Zimbabwe's misery

Here's a link to the Register's editorial on the decision of opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai to step down in the run-off presidential race in Zimbabwe. The reason, of course, is that the forces of the president, Robert Mugabe, who still controls the government, have been intimidating, beating up and killing (at least 80 dead) Tsvangirai supporters since the original election in May, which Tsvangirai probably won if there had been anything close to an honest ballot count.

Mugabe has become one of the world's most ruthless and destructive dictators. He has taken a country (formerly Rhodesia if you remember) that was one of the more prosperous African countries and turned it into a poverty-ridden hellhole. Yet his fondest desire is to hang onto power, probably until he dies. His reign of terror shows the essence of government -- force. Governments try to pretty up the pig with democratic processes and vows of love for the "people," but Mao knew: political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.