Revista da semana / Week in review

The last week has just been mad. The financial markets went up and down every single hour of the day while no analist could reasonably explain why or the direction it would take the next morning (some didn't even try - who said analists had an opinion on everything ?); the US elections just brought us the final presidential debate - no game changer for McCain; the world leaders have met to face the financial crisis and come up with some ideas to change the paradigm, like putting a stop to offshores; and this man right here, Mr. Robert Mugabe, continues to be a disgusting educated tyrant.

He has been consistently trying to cling on to power, no matter how desperate his own fellow citizens are. Zimbabwe, once called Africa's barn, now has severe deficiencies not only in the agricultural sector, but in every major area like education, health, etc. Zimbabwe has the lowest life expectancy in the world as of 2006: 37 years for men and 34 years for women, and an inflation rate that has the banks in Zimbabwe issue new bills sometimes more than once a month. Prices of primary goods double overnight, not to mention almost all the shelves in the supermarkets being empty.

All of this seems like nothing compared to the sheer bizarreness of the inflation number: 231 million percent annual. Two hundred and thirty one MILLION percent annual inflation!

This whole situation could start to turn around if president Mugabe's party, ZANU-PF and future prime-minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC could reach a power sharing agreement. Well, they have. Sort of, unfortunately. The negotiations have failed until now because Mugabe doesn't want to give away the main ministries such as defense, home and foreign affairs, justice, mining and land.

Mugabe doesn't want to give away the justice ministry because he wants to protect the generals responsible for the violence. And ZANU-PF also wants to keep the finance ministry because they are afraid that the MDC will start an investigation and reveal what many believe (I would say it is rather evident...) has been done over the years until now: misappropriated funds for the party and enriching of party loyalists with government contracts. They also don't want to let go of the ministry of home affairs because it controls the voter rolls. Unfortunately I think I don't need to explain this one...

So the power sharing deal has stalled. This is not surprising. Mugabe is a senile tyrant, his party a voracious machine that has glued itself to power for 28 years and will do anything to make that situation endure for as long as they can. And the country dies on.

More on Mugabe later...