Victory by default

So it has come to pass: Robert Mugabe is the official 'winner' of Zimbabwe's run-off vote. Never mind that all results have not come in yet, or that a substantial number of ballot papers were wilfully spoilt by disgusted voters. Shams are shams, but this is just plain insanity.

Perhaps he should change his name to Mobutu and eliminate the whole wasteful facade he has made out of elections in the country. Mugabe's already wearing shirts emblazoned with his own portrait, and not even pretending to follow some kind of protocol. Zimbabwe is the fief of Zanu-PF, and the descent carries on.

All this, while the rest of the world pontificates just what else would be prudent to do next. This is not over yet.

When hope dies

Hope has all but totally died out in Zimbabwe. That is the essence of what is happening in the country today. As I write, a run-off vote is taking place, many weeks after initial presidential elections took place, but the results of which were delayed because President (and incumbent) Robert Mugabe's followers were caught with their pants down after it came to light that they had come second-place.

Veteran BBC correspondent John Simpson, in this melancholy report, writes that the violence, intimidation, killings and arbitrary arrests and imprisonments, stem from this humiliation. It is as if Mugabe, the grand old man of Zimbabwean politics, and the architect of its very collapse, has told his citizenry that this would be the price for resistance, even to obvious electoral shams.

MDC candidate, and official contender for the Presidency, Morgan Tsvangirai, is now hiding in the Dutch embassy, where he is fearing for his life. Mobs of pro-Mugabe vigilantes are scouring the country, checking citizenry if they have voted for Mugabe, while the President himself is assured of a victory, since Tsvangirai officially pulled out of the election. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, without surprise, says it came too late to remove his name from the ballots, presenting two challenges: easier means to identify those casting protest votes against Mugabe, and more window-dressing legitimacy for the unchallenged incumbent.

What comes out of these past weeks, a topic worth examination in itself, is the conduct of South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, who has maintained a platform of "quiet diplomacy," which really amounts to silence in the wake of Mugabe's conduct. Mbeki's conduct has precedent, and goes back to the beginnings of his administration. This New York Review of Books article gives a primer into South Africa's role. Nelson Mandela has come out to criticize Mugabe, but a tad-bit too late, it seems.

This development is becoming far more ridiculous as times goes on. It must show just to what low levels Mugabe's government has dropped, to be engaging in such insults to democracy and ordinary intelligence. Were it not so tragic and impact-ridden, I would wage that Mugabe would be the subject of a really bad comedy. As things look now, it seems we will be dealing with the Zimbabwean President for yet another five-year term...unless, of course, something happens to him personally, but which is a different subject in and of itself.

Back to the home base

Apologies for the month-plus writing hiatus, but I recently returned from a month-long excursion in Europe that took me to a total of four countries: Montenegro, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Even before I left, I told friends and family that it was interesting that I would be visiting the remnants of two super-federations that, around the same time, collapsed: Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.

I had attempted to submit posts while overseas, but I was unsuccessful, since Montenegrin Internet service providers -- or, at least, the one to which I had access -- were slow, while elsewhere, my online time was limited, and I spent it reading and writing e-mails to friends and family, whenever possible.

I am still digesting the whole experience and, quite frankly, I miss all of the countries I visited. To date, this has been the longest excursion that I have taken, but even here, I remain frustrated at only having scratched the surface of understanding and learning of these places. Some of the things I saw confirmed what I had long suspected and written about, while other things baffled me and -- imagine that! -- proved me wrong. In seriousness, I will return very soon, though I am not quite sure how or when, but it will be very soon.

Every trip abroad, whether it be short or long, tells you something about the people that are your co-travellers, but also a lot about yourself. Being away from the monotony and hecticness of home life and responsibilities in Toronto (or wherever one's base may be) keeps you aloof from things, and shows you a perspective one oneself that, sometimes, you would have thought never existed. I went through this experience too, and am still undergoing it.

More to come later; once I catch my breath, political blogging on this wee End of the Line shall resume. Fear not, readers, for I have returned, and the world has not improved one iota while I was gone, it seems!