P.W. Botha

[Claret & Blue Army]

Controversial former South African president P.W. Botha died this week aged 90. His legacy appears to be continuing through his neighbour Rober Mugabe.

[chocice]

What are you wittering on about this time?i

[Rich]

When I first saw the title of this thread I thought our very own PW had been involved in more controversy.

[covunistudent]

I wonder if normal people in South Africa will thank him, I guess not. Whilst obviously the violence was bad, even "normal" things such as having an international cricket team were a problem.

[Claret & Blue Army]

chocice said:

What are you wittering on about this time?i

Well the former President of the Republic of South Africa who presided over the final chunk of full apartheid administration died this week.
Obviously Mugabe is a supporter of such seperatism as he uses many of the same strong arm tactics in Zimbabwe.

Sounds quite simple really

[chocice]

Its a bit of a leap to combine Aparthied and Mugabe.
Mugabe is hell bent on destroying a nation and its economy regardless of the colour of skin, alot more black people are suffering in Zimbabwe than white people.

I see little evidence of Zimbabwe being run along the lines of Racial seperation, as in the political system of Aparthied operated in SA.

[Claret & Blue Army]

So farmers who lost their lands in a click of fingers just because they were white isn't a matter of their skin colour then? The Zimbabwean white populace who remain in the old Rhodesia (Which is responsible for much of the financial prosperity the country had) is in a very precarious position purely based on what they see in the mirror each day.

Racism is bad regardless of who is offending.

[chocice]

Of course they were responsilble for most of the wealth , they had taken over all the best land and controlled all of the resources.

[covunistudent]

This past week in the news there was another report from Zimbabwe which said that food production in Zimbabwe is now at an all time low and it means ordinary people both black and white are starving.

People who protested against his government got beaten up by policeman. If Blair and Bush need to do something its in Zimbabwe really.

[chocice]

Zimbabwe, Tibet, Sudan, Burma, the list of places we should do something about is a very long one, but where there are no buisness or oil interests we wont ever take action. The rubbishabout defending or implementing democracy is just that rubbish, the Palestinians had an election but because the USA didnt like the result it didnt count,

[covunistudent]

Your point is spot on, but bearing in mind elections can produce the "wrong" results. Now should the world accept Hamas as a political party, well I think yes UNLESS they start doing things that are not political.

[chocice]

Hamas won a democratic election fair and square and so long as they agree to hold and do hold free elections within a specified timeframe , to alow the people the chance to vote them out , then we most certainly should respect the result, thats what democracy is all about.

As for doing things wrong depends what you mean , if you mean defending yourself against an occupying force that wantonly disobeys UN resolutions, then how could any sane person find that wrong?

[covunistudent]

Well both sides are in the wrong to an extent. Suicide bombers against ordinary people in Israel who have nothing to do with the government are wrong, as is Israel for not clearing out the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as quickly as the "road map to peace" said they should.

Hamas have been involved in terrorism before. And as for what I meant by saying elections can produce the "wrong" results, well the Nazi party were voted into power in 1933 in Germany, obviously I'm speaking with hindsight, over 70 years after the event, but it proved to be a disaster.