Zimbabwe: A brutal regime

As we muddle our way through our imperfect democracy, it seems impossible to switch places with the people of Zimbabwe, where the democratic system has taken an epic beating at the hands of President Robert Mugabe. There's no subtlety in Mugabe's brutal brand of voter suppression, where supporters of his opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, are beaten and killed. According to the Los Angeles Times, "Human rights groups say at least 86 have been killed and 3,000 injured. In private clinics around Harare, the capital, dozens of people ... are recovering from horrific injuries."

Things reached such a state earlier this week that Tsvangirai felt obligated to withdraw from the presidential runoff, lest more people be killed in his name. His withdrawal has not been accepted, and Friday's elections will proceed, meaningless as they are. When the United Nations pushed for sanctions against Zimbabwe, the usual suspects -- South Africa, China and Russia -- pushed back.

The three succeeded in watering down the original resolution, Somehow, as with Darfur, where the nightmare continues, trade and profit trump democracy and human rights.

So now what? Africa's issues can seem so massive that any attempt at a solution tends to have a whiff of futility about it. But we must, as a world community, still push for solutions. South African President Thabo Mbeki needs to heed the calls from within his own country to get on board with tougher sanctions. Not doing so would amount to a tacit approval of the horrendous situation in Zimbabwe.