Sard,

You continue to be a better C&Per than reader, much like Rory, unfortunately. Your comparison is invalid, but the story is nonetheless important. Friends of mine went to Zimbabwe about 5 years ago, first to visit, but ultimately retrieve, their daughter who had undertaken an internship there. She was still a pre-med at the time. And the situation there has only become worse.

Mugabe has all but destroyed his country. Sure, it probably wasn't right, having descended from British colonialism, that the white 5% of the population controlled almost all of the arable land in the country, however prosperous it was. Still, Mugabe has succeeded only at destruction, rather than reform. That's pretty typical of megalo-maniac dictators.

So what do you think of a major part of the world, wherein the people were materially better off under a system of empire colonialism than "democratic" independence? Better yet, what would you do to improve conditions?

Sincerely,

Salmo g.