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    Please Don’t Send Lawyers, Guns and Money

    April 23, 2008 - By 

    Rift Over Zimbabwe Unity Plan – New York Times But on Wednesday, The Herald, the state-run newspaper often used as a mouthpiece for Mr. Mugabe and the ruling party, described the country’s political dynamics as “so distorted that holding a free and fair election runoff in the immediate term is literally impossible.” Swiftly disavowing that position, Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told the BBC on Wednesday that the editorial had not been sanctioned by the government, and that the ruling party, ZANU-PF, was still gearing up for a runoff. Hey, here’s a handy definition of electioneering, ZANU-PF style:  Gearing up…

  • Hot Off The Presses - Mini-Posts - Politics, Schmolitics

    Rezko and…Rove???

    April 23, 2008 - By 

    GOP heavyweights reportedly tried to oust Fitzgerald — chicagotribune.com In a bombshell disclosure before testimony began this morning in the Antoin “Tony” Rezko trial, a federal prosecutor said a former Rezko confidant was prepared to say that another friend of Rezko was attempting to pull strings with White House political director Karl Rove to fire U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald and kill his investigation into Rezko.

  • Hot Off The Presses

    Zimbabwe: More Details Emerging

    April 22, 2008 - By 

    The Times – Bob’s Mad Scramble For Weapons The Sunday Times has established that this week’s Chinese shipment of arms turned away from Durban harbour on Friday was just one of several botched attempts by the embattled Mugabe regime to buy arms this year. One well-placed Zimbabwean defence industry official told the Sunday Times: “In the first three working days after the election, there were queues of people outside (arms procurement) offices — police, the presidential bodyguard unit, army, the CIO. There’s lots of stuff happening today… it’s amazing, frankly, how many people all over the world are mobilizing to…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Hot Off The Presses

    Zimbabwe: An Yue Jiang Lost, Stolen, or Strayed?

    April 21, 2008 - By 

    The An Yue Jiang, the Chinese ship that’s supposed to be carrying tons of arms for Zimbabwe left Durban for port or ports unknown; some thought it was headed for nearby Mozambique, but the Mozambicans pulled an Amy Winehouse and denied it access (after first denying it was headed their way, hmm). Now it’s thought to be headed to Angola (there’s a lovely thought, how much of the cargo will actually stay in whatever port eventually accepts it?). The BBC News site has some smuggled video footage (they are banned from officially reporting from within Zimbabwe, but get around it).…