A friend sent me the following link to a news story on BBCi, which talks about the situation in Zimbabwe - link - I knew that Mugabe has some pretty dire policies, but had no idea that the economic situation there was so serious. The statistic of 200% unemployment ('Ecomists talk of "200% unemployment"') struck me as rather weird - what does this mean?!? To me 100% unemployment would mean that there are absolutely no jobs - so every person who would be considered to be of working age (say from 16-65 years) is unemployed. So what does 200% unemployment mean? - makes no sense. Why do economists use such weird measures when their only effect is to scare the person who takes them at face value, and put doubt in the mind of the person who actually thinks about what the number means. This news story also talks about 600% inflation in Zimbabwe, which is enitrely feasible - but the reliability of the number has to be questioned given the implausible unemployment figures.
However this is all just splitting hairs - it is obvious that the situation in Zimbabwe is desperate, and it appears to be an issue forgotten by most of the world. America only has eyes for her presidential race, and the war in Iraq. In Britain the situation is not much better, but I guess the fact that a British cricket team have been forced to tour Zimbabwe in the coming weeks is going to bring things into the spotlight again. Mugabe is obviously being driven by thirst for power and greed - a feature only too common in third-world politics. The situation in Sri Lanka is not much better, although thankfully we still seem to have a semblence of democratic process left there.
I am listening to a series of lectures (this year's Reith Lectures) at the moment, where part of the series is about the nature of dictatorships and the fear they inspire in people. The speaker, Wole Soyinka has some interesting insights into this topic.