LONDON -- The miserable Zimbabwe saga now seems to be moving to a moment of catharsis. Opposition leader Morgan Tsangvirai has sent a desperate appeal to the United Nations, almost like the last cry of a free country about to be obliterated, warning of imminent descent into civil strife that will threaten the very existence of Zimbabwe and pleading once more for stronger international action.
But what can be done? Resolutions and lectures fly round thick and fast, the European Union has expanded its targeted sanctions list, and the Commonwealth has suspended the country from its Ministerial Council (although not entirely from the Commonwealth organization itself).
But somehow the illegitimate Mugabe regime presses on unchecked, seizing farms, forcing thousands of farm workers into destitution, manipulating external food aid, threatening new violence against its political enemies and disregarding international strictures. In places it has even succeeded in coercing more people into supporting its political wing, the ZANU-PF.