Re: Ian Smith, last PM of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), dies
 

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That's no reason to celebrate Ian Smith.

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I concur.

Re: Ian Smith, last PM of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), dies
 

True. Even though the current leader of the nation is an even bigger [censored] that is no excuse for the actions carried out by Ian Smith´s government.

Re: Ian Smith, last PM of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), dies
 

OK, to clear a couple of things up.

The biggest decline in life expectancy is overwhelmingly down to aids. If you look at all the countries in that region, tehy've all seen a drop of 15-20 years in a similar period, so I wouldn't read too much into that.

Secondly, its not justa bout the right to vote, self-determination etc, as if the Rhodesian government was just carrying on peacefully but with no rights for blacks. Their was a brutal civil war, with major atrocieties carried out admittedly by both sides.

And mugabe's not great, but if he hadn't picked on a few white farmers who directly fund conservative lobbies in the UK, no one would have heard of him.

I'm not excusing him, but their are a lot worse dictators in africa who get much more support, so people need to wonder why he gets singled out.

Re: Ian Smith, last PM of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), dies
 

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mugabe's not great,

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Controversial.

Re: Ian Smith, last PM of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), dies
 

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mugabe's not great,

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Controversial.

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Were the other 4737 posts as interesting and as insightful as this one?

Re: Ian Smith, last PM of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), dies
 

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And mugabe's not great, but if he hadn't picked on a few white farmers who directly fund conservative lobbies in the UK, no one would have heard of him.

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Yeah no one would have heard that the Zimbabwean economy was in shambles or that horrible political oppression was going on there by a dictator.

Ian Smith was a symbol of what was wrong in Zimbabwe years ago, and Robert Mugabe is a symbol of what's wrong there now.

Re: Ian Smith, last PM of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), dies
 

There's a lot of othe dictators in Africa who are as bad or worse, without resorting to google/wikipedia I doubt you can name 3 of them...

Re: Ian Smith, last PM of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), dies
 

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mugabe's not great,

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Controversial.

[/ QUOTE ]

Were the other 4737 posts as interesting and as insightful as this one?

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Some of them even more so if that's possible to believe.

Re: Ian Smith, last PM of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), dies
 

i always wonder if mugabe has seen the last king of scotland

Re: Ian Smith, last PM of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), dies
 

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i always wonder if mugabe has seen the last king of scotland

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As he met the original frequently, I doubt he had to rely on a couple of hollywood films for all his knowledge on african politics...