No military coup in Zimbabwe so that's fine then
 

Zimbabwe army seizes state TV but denies coup ongoing | News | Al Jazeera

Nothing to see here, move along.

Also Zimbabwe army denies coup against Mugabe as it takes control of Harare – live | World news | The Guardian

Re: No military coup in Zimbabwe so that's fine then
 

Re: No military coup in Zimbabwe so that's fine then
 

So... Mugabe was a dictator without democratic legitimacy who ran a corrupt and incompetent regime and violated human rights... right?

A coup is bad because of instability, and instability could lead to something really bad like a civil war, but assuming it doesn't, it doesn't seem to me that getting rid of Mugabe is necessarily bad. In fact, it could end up being quite an improvement depending on who takes charge.

He's also old as fuck (93 years old), so his death isn't going to be too long from now. I don't know if he had a successor lined up or if he was too paranoid to have done. Either way, there was going to potentially be a crisis of succession when he dies, which could lead to some of the same instability.

Anyway, fuck Mugabe and I hope the military intends to liberalize and democratize the government there. If not, fuck them too.

Re: No military coup in Zimbabwe so that's fine then
 

Doesn't look like it. Just the succession crisis getting underway now rather than waiting for Mugabe to kick the bucket.

Zimbabwe's Coup Is Nothing to Celebrate - Bloomberg

Best hope is that the instability allows a bit of space for an effective opposition to mobilise, but I don't know the situation well enough to guess whether there's a chance of that.

Re: No military coup in Zimbabwe so that's fine then
 

Ah. Well, fuck Mnangagwa too then.

Given how old he was, Mugabe could've taken the opportunity a few years ago to allow the opposition to share power, instead of neglecting to rig the election, being embarrassed and then violently cracking down on them. Enjoy his final years in luxury (potentially in exile) knowing that at least he'll have a legacy of having reformed at the end would probably be preferable.

But that's not how he chose to go down. So it doesn't sound like a really positive outcome was likely either, as his wife doesn't sound like she'd likely have been a good leader either (although I guess given what Mnangagwa's guilty of in that Bloomberg article, there's a chance she could've been quite a bit better than him).

Re: No military coup in Zimbabwe so that's fine then
 

Yup, this is all about Mnangagwa getting rid of "Graceless". Morgan Tsvangirai and the Movement for Democratic Change represent the chance to liberalize and democratize that you are looking for, and they still seem to be on the margins.

Good article: Tactical error leaves weakened Mugabe facing end of an era | World news | The Guardian

Re: No military coup in Zimbabwe so that's fine then
 

It was a Hoos Coup!

http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/wp-conten...99s-a-Dog.jpeg

Re: No military coup in Zimbabwe so that's fine then
 

Democracy hasn't arrived:
How the people of Zimbabwe were sidelined, yet again | Robert Mugabe | Al Jazeera

Comrade Bob hasn't gone, yet:
Mugabe in first public appearance since army takeover | News | Al Jazeera

Re: No military coup in Zimbabwe so that's fine then
 

Bob has resigned! Sorry, 'resigned' ...

Mugabe 'resigns' - latest - BBC News

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Politicians celebrate <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mugabe?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Mugabe</a> resignation. Wild scenes in Parliamentary hearing. <a href="https://t.co/VdKSSHz9D8">pic.twitter.com/VdKSSHz9D8</a></p>&mdash; martin geissler (@mmgeissler) <a href="https://twitter.com/mmgeissler/status/932998900927123456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">21 November 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

This interrupts the impeachment proceedings that were going on in parliament.

Re: No military coup in Zimbabwe so that's fine then
 

First the World Health Organization rescinded its decision to make ol' Bob its "goodwill ambassador," and now this. What's the point of being a serial mass murderer nowadays? :sadcheer: