Todd Moss offers reasons why Europe is suddenly breaking ranks with the rest of the West and warming up to Zimbabwe.
From the article:
On February 21, Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe celebrated his 91st birthday followed by a lavish party with an exotic menu, reportedly including barbequed baby elephant. The brazen celebration was yet another reminder of the stark contrast between the increasingly venal lifestyles of the country’s politically-connected nouveau riche and regular Zimbabweans, who are now poorer than they were when Mugabe came to power nearly 35 years ago. At a time when African economies are booming, Zimbabwe is going in the other direction, as evidenced by plunging incomes and massive flight of the professional classes. A few elites and a few foreign companies are getting rich, but life is getting worse for ordinary citizens.
Mugabe’s birthday party is hardly the only act of shamelessness coming out of Harare. Blatant intimidation and vote manipulation allowed the ruling ZANU-PF party to steal elections in 2008 and again in 2013. Close observers of Zimbabwe’s politics know that systematic violence and election malfeasance were deployed to secure the vote. No matter the public’s preferences, Mugabe would simply never allow ZANU-PF to lose at the ballot box. What’s changed recently is that the party isn’t even bothering to deny its misdeeds anymore. Last week, Mugabe’s newly appointed vice president openly bragged about rigging the vote. Which makes it all the more perplexing that Europe is choosing this particular moment to break ranks with the rest of the West and cozy up to Zimbabwe.
Read the article here.
