Hitler killed himself as the Russians surged toward his bunker.
These days he’d probably get some regretful blog posts about who the real war criminals were, why it was in the interests of the allies to make him look bad, and how tragic it was the “truth” had died with him.
This is an extract from the latest HRW report:
The Zimbabwean army is responsible for a new wave of rights violations throughout Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch said today. Military forces are providing arms and trucks to so-called “war veterans” who have been implicated in numerous acts of torture and other violence against opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) members and supporters.
[…..]
On April 23, in Manicaland, a group of “war veterans” and ZANU-PF supporters fired at a group of 22 MDC activists who had enquired about the whereabouts of 12 MDC supporters. Earlier the “war veterans” had abducted the 12 MDC supporters and taken them to Chiwetu Rest Camp – an informal torture center set up by the “war veterans” and ZANU-PF youth in Makoni West, Manicaland province. When the MDC activists arrived at the camp they found up to 50 “war veterans” and ZANU-PF supporters – 12 of whom were armed. The “war veterans” ordered the activists to sit on the ground and then fired shots into the air. As the MDC activists tried to flee, the war veterans fired another round of shots, this time at the group, hitting three of them. One activist, Tabeth Marume, was shot in the stomach and died of her wounds on the way to the hospital. Two other activists were also injured during the incident.
One of the victims of the shooting told Human Rights Watch that the man who fired the shot that killed Tabeth Marume was a known “war veteran.” When the victims informed the local police about the incident, the police refused to take action, claiming that such an incident could not have happened since they had no knowledge of any civilians in the area who were allowed to keep firearms.
The current whereabouts of the 12 abducted MDC supporters are not known. The activists who went to the camp told Human Rights Watch that they saw their colleagues at the camp with their hands tied behind their backs, lying on their stomachs. They said the 12 activists were badly bruised and injured. The activists also reported to Human Rights Watch that they later saw the “war veterans” bundle their colleagues into pickup trucks and drive off.
The lack of arrests and investigations into this and other incidents of organized political violence carried out by ZANU-PF and its allies contrasts starkly with the arrest of 215 people last Friday accused of committing reprisal attacks against ZANU-PF, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch expressed concern that those arrests were politically motivated.
This is Vincent Magombe, Director of Africa Inform International, speaking on Newsnight earlier this year, albeit in the context of Kenya’s struggle for democracy:
I think what I fear about the discourse around issues to do with democracy in […] Africa, is when people seem to suggest that Africa is not ready for democracy. I think the people […] have shown that they are ready for democracy–they went out there and practised democracy. The people who are not ready for democracy are the leaders, the dictators.
Christopher Hitchens maintains one should always specify a liquor brand when ordering a cocktail.
Hitchens is warning drinkers to always order by brand - or face sipping rot gut. “Having long been annoyed by people who called knowingly for, say, ‘a Dewar’s and water’ . . . I decided to ask a trusty barman what I got if I didn’t specify,” the thirsty journo writes in his intro to “Everyday Drinking,” a new collection of Kingsley Amis’ essays on booze. “The answer was a confidential jerk of the thumb in the direction of a villainous-looking, tartan-shaded jug under the bar. [It] was even grimmer with gin and vodka and became abysmal with ‘white wine’ . . . If you don’t state a clear preference, then your drink is like a bad game of poker or a hasty drug transaction: It is whatever the dealer says it is.”
Bonus: Alexander Waugh’s review of Everyday Drinking on Book Forum
