Zimbabwe and Sudan: disaster, heartbreak, and evil games.

One disaster was the car crash that took the life of Morgan Tsvangirai's wife. The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe was injured himself, and now must mourn his wife while struggling to save the miserable citizens of his sad nation from the starvation and cholera caused by the folly and neglect of Robert Mugabe, the aging fool who has run that nation into the ground.  The citizens of the world send their compassion, Morgan. We wonder. Was the driver of the truck that killed your wife perhaps being paid by Mugabe? Stranger things have happened. "I'm skeptical about any motor vehicle accident in Zimbabwe involving an opposition figure," said Tom McDonald, the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe from 1997-2001. "President Mugabe has a history of strange car accidents when someone lo and behold dies -- it's sort of his M.O. of how they get rid of people they don't like."

The other disaster was the decision of Omar Bashir, the strongman of Sudan, to eject all the famine relief organizations from Darfur in the wake of the Bashir's being charged with five counts of crimes against humanity: murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape. He also faces two counts of war crimes. Who brought the indictment against him? The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued the warrant.

So Bashir is playing evil games. I'll show you, he says in response to international efforts to bring him to justice for rape, starvation, and slaughter of Darfur. You can't mess with me, because I can use the survivors in Darfur as hostages!  Prosecutors have a choice: leave Bashir alone, give him immunity from the consequences of his actions, and he will continue to flog the helpless victims. Threaten him with punishment, and he will continue to flog them, while chasing away the aid agencies that can give them medical care, feed them, perhaps protect them in some small way. Tough choice. He could easily kill another million of them this way, no kidding.

But keep in mind, Bashir is one vicious tyrant. It's not all about Bashir. We are trying to make a world in which the tyrants fear the just, rather than the just fearing the tyrant. Sadly, many will need to die on that road. Charles Taylor is held in a cell, and will be brought to justice. Milosevic was brought to justice, and finally, so will Radovan Karadzic be.  Perhaps someday, Bashir and Mugabe may be brought to justice too, if they live long enough. Care to roll the dice, tyrants?

SATURDAY MORNING UPDATE:

after a car accident that killed his wife, Susan, medical sources told CNN that Zimbabwe's prime minister believes that the truck driver who struck his car and killed his wife deliberately drove toward him in an effort to take his life, members of the prime minister's party told CNN today. Morgan Tsvangirai was in stable condition and recovering from head injuries.

I can hear the testimony of the truck driver in my head already- assuming that anyone even gets to ask him a question, unlikely in Zimbabwe: "No, Mr. Mugabe did not pay me! It was the sun that got in my eyes and caused me to let my truck drift to the left...."