Who in Haiti and Malaysia can aim and fire?

For that's what Jean-Claude Duvalier deserves.  It is the least Haiti deserves.  The Duvalier family are irredeemably vile, murderous crooks.  Even divorcing his repulsive thieving bitch of a wife doesn't make Baby Doc more acceptable.  The record of his family added decades to the poverty, suffering and death of this sad, but proud country.  A country that threw off the yoke of French slavery, but was punished by the West for over a century and a half, and after paying off the French, got handed the Duvaliers.

The same Duvaliers who used the country's tobacco monopoly as a personal slush fund to enrich themselves.   The same Duvaliers who spent US$3 million on their wedding ceremony.  The same Duvaliers who ruthlessly suppressed dissent, maintained a ban on independent media and promoted widespread corruption and patronage.

Meanwhile, Robert Mugabe is in a hospital in Kuala Lumpur.  Another answer to the problems of a nation is in the hands of the brave.

Bear in mind these people are proven murderers and thieves.  If they were not politicians, they would have been subjected to extradition treaties and be treated as the evil men they really are.   However, they are not "common" criminals, they are the extraordinary ones, that hide behind "state sovereignty" to protect their blood dripping hands. 

Both deserve at the most to be treated as criminals, but as they aren't common criminals, their crimes are indisputable, their role in making the law as they go along, means they have no right to that.   As with Saddam Hussein and Nicolae Ceausescu, they have forfeited the rights of human beings.  For the only legitimate use of the death penalty for me, is the removal of tyrants - as it is an act of self defence and revolution.

Zimbabwe's government becoming unstuck

The Times reports that Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has announced that the MDF will "disengage" from the unity government of Zimbabwe citing Zanu-PF as being dishonest and unreliable.

This of course is like discovering that the sun appears every morning, but give Tsvangirai his due, he tried. Whilst South Africa should have facilitated the overthrow, trial and impeachment of Mugabe and his Zanu-PF mafia, it co-ordinated a shameful compromise, which has largely failed.

The issue is Roy Bennett, a MDF MP who has been arrested after his farm was confiscated by Mugabe's goons. Zanu-PF itself is not concerned.

In essence, the issue has not gone away. The only sane solution for Zimbabwe appears to involve force - to overthrow Zanu-PF's power base, arrest Mugabe and take this sad country back from the criminal gang that has run it for so long.

Sadly, the lesson of Africa is that collectively, only a minority of African leaders have any conscience for the suffering of Africans, they are more often that not, gangsters themselves running their countries like feudal lords, granting favours, profiting exhorbitantly, and not showing the slightest interest in being accountable.

EU gives murderer succuour

Robert Mugabe, one of Africa's most vile, brutal and murderous thugs was greeted today by a delegation of nobodies from the European Union.

The nasty little thug greeted them with open arms, blaming sanctions for the destruction of Zimbabwe's economy, when it was all due to the mad thieving corrupt socialism he has implemented in the past decade or so.

However sanctions are not going to go soon, but isn't it nice to meet a man who deserves nothing less than a bullet in the head. Remember, the surest way you can get away with grand theft and murder, is to lead a country. Then you'll find you'll be treated with the greatest of respect.

Zuma tells Mugabe off

Now I have no sympathies for Jacob Zuma, South Africa is very badly served by its politicians who have lied about HIV, interfered with the judiciary to save themselves, and used the state to enrich themselves and their families on a substantial scale.

However, he deserves credit for criticising Robert Mugabe. Zuma may be a step ahead of the odious and gutless Thabo Mbeki in that respect. According to The Times Zuma said Mugabe must curb deviant behaviour and work with the coalition government. In other words, power-sharing must be real and not just the appearance of reality.

Zimbabwe meanwhile remains a woeful place, although the shops are full, it is still not a place to safely own a business. The best that can be said is that things have stopped getting worse, but there remains significant restrictions on freedom of speech, and the cronies of Zanu-PF still profit from the state theft of land and businesses. It is at least positive that Jacob Zuma appears to have grown weary of South Africa propping up the disaster next door. News that Mugabe has been getting medical treatment may be the best news though, for the death of the murderous Mugabe would be the greatest leap forward for Zimbabwe in a generation.

Zimbabwe's troubles? blame capitalism!

So says the Standard

Setting new high standards in blogging by linking to a four year old article on a US Marxist website (nothing like those articles that make assertions without any back up evidence) to damn the IMF and World Bank for wrecking Zimbabwe's economy in the 1980s.

"Mugabe’s government which followed the IMF and World Bank’s neo liberal plan for their economy to the letter, has shown us all how these policies will finish up."

Welcome to the Orwell's world of doublespeak.

No, I am not making this up.

Mugabe and North Korea

Two articles came to my attention that paint the awful brutal history behind Robert Mugabe's alliance with North Korea.

ROK Drop "Faces in Korea: Robert Mugabe"
National Post (Canada) Pyongyang's man in Harare

The murderous antics of Mugabe in Matabeleland are well known:

"Using North Korean terminology, Mugabe explained that "The people there had their chance and they voted as they did. The situation there has to be changed. The people must be re-oriented."

Some 20,000 people died in the resulting campaign of torture and murder, but it was not just repression pure and simple. What the villagers grew to fear most was the dreadful all-night singing sessions in which they would have to sing ZANU songs with cheerful enthusiasm at the same time that they were savagely beaten; when they would not only have to watch as friends or family members were tortured or shot but would themselves have to assist in the process -- the emphasis always being on achieving their utter humiliation and incrimination so that they could re-emerge at the end as Mugabe loyalists."

What remains inexcusable is how so many in the West, like Chris Laidlaw, thought so highly of Mugabe in the 1980s - he has always been a murderous thug - he remains so - and it is a tragic consequence of decades of appeasement that this vile little man remains at large, and embraced by so many who should know better.

Zimbabwe's new government in crisis already

Zimbabwe's secret police have already arrested an MDC MP designated to be Deputy Agriculture Minister for "treason" according to The Times. Roy Bennett, who had his coffee plantation stolen from him by Zanu PF thugs in 2003, was about to fly to South Africa to spend the weekend with his wife. He fled Zimbabwe following accusations he was plotting to assassinate Robert Mugabe, and returned to be an MP again after the power sharing government had been set up.

Zanu-PF has shared nothing but titles. Tonight the BBC, banned in Zimbabwe, had to meet Morgan Tsvangarai in a "safe house" to conduct an interview with him.

Zimbabwe needs a true revolution, and wont be on the path to justice, prosperity and freedom until the Marxist Zanu-PF gangsters are defeated, arrested, tried and imprisoned.

Too often today many think that it is impossible to judge, to say good or evil. However in Zimbabwe Zanu-PF is dripping with evil, from the blood of those murdered, the property of those robbed, those bullied, tortured, imprisoned and the sheer pillage of a country by gangsters - and the destruction of its infrastructure, and the health of its people.

The only justice today could come if the country was invaded, the Zanu PF bandits were rounded up and incarcerated for their crimes. One wish for 2009 is the death of Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

FOOTNOTE: However if you can't kill the bastard, at least laugh at him. Hugo Rifkind brilliantly satirises Robert Mugabe's diary in "My Week" in the Times. My favourite is:

"I call up Tsvangirai to suggest that, if he isn’t keen on massacres, how about a land grab? Just to show he’s one of the team now.
Tsvangirai says there won’t be any land grabs either, because a new day has dawned for Zimbabwe. To illustrate this, he says, he will today be arriving at the Chikurubi maximum security prison in Harare. “But of course you will!” I say, delighted. “For this is where I have designated your new offices and sleeping quarters!”
Tsvangirai adds that, after a couple of hours, he will also be leaving the Chikurubi maximum-security prison in Harare. “Oh,” I say. "

Zimbabwe's new chapter?

After the cowardly strong arming of South Africa, Morgan Tsvangarai has been sworn in as Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister, leading a Cabinet the majority of which does not include the murderous gangster group - Zanu PF.

According to the BBC, Tsvangarai has said the first priority is to get the economy working again, with an end to political violence and all public sector workers to be paid in foreign currency - effectively declaring an end to the virtually worthless Zimbabwe Dollar.

Mugabe will hope this will shield him and his gangsters from scrutiny and attention, and that it protects their booty from being taken off them, and them all from arrest for the violence and kleptomania they are guilty of. Mugabe undoubtedly also hopes it can mean aid flows freely, and his fellow thugs can claim their share - and his lavish lifestyle can continue uninterrupted.

However, it is difficult to say what will happen. The government may not achieve much if policies don't change, if Mugabe's mob stop political intimidation and free speech cannot return to Zimbabwe. For without fundamental change, this is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Mr Tsvangarai will hope he can exercise authority to make some improvements, and that Mugabe is weakened - or better yet, that if it all stalls he can blame it on Mugabe and Zanu-PF, and he will have some power base to call for new elections and for them to be monitored and policed effectively.

I am not optimistic though. The best answer for Zimbabwe would have been mercenaries to stage a coup and overthrow Mugabe - because he and his thugs have rampaged through that once wealthy land and taken what they wished, and harmed those in their way. There should be no Western aid to Zimbabwe, except through private channels that have nothing to do with the state, whilst Mugabe is in power. Let's hope the change in Zimbabwe is the beginning of the end of this vileness. Africa must surely be tired of being ruled by thieving murdering thugs and their henchmen.

While Obamaniacs party

Zimbabwe, which has had the same black leader since 1980 weeps. 2000 dead from cholera.

and Robert Mugabe's wife shops in Hong Kong, and beats up a Times photographer.

Could we even hope to hear a peep from Barack Obama this week about the land with the trillion dollar notes, the lowest life expectancy in the world and a murderous kleptocracy?

Zimbabwe's Christmas

You wont be surprised. The cholera epidemic, the kwashiorkor, the continued harassment of MDC politicians and advisors, and Mugabe's continued lavish thumbing of his nose at the world and his people.

and South Africa's blood stained repulsive support for him. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for Mugabe to be removed by force if he wont resign. The ANC continues to provide succour to this murderous corrupt autocracy, and you have noticed the mass protests against both the Mugabe regime and the ANC by those who once fought apartheid - seems that dictatorship is only worth fighting if it is racist. President Bush has called for Mugabe to go - a good Christmas present for Zimbabwe would be to arm the MDC, for Zimbabwe's neighbours to isolate it completely, except for humanitarian aid.

How many have to die before military action by Africa will save more lives than it risks?

Another year goes by and Mugabe hasn't had a bullet through his head.

Zimbabwe writhing like a tortured corpse

The world turned away for a while, after Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai signed a power sharing deal - a deal that seemed incredible to most of us, that the murdering tyrant would surrender any real power to his popular nemesis. I wrote at the time that I feared Tsvangirai being cauterised like Mugabe did to Joshua Nkomo in the early 1980s. Mugabe wants Tsvangirai for two reasons:
1.) To shut up the international community and present the facade of power sharing, whilst maintaining a monopoly grip on power;
2.) To obtain booty in the form of loans, aid and trade from the world to boost his destroyed economy, claiming credit for as President for the revival, and being able to damn Tsvangirai if it goes wrong.

Tsvangirai isn't playing ball, much to the chagrin of Mugabe and his idiot mate, Thabo Mbeki.

Mbeki remains confident, he can't see why his murderous mate can't have what he wants, and can't see the absurdity of a negotiation between a murderers and the one leading the victims, led by a friend of the murderer.

Mugabe chose to hold onto defence, foreign affairs, home affairs (Police, courts, media, local government, land policy and the mining sector) and offered to hand over finance. Tsvangirai insisted on also having home affairs. He could not countenance the corrupt judiciary, electoral system and police forces remaining in the hands of the man who used them against his own people.

The Economist writes that Mbeki should stand down, as he is a lame duck politically, and that Kofi Annan should step into the mediating role. Meanwhile, 80% of the population is unemployed, a quarter of the population has fled across the porous borders, the media remains tightly under Mugabe's control, spreading lies about the negotiations, and people are on the verge of mass starvation.

Inflation is 231 million % per annum. That's over 5% a day, every day, cumulative. Doesn't sound much? That means prices double in just over nine days. After another six weeks, prices have gone up tenfold. In another 6 weeks it is one hundred fold.

Zimbabwe is sadly an ongoing disaster, and more power to Tsvangirai if he can hold Mugabe to account - but it still shows the place will be better when the old tyrant has a bullet through his skull, and his murderous comrades can be strung up and their ill gotten gains given back to those who they stole them from.

Zimbabwe deal deja vu?

There is considerable hope that the deal between Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangarai's MDC will result in real change in Zimbabwe, although to be honest that hope is only because the alternative is so bleak.

The power sharing deal means day to day power is meant to be transferred to Tsvangarai as Prime Minister leading a council of Ministers, whilst Mugabe remains President and chairs another Cabinet. In short, Mugabe loses little, and gains some scapegoats and the chance that aid may once again flow to his beleagured land of subjects. Zimbabwe, with a life expectancy of 32 years, and inflation that averages at over 4% every single day, meaning prices double every 2.5 weeks, is on its knees - and the man that did it, and the men and women who stole from Zimbabwe will remain immune.

As Ayn Rand once said the only winner when good and evil compromise, is evil. It is clear that the murdering, thieving, destroying thugs of Zanu-PF will get away with their kleptocratic homicidal deeds. It is clear that Robert Gabriel Mugabe will continue to be President, continue to fly in a private jet and be feted by lesser (and occasionally greater) thugs and murderers around the world. In short, there will be no justice for the people of Zimbabwe, when the appropriate response would be to put him and his cronies on trial, Ceausescu style and put them in front of a firing squad.

However, Morgan Tsvangarai is tired of hoping for that outcome. Thabo Mbeki, another accessory to murder and theft, has long insisted on a compromise that would suit his fellow gangster mate Mugabe. Only a handful of African leaders spoke up against the festering sore of that regime, and so Tsvangarai felt stuck, without arms, without a means of overthrowing the kleptocracy that murdered and tortured his supporters, he sought peace.

Peace has a price.

Joshua Nkomo of ZAPU, a tribal based party aligned with the Ndebele minority saw how Mugabe could operate. As recalled by the Times, Nkomo was an opposition leader who also fought for Zimbabwe's independence. After some violence and rivalry, Mugabe gave Nkomo a cabinet seat before accusing him of plotting to overthrow the government. Following that accusation, Mugabe ordered his murderous Fifth Brigade (trained by North Koreans) to unleash a genocidal campaign on Matabeleland that saw 20,000 Ndebele murdered. Nkomo relented and announced the merger of ZAPU and ZANU, creating ZANU-PF - destroying Zimbabwe's opposition. He did it for peace, and died a broken man:

"The parallels with today are uncanny,” Heidi Holland, author of a recent book, Dinner with Mugabe, about the tyrant’s political rise to power, told The Times. "

Peace, you see, isn't a virtue when it is under slavery. One would hope Tsvangarai knows this lesson from history and is seeking to not repeat it, but one also knows Mugabe is cunning and slippery.

I notice the NZ government is welcoming the deal with caution, but saying many issues need to be addressed. I'd prefer to say that the sooner Mugabe and his cohorts were deposed from power and subject to trial for their crimes against Zimbabweans the better.

The heartbreak that is Zimbabwe is far from over, there is no reason to cheer just yet.

UPDATE: The Times writes about what is needed to make a real change in Zimbabwe. Repeal of the draconian security laws. End of the blockade on humanitarian aid being delivered directly to those in need. End of the intimidation of opposition supporters. Drastic action on inflation. Restoring to productivity the formerly white-Zimbabwean owned farms that have been pillaged and ruined. Constitutional reform to hold truly free and fair elections. Without that, this deal is window dressing.

Zimbabwe sadly slips further

Well it had to happen, according to Stuff quoting Reuters, Zimbabwe has effectively redenominated its currency by dropping zeros. Ten of them. So that 1 billion Zim dollars will now be 1 Zim dollar.

Of course given that it may be rather hard to print the money given the end of the contract with the German suppliers of banknote paper. Meanwhile, the two-faced friend of murderers, Thabo Mbeki continues to meet Morgan Tsvangirai with the attempt to create a government of national unity, for foreign consumption, because - of course - it wont really mean a difference. It will be like how Joshua Nkomo was cauterised by Mugabe in the early 1980s, after Mugabe's goons butchered their way through his "allies".

I did note one point of unintended humour when the report has the phrase "Mbeki's spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga" conveniently named because Mbeki is a master of ratshit.

MDC isn't relenting though, insisting that Tsvangirai lead a new government. ZANU-PF is insisting that the "election win" be respected.

It's very simple - if MDC compromises with ZANU-PF it will cease to be a credible or moral force in Zimbabwe. Compromise with evil is concession to evil - and conceding to those who would murder you means you lose.

Thabo Mbeki is part of that evil, the South African government and the ANC is part of that evil - and the so-called peace and human rights movement is turning a blind eye.

Mugabe sells Zimbabwe to new colonialists

Following on from the disgraceful vetoing of a draft UN Security Council resolution by the energy rich kleptocratic quasi-fascist Russia, with quiet approval by the amoral People's Republic of China, comes a report from the Daily Telegraph that Robert Mugabe now has a £4.5 million mansion courtesy of Beijing.

Why?

Because this self proclaimed defender of Zimbabwe's sovereignty against "British colonialism" has happily signed over the mineral rights of the country he keeps under his jackboot to the People's Republic of China. Colonialism surely? EU Referendum blog tells more, you see policy on sanctions is actually not up to the UK government, but the EU as a whole.

So, Mandela has his birthday and calls for more to be done about poverty - whilst South Africa's neighbour Zimbabwe suffers under a brutal thieving fascist dictatorship that sells out its wealth to another dictatorship. The UN Security Council remains totally impotent while it at the behest of Russia and China, both murderous enemies of freedom. Africa does next to nothing. Mugabe enjoys his last years with unimaginable wealth.

Mbeki gets a telling from the G8

I bet he didn't think for a moment that he, as the leader of the great and wonderful post-Apartheid "free" South Africa, would ever be held to account for his blood dripping handshaking collusion with Robert Mugabe - but he did.

Thabo Mbeki wont want to go to a G8 summit again.

According to the Times, Mbeki was told along with other African leaders that "trade and investment on the continent could be hit unless they acted to deal with the "illegitimate" Zimbawean president" (sic)

US President George Bush apparently directly criticised him - but that wont mean the leftie former lickspittles of Mugabe will possibly concede Bush was right to do this I am sure.

A Canadian official reported that African representatives were told:

"The Mugabe regime is an illegitimate regime and it should not be tolerated. Public opinion in G8 countries questions why the world would tolerate such a regime and questions why Africa would tolerate such a regime"

Mbeki apparently flew to Harare last weekend to try to meet Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangarai, but Tsvangarai rightly refused saying Mbeki couldn't be trusted. Quite right too, your enemy's mate is hardly someone worth talking to.

So the G8 is going to discuss increasing sanctions (though I wonder if the presence of Russia is a hindrance or a help).

Meanwhile, The Times has published one of its archive articles on its website, an editorial from 1985 about how Mugabe sought to create a one party state then. Yes, the same year I believe New Zealand opened diplomatic relations. The leftwing myth of the hero, blanking out the reality even then.

Video shows the complete fraud of Zimbabwe's election

Shepherd Yuda has fled Zimbabwe with his family, but not before he secretly filmed the most recent election. Yuda was a prison officer who decided to film what he could covertly, with assistance from The Guardian.

The story is here, with the video. It graphically shows how the ballot was anything but secret, but was cast in front of one of the so-called war heroes - you know a bit like Japanese war heroes in Korea and China during and before WW2 - thugs. In other words, they know who you voted for and you are told that MDC will never win.

The UN Security Council is debating a resolution to freeze the financial assets of Mugabe and other top members of the regime and impose a travel ban. The International Herald Tribune says Russia and China are unenthused, but considering whether or not to veto, and South Africa is thinking about it.

Russia I expect little from, murdering kleptocrats as they are. China, ditto given how they treat dissidents. South Africa? Morality can't piss on this regime of capitulating sycophants to tyranny. Seriously, who else has had enough of the South African government, that acts the high mighty and moral, but feeds, powers and shakes the blood dripping hands of their murderous friend and comrade. After all, would you shake hands with someone protecting and friends with their murdering rapist neighbour?

Will Zimbabwe run out of banknotes?

One can hope, now that according to the Daily Telegraph the German supplier of paper has cancelled its contract effectively as a political statement against the regime.

"The highest value banknote is worth Z$50 billion - which is presently enough to buy one can of baked beans."

If paper can't be sourced (which seems unlikely) then it may well bring things to a head - unless the regime effectively uses foreign currency amongst itself while impoverishing the public with its worthless "money".

Story of a couple of neighbours

One man with a kindly face, let's call him Mr. T used to do business with the man next door. He would sell him various things and the man next door was quite wealthy, he and his wife would regularly go on overseas trips and always wore excellently fitting suits. When they were away they'd have a nanny looking after the children. The man next door, let's call him Mr. R, had quite a family of kids. However he was rather cruel to them. Sometimes they would have nothing much to eat, sometimes he or the nanny would beat them, lock them in a room and hurt them again and again, and threaten them. Well this is what the kids told Mr. T, but he wasn't so sure that they hadn't provoked Mr. R. After all, the kids used to loved Mr. R, and he thinks the kids have some other friends who tell them what to think. He tries not to notice the blood, the screams and the fact that the odd kid has scrambled into Mr. T's yard looking for refuge and keeps hiding.

This has been going on for some time and the oldest kid (Master M) had had enough and has the support of the other kids to boot their father out. However, the father threatened the kids to be on his side, he told the nanny to beat them up unless they say how much they love Mr. R. Mr T. doesn't believe Mr. R would do such a thing and that it is lies spread by the outsiders, he says the oldest kid and Mr. R need to sit down and sort things out. However, when Mr T. leaves, Mr. R gets the nanny to try to catch Master M, put him in his room and gives him a thrashing for being obstinate and ungrateful. After all Mr. R has led the household for 28 years.

Things with Mr. R have been getting more difficult though. Some of Mr. R's kids have told others that a couple of the kids have been killed by the nanny or other staff, and the kids are sick of nearly starving all the time while Mr and Mrs. R go off to Italy, Egypt or the like. Mr. T says that the kids and Mr. R need to sort it out, and continues to try to help. Mr. R just tells the kids to behave or they will be thrashed, beaten, locked up and maybe something worse will happen to them.

The story isn't over though, because Mr. T has given up worrying about Mr. R's family. It's a surprise really because Mr. T and the club he belongs to used to care a lot about them 30 or so years ago when the nasty Mr. I looked after them, and treated them all as second class citizens and beat them up if they didn't stay in their place. Mr. R said they were equals and was somewhat loved for that.

Mr. T just thinks it is up to the kids to sort out whether Mr. R is head of the household or not, he doesn't care that Mr. R is armed, his nanny and housekeepers are armed, and he has killed a couple more kids to emphasise that he is in charge. The funny thing is the kids had a vote on it, and Mr. R told them that if they voted for Master M. they would all be thrashed severely, maybe even maimed or killed. Mr. R said they wanted him anyway. That was good enough for Mr. T.

Mr. T is happy believing Mr. R that the kids who he beats, starves, tortures, maims and kills want him to still run the household. He still sells Mr. R food, electricity, petrol and the like, and still has social meetings with him. He wont help the kids, they should figure it out for themselves.

Shame it's not fiction

Mugabe the hero

Yes who is surprised he is attending the African Union summit, among his peers, a prick to piss on. According to the Times:

"He dined at a lavish luncheon given by his Egyptian hosts, hugged heads of state and other diplomats in the corridors and stayed at the Peninsula Hotel, one of the most luxurious in this Red Sea town. “Mr Mugabe is staying there as a courtesy by the Egyptian Government,” a hotel spokesman said."

Nice to see that aid being well spent Egypt - I bet the Bush Administration is highly amused!

At least Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga isn't accepting this charade. He wants Mugabe suspended "until he allows the African Union to facilitate free and fair elections". Italy has withdrawn its envoy from Harare, and calls for all EU countries to withdraw diplomats from Zimbabwe.

Barclays can go to hell too

You don't have to go far from home in the UK to find those who help prop up Mugabe's government and his Ministers, you see Barclays is banker for Mugabe's thugs and even buys Harare government bonds.

You see this is what it does:

"Barclays' Zimbabwean subsidiary lent the Mugabe regime $46.4 million (£23 million) last year through its purchase of government and municipal bonds and is one of the main contributors to a government-run loan scheme for farm improvements, the Agricultural Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility (Aspef). At least five ministers have received loans for farms seized from white Zimbabweans under the Aspef scheme, intended to boost agricultural production, which has collapsed since the seizures began

This statement defended its activities:

"[Barclays] services are critically relied upon by many of the 135,000 customers for their day-to-day operations to maintain access to banking and employment, with a benefit to the wider community. This continued presence brings the benefit of avoiding additional hardship [to that] already being experienced within the country."

I would love to know how in a country with inflation running at over 4,000,000% a year, Barclays can provide banking services worth anything to the average Zimbabwean? The local currency is worthless. It buys Zimbabwean government bonds, no doubt with foreign exchange. If it didn't participate in this market, the Zimbabwean government would have to go elsewhere, and funnily enough banks in friendly regimes like China are far from capable of undertaking the activities Barclays does.

So I'm going to find other insurance providers next week and cancel my policies. Barclays can royally get fucked. Like far too many companies today, it talks the talk about the value destroying bullshit called "corporate social responsibility", and plasters this nonsense on its website. It then has a description of the "operating environment" which ignores completely what is going on.

So go on Britain. Go take your money out of Barclays, tell them why, at this time of tight credit, it could do with a message that being bankers to those who encourage men to murder and abuse children is not ethical or moral. Barclays no doubt will claim that closing its operations will hurt locals, it may do so, but does this make up for continuing to help finance the murderous regime,to continue finance the loans to its thugs? When does it stop being moral to be bankers to dictators?