Dark Knight and the Politics around the Zimbabwe Situation
Last night I did something I have not done in forever. I went to Walmart at midnight to pick up a movie. Yeah that makes me a geek I think...ok it does. I went over to pick up Dark Knight. I was tempted to watch it, but since I had to work today I figured that would be a colossally bad decision:) While it was kind of fun to do again, I really did not do it for that reason. I figured I would just go ahead and get it and thus not worry about it today. I was definitely getting this movie. It was the best movie I saw all year and yeah I really, really wanted to see it again.
Why I like it is many reasons. One obviously is Christian Bale. I have never seen a movie I have not liked him in, and lets just say yeah I would not kick him out of my bed. More then that though it is so much more deeper of a movie that has a strong psychological aspect about it. Ebert said it best when he said it was like putting a psychotic character like the joker, ripping him out of the comic book and putting him in the real world. It is by far the best Batman movie ever and anyone that thinks otherwise is, well is wrong:) If they disagree they can go watch Batman Returns with rockets on penguins backs because that is probably more your speed.
Christmas is closing in ever closer. I think this week I am going to make the push to pushing back the family Christmas until Russian Christmas on January 7. That would give me another paycheck to finish up Christmas shopping and well putting off the whole family thing for a couple of weeks, plus put the whole stress off a couple more weeks. Either way I guess the worst case scenerio is go down Christmas day around noon and get back in the in the evening. I am definitely not going to get up early for it. Oh well, not going to stress over it.
Ok, now for some deeper thoughts. I of course listen to BBC at work nowadays and if there is one thing the BBC covers more then anything, that is Africa. Obviously right now one of the big stories in Africa is the continued situation in Zimbabwe. It really is quite a horrid situation down there. Robert Mugabe has been the only leader the nation has had since gaining independence in 1980. Under his leadership the country has hyper-hyper-hyper inflation (they cannot print money fast enough), there is basically a manmade famine brewing, Mugabe's ruling party has been literally beating up his political opponents, and now there is a cholera epidemic that has already killed more the five hundred people. Once again as the situation down there continues to get worse and worse, there is talk of a push to Mugabe out with force.
I am not sure how I feel about this. Now there is no question America would not send troops to solve the problem. The fact is we are stretched to the limit and honestly I could not see our government risking our soldiers to help in Africa where our needs are not directly in danger. The talk is to push some European troops there, like British or French troops. The fact is I don’t think that is a real solution. I think it is the samed policies that have failed over and over again. No what I think is that there needs to be a new solution. Do not get me wrong, Mugabe needs to be taken out of power, but I think it is time to realize the days of imperialism is over.
The problem I think is not just the use of force but the whole system of financial aid that is given to the third world. I love hearing people talk about how the US and Europe needs to give more foreign aid to other nations. After decades of giving money, has it really helped? Now I am not saying money should not be given, no I do believe foreign aid is important, but all it does is support the old corrupt systems and generally created welfare states.
No what I say is that we should form regional councils that would funnel aid money and account for it. It would not be something as global as the IMF or World Bank, because the problems are regional in nature. In Africa you would do something like put people from Ghana, South Africa, and any other nations that have begun to pull themselves to successful democracies and have educated men from those nations be in charge of the aid. Obviously there would be some care to watch for corruption, but by getting committed people that are local, it will be less likely. They then can focus on helping build the infrastruction in Africa.
Another aspect that would have to be dealt with is that of Free Trade. Do not get me wrong, I do support free trade, but the problem is that free trade should be done between equals. When you do not then the lower end economies will never build up. On top of that I never have issues with there being tariffs on agricultural goods. In fact I think it is to the world benefit that nations do protect their agricultural sectors. One of the main problems we have now is that so many nations have lost that ability because of American dumping of food on them. Do not get me wrong, when there is a crisis, food should be given, but going back to the whole idea of welfare nations, this is what it has created. I mean as in industry, it is in America's best interest to destroy local farms, but the best interests of the local country and the world runs completely counter to this. Look what it has gotten us. There can never, never be too much food in the world. We need to make sure that nations are cultivating their agriculture sectors.
Now wrapping this back to Zimbabwe, I believe that the only intervention should be done by African nations. I have no issue to help fund them as long as they keep the best interests of Zimbabwe at heart. The refugee situation and cholera epidemic, is clearly making a good case that it would be in South Africa's best interest to force a solution in Zimbabwe. If they want so air support, I am for that, but more then that, let Africa solve African problems. We just need to give them the tools to do it and rethink how we support them.
Anyone thinking I am wrong, feel free to counter argue me. I will be glad to defend my position and listen to others.