What a mess!

What a mess! The 2nd round of the crucial Afghan elections is in turmoil. Total confusion. Democracy at a crossroad. Presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah announced that he was withdrawing from the 2-men race because he doesn’t believe it can be a free and fair election.

Obama and his allies must be pulling out their hair. Their democratic process in rocky Afghanistan has crashed. The Taliban must be laughing. What now with the US plan-under-consideration for extra troops as a so called final push? What now with all the extra, allied troops that were sent to Afghanistan to create a peaceful environment for the elections? Remember that the 1st round already took place in August. But as it was torpedoed from within with massive fraud a 2nd, decisive round had to be organised. It was set for November 7th and would be a race between sitting president Karzai and his opponent Abdullah.

Now it’s a 1-man race. And everybody is very confused on how to proceed. This is unchartered waters and Afghanistan’s constitution is mum on what to do next. This is beyond expectations. Beyond planning. Afghanistan sinks deeper into despair and hopelessness. It seems the 2nd round will happen as planned but a 1-man race elections just doesn’t look right. Doesn’t look solid. Doesn’t feel real democracy in the making. Lacks serious legitimacy. What happens when the only candidate left, Karzai, gets less than 50% of the vote if the majority of the voters spoil their ballot in protest against the process? That would be really putting the country in political disarray.

It’s bad for the whole region too. And don’t forget as Afghanistan’s democratic process slips and tumbles, Iraq is getting ready for elections next January. That’s just around the corner. It’s very déjà-vu. A messy Afghanistan with the Taliban preparing for a spring offensive, and Iraq holding its breath to see how bloody its election process will be. It’s all sad and shaky.

From a rocky road to justice.

It’s the way it should be. Politician or not. President or not. Justice for all. And all equal before justice.

A noble principle that too often is abandoned around the world. But France might show the light. A magistrate has ordered former French President Jacques Chirac to stand trial on corruption charges. No hiding behind status or popularity. No hiding behind fat cat lawyers, immunity clauses or the fact that the past is the past.

The charges go back to when Chirac was mayor of Paris. That was before he got elected as President of the Republic back in 1995. He served two presidential terms, and retired in 2007. Retired but still very popular it seems amongst the people of France. The charges are related to 21 fake contracts. It is alleged that tons of money was used to provide bogus jobs to family and associates. You know,... spread the wealth amongst relatives and allies while you control the tiller. It’s a classic example of building a political empire through tax payers money. Disgusting. Sickening. Rotten.

Of course in full respect of an independent judicial system, all are innocent till proven guilty. At least Chirac will face the music. And that’s the way it should be in a democratic society built on the rule of law. Too many times rulers built their own mountains of wealth on the back of their citizens and never face justice for it as their civil societies are too weak. There are plenty of dictators in Africa for instance whom have sucked their country dry and opened hundreds of private bank accounts abroad to stash up personal wealth. And they know they hardly risk facing justice because they have never intended to build up an independent judicial system and a democratic society. It’s a big cancer of world politics. Power corrupts and ultimate power ultimately corrupts.

Chirac, as anybody in his fancy shoes would do, proclaims innocence. The future will tell. As long as justice is done, guilty or innocent, everything is on the right track.

What is absolutely not on the right track is the political situation in Zimbabwe. Personal fiefdom of President Mugabe. In power since 1980 and keeps hanging on. By all means necessary.

Elections have been rigged. Opponents tortured and killed. Judges have been threatened and replaced by allies. The economy is in ruin. Starvation a reality. Every day Zimbabweans keep fleeing hell into misery in neighbouring South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique.

Since last year the region forced a so called Unity Government onto Mad Bob. He accepted under pressure and with the hope that the gesture would open the cash flow from international donors. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai became Prime Minister. But the real power remained with Bob. His cronies kept control of the army and the central bank.

At the end of last month the UN wanted to send in a special envoy to look at growing cases of political violence and torture across Zimbabwe. The envoy got the invite from Morgan. But Bob didn’t like the visit and refused him entrance as he landed in the capital Harare. In a proof who really controls the decaying nation, Mugabe’s army stopped the convoy sent by Morgan to pick up the UN envoy to get to the airport. It’s as simple as that. Crude politics of power.

The Unity Government has been close to collapse for some weeks now. It’s a government written on cheap paper with dissolvable ink. It has never really worked and Mugabe never wanted it to work. It was doomed to fail as the dictator kept the tools of brutal power totally under his control. Sad story as once again it is the average Zimbabwean that starves and goes hopeless. The dictator himself for sure has plenty of cash stashed away in secret accounts abroad. Meanwhile death roams the country.

Human behaviour when given power is sick. It’s often madly brutal too.
Throw out. Mark Lind has just released a new solo album it seems. “Homeward bound”. I reasonably liked his previous 2 efforts. Not outstanding, but listenable. Has a certain old style Springsteen touch to it. So looking forward to hear his new tunes. Apparently the new album has some guest vocals by his brother Rob from Blood For Blood and Ramallah fame.

C-Ya

collateral – as November 2009 kicks in