard-working middle class. What Mugabe is doing is one of the great tragedies of recent history -- comparisons to Pol Pot are more and more applicable. Not that the NY Times would care, as it did not care about Pol Pot at the time either.