It is, by now, no surprise that Robert Mugabe, dictator-in-chief of Zimbabwe is rigging the elections to claim his now expired position of executive president of Zimbabwe. As was had in the 1990, 1996, and 2002, a sort of social terrorism has spread over the nation, being funded and facilitated by Mugabe and his minions. This terrorism is being used to control the voters, and to eradicate any movements that are counter to Mugabe and Co’s governmental ideals.

However, what really strikes me as being…ironic… is that there is suddenly an overwhelming interest everything that is occurring now. For, the same instances of abuse, voter harms, opposition strong arming, and general dictator like behavior occurred in the 2002 elections. Perhaps the irony stems from the fact that in 2002 George Bush’s approval rating were somewhere between 60-80% and now, in the year 2008 his approval rating has meandered between a whopping 29-32%. It is of no mistake that Georgie ( and the US government) has suddenly made free elections in Zimbabwe their number one concern, as it shifts the focus away from the gross negligence that the US has shown in 1) the war in Iraq 2) the sub prime plummet 3)the health care crisis 4) forced oil inflation 5)foreign policy as a whole.

I find it laughable that on the nightly news there are videos of Bush speaking to the horrific conditions in Zimbabwe, while his own country sinks. This is not to say that the issues of Zimbabwe are not pressing, as they are. Yet, in a nation where habeas corpus has just been restored, perhaps the human rights in our own nation ought to be looked at before we attempt to tell other nations that their actions are not democratic.

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