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August 21, 2008 KR Blog Uncategorized

From the Dept. of Challenges to Accepted Wisdom

In the new New York Review of Books, Joshua Hammer writes about the recent political chaos in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe, who Hammer argues belongs with the current regime in Myanmar/Burma as one of the world’s most despised dictators, set out a heinous campaign of violence after losing in an election to Morgan Tsvangirai in late June. Hammer writes that after choosing not to validate the vote in his country, Mugabe said:

“We are not going to give up our country because of a mere X. How can a ballpoint pen fight with a gun?”

Which made me… uh. I thought about how we. Um. Huh. There’s this saying about how the sword is mightier than… Uh. That the pen is mightier than the… Huh. Hmm. Not sure what to say.

Later in the piece, Hammer tells us that new Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said: “What is happening in Zimbabwe is a shame and an embarrassment to Africa in the eyes of the international community and should be denounced.”

Nuff said.