Tuesday, May 29, 2012

OT: Zimbabwe's Mugabe as UN's International Envoy of Tourism


From UK's Guardian (5/29/2012):

Robert Mugabe asked to be UN 'leader for tourism'

The Zimbabwe president, accused of ethnic cleansing and bankrupting his country, asked to champion tourism

With a line-up that includes Drew Barrymore, David Beckham, Orlando Bloom, and Ricky Martin, the UN's choice of ambassadors has been known to cause raised eyebrows or the odd smirk.

Seldom, however, has there been such anger, or questioning of the organisation's credibility, as that greeting the appointment of a new international envoy for tourism: Robert Mugabe.

Improbable as it seems, the Zimbabwean president, who is widely accused of ethnic cleansing, rigging elections, terrorising opposition, controlling media and presiding over a collapsed economy, has been endorsed as a champion of efforts to boost global holidaymaking.

Despite that fact Mugabe, 88, is under a travel ban, he has been honoured as a "leader for tourism" by the UN's World Tourism Organisation, along with his political ally, Zambian president Michael Sata, 75. The pair signed an agreement with UNWTO secretary general Taleb Rifai at their shared border at Victoria Falls on Tuesday.

Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper quoted Rifai urging tourists from around the world to visit : "I was told about the wonderful experience and the warm hospitality of this country … By coming here, it is recognition, an endorsement on the country that it is a safe destination."
The agreement will also see the two southern African countries co-host the UNWTO general assembly in August next year.

UNWTO said it had not appointed Mugabe to any formal position but acknowledged he would receive an open letter like other heads of state who have joined its leaders for tourism campaign.

(Full article at the link)


Well, the bigger the atrocities, the bigger the fame and recognition, it seems, for the power that be.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

PLEASE concentrate on POOL FOUR.

Anonymous said...

Shut up and go visit enenews or fukushima diary or fairewinds for your daily fix of unit 4 "catastrophe".

Anonymous said...

It's ironic to see some Japanese people circulating the petition to ask UN to help them so that they can avoid Unit 4 catastrophe that unnamed experts in the NYT article have been talking about.

Their naivete is almost painful.

Anonymous said...

The powers that be that exskf eludes to are truly demonic, their goal of total enslavement of humanity is coming apart, people are slowly waking up to their machinations, the japanese government are part of these demonic entities that are running the show.... stay free ..

Anonymous said...

Mugabe reclaimed his homeland from the colonialists for the sake of his people. The British then systematically applied economic and financial sanctions (aided by other western, predominantly white powers) and not to forget good old anti-Mugabe propoganda in the West, using media controlled or gullible enough to report whatever the gov't tells them, in a bid to break his hold and get their hands on Zimbab's huge amount of natural resources, including rare minerals.

It's an age old tactic and pretty transparent, if you look hard enough. Same as everywhere in fact.

Atomfritz said...

@ anon 6:07

Umm, declaration of independence was done by Ian Smith in 1965, 15 years before Mugabe came to power.
The Brits and many other countries sanctioned the Ian Smith government because it was apartheid. Nevertheless, in the Smith government years, the economy was thriving in spite of the boycott of some countries.

After the fall of Apartheid in 1980 boycotts were lifted, but in spite of that the Zimbabwe economy is constantly crumbling since 30 years.

So, things look somewhat different, at least according to Wikipedia.

Luckily for Mugabe, few journalists still in Zimbabwe dare to report of the outrageous violence against whites in Southern Africa and Zimbabwe.
There is also quite some disgusting photo and video footage in the Internet, but it is not easy to find, as many search engines seem to filter out/weigh down "racist" and/or "politically incorrect" links.

What I don't understand is why violence in Africa, and in countries with a significant minority originating from the African continent, is so rampant and excessive, while many countries in Asia are comparably poor, and, in spite of that, people there are peaceful and tourists don't need to be in permanent fear of getting robbed, gang raped or murdered.

Maybe this is actually a racial matter, like at dogs, where particular breeds tend to be peaceful and others aggressive and violent?
(I know, I touch a taboo by putting the dogma "all people are equivalent" in question, so call me a racist if you like...)

Anonymous said...

Racist or not, what you write is a true observation, Atomfritz. We are not so above beasts as we think we are. Some much less than others.

Anonymous said...

Sure makes me want to support the world we live in, were moving in the right direction! nowhere to go but up! Everybody's genius!!!!
Respect!

TechDud said...

They used to say that animals experienced no emotion...

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