quote:

Originally posted by colonelcrisp while Zimbabwe may not have the worlds greatest inflation rate, they dont have near the unchecked consumption of resources that we have in north america.

It just lends credibility to what is essentially a totalitarian regime which has killed tens of thousands of people, stolen billions of dollars worth of private property. It was once the largest producer of food on the African continent with a well developed infrastructure, health care and utilities, now the average life expectancy of the population has fallen to 35, AIDS is at epidemic levels and 70% are suffering from malnutrition and live below the poverty line.
'Land reform and nationalised farming' (theft) means the country cannot feed itself, even though it is one of the verdant agricultural countries on the planet and abolished 'poverty' by wiping out entire suburbs of poor neighbourhoods.
Schooling is virtually wiped out, teachers don't get paid, kids can't afford to go, the few people that own arable land capable of subsistence farming don't have the tools to work it and hospital treatment is limited to either selective members of the very rich or tiny amounts of humanitarian aid. Most of the police force walked off the job because they didn't get paid and instead the government has recruited mercenaries from neighbouring countries to do the dirty work.

You don't like it, you get beaten to death where you stand or dragged off to the state prisons and systematically tortured to death over a period of days. Outside the cities and large towns, you bring your own security or subject to local militia rule. If you're smart, you'll point your guns at them and just pull the trigger first.

Pity my families farm didn't have oil on it. Maybe the someone would have bothered turning up to 'bring democracy and freedom' to what was once a lucky and civilised country.
If you don't have a consumable resource like mineral wealth, it appears they don't care.