Brutal Dictatorship Seeks Climate Cash to Fund Continued Atrocities

Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, attends the 12th African Union Summit Feb. 2, 2009 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, attends the 12th African Union Summit Feb. 2, 2009 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Public domain image, source Wikimedia

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

President for life Robert Mugabe wants the UN (meaning America) to provide $1.5 billion per year, to feed Zimbabwean people who are currently going hungry, thanks to his government’s decade long policy of looting and trashing productive farms. Naturally he blames his country’s problems on “climate change”.

According to the Zimbabwe Herald;

THE ink is still wet on a climate deal to “save the world” agreed at Paris last December, but Southern Africa is already counting the costs of climate change-linked catastrophes.

A severe drought caused by El Nino has left over 14 million people across the usually food secure region in need of food support, aid agencies say. El Nino may not be a direct result of climate change, but the line separating the two is becoming blurred with each passing year.

In Zimbabwe, which has seen a succession of droughts since 2012, a fifth of the population is facing hunger, says Government, particularly in rural settlements.

Feeding them will cost $1,5 billion or 11 percent of all the goods and services produced in Zimbabwe in a year – also known as the Gross Domestic Product.

The economic costs of coping with climate change impacts in Zimbabwe and elsewhere are evidently enormous and strenuous. But the Paris Agreement – touted as a stronger binding treaty – does not commit to an equally swift financial response to the immediate challenges faced by millions of vulnerable people in Africa. To adapt, African countries – who are least responsible for causing climate change – should wait until rich countries have had their fill of economic growth.

And that will happen sometime after 2020 when the West will start to lower emissions more rapidly, but still not enough to curb global temperature rise at the higher safe limit of 1,5 degrees Celsius by 2100.

In the meantime, Africa and the rest of the developing world continue to feed on the crumbs of a rigid UN financial system that has failed to deliver on the promise of $30 billion support in fast-start finance for mitigation and adaptation.

Rich countries claim they delivered the money in excess, but given the extent of accounting loopholes in a system that indulges wealthier nations’ overbearing tendencies to be both referee and player, many were left convinced the claims were overstated.

Read more: http://www.herald.co.zw/zim-counting-climate-change-costs/

Any money which falls into Mugabe’s hands is unlikely to be spent on food, or if it is, he will be very selective about who receives the food. His repellent sham democracy has a long track record of political violence, including the murder of 20,000 political opponents in 1983. Yet until a few weeks ago, Mugabe served as chairman of the African Union. His successor, Idriss Déby of Chad, the current head of the African Union – well, lets just say that Chad is not the top of my list of African countries which I would like to visit.

Make no mistake, if the promised UN climate cash starts flowing in Africa, its the Mugabes and the Débys, vicious political thugs who are well enmeshed in pan-African diplomacy, who will collar the lion’s share. It seems less than plausible, that any of this cash will help improve the lives of the ordinary African people whom they casually brutalise; far more likely, that the cash will help prop up dictators who have squeezed their own people dry, tyrants who are looking forward to an opportunity to help loot Western taxpayers.

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Paul Westhaver
February 14, 2016 5:02 pm

Ask Bob Geldof where all the money went after he launched Christmas for Africa and wrote “Feed the World”. The African tyrants and tin pot dictators stole all the food, medicine and money and traded it all for weapons so that they could wipe out rival tribes.
After that he abandoned his socialist wealth redistribution illusion. I recall him meeting with GW Bush to take a swipe at the generational leadership problems in Africa.
Yup. Geldof teamed up with W.

Patrick PMJ
Reply to  Paul Westhaver
February 14, 2016 11:12 pm

Actually, some of that money is still working, albeit largely pillaged by corrupt leaders.

Peter Miller
Reply to  Paul Westhaver
February 15, 2016 12:09 am

Most, but not all, nations in Africa are mired with corruption and incompetence. It starts with the leaders and filters down through the system. Zimbabwe was once the bread basket of Africa, but the ravings and actions of a bitter and twisted old man put paid to that.
In Africa, if anyone dares point out/expose instances of this corruption and incompetence, they are immediately branded as “racists”.
As there is so much corruption in ‘climate science’, it is only natural the more venal of African leaders would use this as an excuse to try and extort even more funds from the gullible West.
In the future, Zimbabwe will be used as a classic case of how a country should not be governed, just like today’s practices in climate science will be shown as an example of how not to conduct real science.

Reply to  Peter Miller
February 15, 2016 7:15 am

“Most, but not all, nations in Africa are mired with corruption and incompetence.”
Agreed. But then so is the USA.

RACookPE1978
Editor
Reply to  markstoval
February 15, 2016 7:22 am

markstoval

“Most, but not all, nations in Africa are mired with corruption and incompetence.”

Agreed. But then so is the USA.

The corruption is a direct function of the amount of money coming from Washington, and the relative ratio of Washington/government money coming into each county compared to what is earned.

Reply to  Peter Miller
February 19, 2016 3:17 am

Interested to see a nominating list of countries in the “but not all” category. Tanzania? Ethiopia? Doubtful they even qualify but it’s a short list indeed.

February 14, 2016 5:04 pm

Our stupid leaders go along with this. I despair that common sense will ever show up.

Marcus
February 14, 2016 5:07 pm

How many decades has the U.S and the world been sending food and cash to Africa ?? What did it help ?

expat
Reply to  Marcus
February 15, 2016 12:04 am

Well……….it gave Africa more Africans.

Dreadnought
February 14, 2016 5:17 pm

There is the risk of falling into the old trap of the sunk cost fallacy when it comes to Africa, i.e. throwing good money after bad.
It would probably be best to leave them to crack on and sort out their own problems.

Patrick PMJ
Reply to  Dreadnought
February 15, 2016 1:13 am

A lot of problems in Africa resulted from colonisation from countries like England, France, Germany and Holland. The only country I know of in Africa that was not colonised was Ethiopia. The Italians had a go, but they ultimately lost fairly quickly. No African nation enslaved people’s from another nation, put them on ships, took them to foreign lands or threw them overboard, still chained together, when there was not enough food and water.
I am not saying there were no troubles between tribes in Africa over time however, it is clear to see modern day leaders like Mugabe and the likes of Amin were clearly corrupt to the core and probably mad. Amin was said to have known when he would die. Maybe true, maybe not. He died in 2003 and Uganda still has not recovered. One thing is clear, he wasn’t too bright, and looked, to me, to suffer paranoid delusions (Watch the tail end of the film The Last King of Scotland).

JohnB
Reply to  Patrick PMJ
February 15, 2016 6:18 am

Patrick, I don’t know where you learned your history, but you’ve been seriously misled. Africans have been enslaving Africans for the last 5,000 years. Slavery was well established before the Pharaonic Period in Egypt. African slavers raided Italy, Spain, England, Ireland and Wales for centuries.
One pressing reason for the Catholic church getting into Morocco was to buy back Europeans that had been captured in slave raids.
You cannot blame European colonisation for what Africans have been doing for millennia.

Alan the Brit
Reply to  Patrick PMJ
February 15, 2016 7:01 am

At the time he was said to be suffering from the treminal effects of veneral disease!

Reply to  Patrick PMJ
February 15, 2016 8:32 am

Patric, maybe you do not know, but, during the period when Europeans were taking African slaves, it was Africans who enslaved Africans, and then sold them to Europeans. The Europeans did not enslave anyone (or very few). I’m not justifying the slave trade, but don’t pretend that Africans were somehow innocent.

getitright
Reply to  Patrick PMJ
February 15, 2016 1:05 pm

“No African nation enslaved people’s from another nation, put them on ships, took them to foreign lands or threw them overboard, still chained together, when there was not enough food and water.”
Totally incorrect, better check your history of the slave trade, starting with the Muslim atrocities dealing with complicit North African tribes from the 7th century on and the Western alliances with the West African coastal tribes during the 16 century on. You will find that there were no Westerners in Africa capturing slaves during the earlier periods of the slave trade as no westerner could survive beyond the coast for a month or more due to African disease and pestilence, thus they had to contract with coastal tribes to go inland and capture other tribes for trade. A totally different scenario than you are trying to promulgate.

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Patrick PMJ
February 15, 2016 3:23 pm

I said “Patrick PMJ says: February 15, 2016 at 1:13 am I am not saying there were no troubles between tribes in Africa over time however,…” I then go on to talk about MODERN DAY LEADERS.
I said “no African nation enslaved people’s from another nation, put them on ships, took them to foreign lands or threw them overboard, still chained together, when there was not enough food and water.”
I did not say there were no tribal issues in Africa between other nations (Largely driven by religion, superstition, mistrust and disputed lands such as the land dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea and the border between Ethiopia and Kenya for instance).
I have long discussons with Ethiopians, Ganans, Sierra Leonians, Kenyans (In particular with the Kikuyu tribe, the tribe that was fundamental in negotiating independence from Britain), Ugandans, Nigerians and Zimbabweans to name a few nations in Africa about the history of Africa.

David A
Reply to  Patrick PMJ
February 16, 2016 1:16 am

Patrick, I think part of the problem is your sentence, “no African nation enslaved people’s from another nation” which conflates a continent with the word nation.
Certainly nations (or tribes) in Africa enslave and murdered and committed genocide against other nations in Africa. Human history is remarkably consistent. Also John B’s comment says they went outside of the African continent as well, http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/02/14/brutal-dictatorship-seeks-climate-cash-to-fund-continued-attrocities/#comment-2145460

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Patrick PMJ
February 16, 2016 4:12 am

Well who knows. History written by victors and all that. But what I know is that people comment on African culture without actually having being there and experienced it.

V. Uil
Reply to  Patrick PMJ
February 16, 2016 6:47 pm

Patrick, you are obviously well intentioned, perhaps even laden with white guilt. Possibly I can help you get a better understanding. Let me tell you a true story.
I, a white, was born and grew up in black Africa and as a young boy I spent my time running through the African bush with black playmates. I could speak an African languages before I spoke English. As I got older I attended senior school and university in England. In those days the UN selected people on competence, not race and political ideology, and so I got a job managing census preparation in Africa.
I returned to Africa with my wife and we spent time in East and Southern Africa training census takers and managers to conduct censuses. A census is a difficult thing in Africa because in many cases certain groups ‘live with their ancestors’ as it were. So, for example, you see five people in the house, but the owner insists there are nine people living there. Four are dead ancestors. Also people are superstitious and don’t want to be counted. The hide or run away and one has to be patient in explaining the use of a census for planning.
It was the late 1970 and early 1980s and I mixed with a lot of senior black managers – usually called District Commissioners – who managed various areas or regions in their countries. These were decent sincere men keen to do the best for their countries.
Frequently they would say things like (to my surprise) thank you for coming to help us in Africa ‘son and daughter of the British Empire’. Yes really. When I asked why some of the older ones would say things like before the British came there were no schools, no hospitals, no shoes, no roads, no electricity. One fellow even pointed out there were no matches to light fires! And no pants. They would say the British brought light to Africa. Indeed ‘bringing light’ was and is a recurring theme. Many schools still today are called names like Ekhukanyene, which means place of light in some of the Nguni languages.
Of course, now those men are all dead and I have no doubt that the younger generation have similar feeling to those you espoused in your comment. But you should know that there once was a different view that is now forgotten under the heavy layers of political correctness. A view that may even be closer to the truth.

LarryFine
Reply to  Patrick PMJ
February 17, 2016 4:43 pm

Patrick,
Here’s what’s not taught in History courses anymore.
No Africans put slaves on ships because Africans never built any ships, but that didn’t stop them from being prolific slavers and selling massive numbers of their fellows to Arab Muslims for many centuries before Europeans ever arrived in Africa.
In fact, the African-Arab slave trade dwarfed the African-European slave trade in both size and duration, but the reason why there isn’t an African Arabian population (like the African American population) today is because they castrated all of the men and boys and murdered the children born to their female sex slaves.
http://youtu.be/31E1gHowYcA

Rein
Reply to  Dreadnought
February 15, 2016 1:44 am

Yes, they sort out their own problem by moving on to Europe. Easier, free money and even if they do not qualify for refuge status, refuse to return and just go illegal.
A survey some years ago by a French (renown) magazine revealed that the combined total debt of African countries equals the combined wealth of all leaders !!!! that’s where the money goes.
I like the Chinese proverb in this context: Give a man a fish and you will feed him for one day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for a life time.
Compare this with Vietnam; has been in war with the French and the US, under communist regime for years thereafter. Yet now they export rice, become industrial and have tourism, all without external aid and collections in church. But Asians are different from Africans (I lived and worked in both continents, so know what I am talking about)
But they will get the money, don’t worry. It is (climate) business……

Russ Wood
Reply to  Rein
February 16, 2016 6:08 am

But, especially in Africa, the quote becomes “give a man somebody else’s fish, and he’ll vote for you”. Oh yes, and despite growing hunger in Zimbabwe, their Government has refused free consignments of GM food.

February 14, 2016 5:24 pm

It’s a hit piece on Mugabe with Jeffrey Gogo’s climate change scare mongering to boot…

February 14, 2016 5:27 pm

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive

JFisk
February 14, 2016 5:30 pm

It’s regime change that’s needed there, that will change their climate for the good

Karl Juve
February 14, 2016 5:32 pm

I have a really hard time understanding why this POS is still wasting oxygen.

Leon Brozyna
February 14, 2016 5:36 pm

Pres. Trump can tell the two-bit thugs, “Sorry guys, we’re broke … go get money from China.” The stunned silence will be a real blessing.

Tom Harley
Reply to  Leon Brozyna
February 14, 2016 6:00 pm

They have already gone to China, Chinese currency is now legal tender in Zimbabwe!

RockyRoad
Reply to  Tom Harley
February 15, 2016 7:46 pm

Soon it will replace the dollar, too! At least when that happens, we’ll have a stable currency!

Geoff
February 14, 2016 5:40 pm

Maybe Stevie Wonder should write another song.

gnomish
February 14, 2016 5:41 pm

Asked what kind of society he hoped to lead, Mugabe replied, “A truly democratic society devoid of racism … a society where there is equality, where there are civil liberties. … And as far as our own program is concerned, we are for a socialist society, you see.”
rerun.

clipe
February 14, 2016 5:47 pm

Could it be that statements from 195 world leaders — among whom, for example, is Robert Mugabe, just to hint at the quality of some of those leaders in whom the UN reposes such trust and faith — do not carry the persuasive force, the power of reassurance, that the delegates blithely assumed they have?
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/rex-murphy-so-why-arent-we-celebrating-saving-the-planet

clipe
Reply to  clipe
February 14, 2016 5:50 pm

Grrr… messed up blockquote
[What is the correct blockquote? It is not clear what words should be corrected from what and into what from this observation. .mod]

PiperPaul
Reply to  Eric Worrall
February 14, 2016 6:35 pm

It’s a balancing act between encouraging and maintaining the faith of the True Believers while continuing to plead for more money because everything’s still so terrible. Think juggling, maybe.

clipe
Reply to  Eric Worrall
February 14, 2016 7:00 pm

especially after “the conclave of the convinced”

clipe
February 14, 2016 5:49 pm

Could it be that statements from 195 world leaders — among whom, for example, is Robert Mugabe, just to hint at the quality of some of those leaders in whom the UN reposes such trust and faith — do not carry the persuasive force, the power of reassurance, that the delegates blithely assumed they have?

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/rex-murphy-so-why-arent-we-celebrating-saving-the-planet

February 14, 2016 5:49 pm

The human race has moved beyond the role and the need for dictators.
It is time to kick them all out. Every single one of them.
This is what the UN should be focused on.
Not a single UN dollar should go to a country run by a dictator. 5,000 troops and an election tribunal should go instead.

Michael J. Dunn
Reply to  Bill Illis
February 15, 2016 8:31 am

Dear Bill,
The whole point of the UN has been to create moral equivalence among free and tyrannized nations, so that the tyrants can posture and preen as “leaders” of noble peoples. If anything, the UN has a distinct bias toward tyranny. Don’t imagine the UN will ever be the man on the white horse. (And there are no “UN dollars.” They are all US dollars mulcted from Americans.)
–Mike

RockyRoad
Reply to  Bill Illis
February 15, 2016 7:48 pm

I didn’t know the UN was printing dollars. I’m not a bit surprised, however!

markl
February 14, 2016 5:50 pm

AGW has produced nothing but money grabbers who all realize the hoax was created to only redistribute wealth from the successful. A Socialist’s and criminal’s delight.

co2islife
February 14, 2016 5:51 pm

This documentary was so ahead of its time, and unbelievably accurate. This clip highlights how this issue was highly predictable.
https://youtu.be/QowL2BiGK7o?t=35m29s

February 14, 2016 6:00 pm

The Neolithic subpluvial, in the period 9.000 to 5,000 years before present, featured greening of the Sahara and a lake larger than the Caspian Sea. It corresponds to the Holocene Climate Optimum period 8,000 to 6,000 years ago when temperature was 2 degrees Celsius higher than current warming. Periodic greening of arid areas of Africa correspond to increased warming of the North Atlantic, as the dry periods correspond to a cooling of the North Atlantic. The cause of the fluctuations is orbital eccentricity that follow 100,000- and 41,000-year cycles. See http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/green-sahara-african-humid-periods-paced-by-82884405
Since we are now living in the coldest 10% period of the past 10,000 years, it is no wonder that African drought is significant. Studies indicate Africa should get wetter when natural climate changes cause warmer than average periods.

BFL
February 14, 2016 6:07 pm

But the American public never gets wise enough to see that we don’t interfere in dictatorships or other abusive governments as long as they are on our side or don’t bother us. Now if it’s someone that is causing us problems (like Assad and Hussein) then we say that they “must” become democracies with our military assistance of course up to and including military assassination; even though they usually know nothing about democracies and have not lived under such for centuries. Hypocrisy at it’s best. In addition, this attitude about the Middle East and the resulting chaos will apparently, historically, result in the eventual cultural destruction of Europe (thank you America).

Leonard Lane
Reply to  BFL
February 14, 2016 9:41 pm

BFL. All you need to do is control your borders. N

simple-touriste
February 14, 2016 6:12 pm

Robert Mugabe = affirmative action on steroids

Editor
February 14, 2016 6:13 pm

From The Economist http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2011/07/travelling-through-zimbabwe :
The road to Bulawayo
[..]The road takes us through what used to be some of the best farming land in the country, now an endless wasteland of tall dried-blonde grasses, thorn trees, broken fences and crumbling farm buildings—no animals, no villages, no people—following Mr Mugabe’s land grabs.[..]Zimbabwe is now the second poorest in the world (after Congo) with a GDP per person last year of just $365. Yet its potential wealth is vast.[..]So much history, so much potential, so much waste.”
And see http://www.aei.org/publication/the-truth-about-mugabes-land-reform/

Richard Keen
Reply to  Mike Jonas
February 14, 2016 7:31 pm

The road to Bulawayo is very much a ground version of the air approach to Havana. I flew there (legally) several years ago, and the approach from Miami came west of Havana, circled around, and landed from the south after crossing half the width of the socialist paradise isle. I had a window seat, and was impressed by the miles and miles of scrubland that obviously were formerly farms in the years when Cuba was a food exporter. Now they import most of their edibles, paid for with rubles from the USSR, er, Venezuela, er, well, Obama?
BTW, I visited what had just been Rhodesia 34 years ago, and the farms were quite lush and the newly “liberated” Zimbabwe was still the breadbasket of Africa, Pity how two men – Castro and Mugabe – can so totally ruin a country. But not singlehandedly. They have the socilaist hordes behind them.

Richard Keen
Reply to  Richard Keen
February 14, 2016 7:33 pm

Sorry about the southern spelling. Socialist.

Ed Zuiderwijk
Reply to  Richard Keen
February 15, 2016 7:16 am

I lived in Chile in the early eighties when the country was recovering from the attempt by the Allende regime to turn it into a socialist paradise like Cuba. The farmers in the south were faced with similar idiotic/criminal land “reforms”. The result was that they tried to liquidise whatever assets they had and then get out. Thus during the last year of the Allende regime the market was flooded with beef from slaughtered cattle then followed by a total lack of supply. Same story for many other commodities. This, of course, was all the fault of the Americans, in particular the cia.
Pinochets coup d’etat put an end to the idiocy just in time to avoid a total collapse and start a rebuild. Chile is now the most advanced country of South America, a major exporter of foodstuffs including my favourite wine.

Richard Keen
Reply to  Richard Keen
February 15, 2016 10:37 am

Ed Zuiderwijk says: February 15, 2016 at 7:16 am … I lived in Chile …
Chile was another case where a dictator won an election with a minority “plurality” vote against multiple other candidates. Other cases would be the 1933 elections in Germany and 1948 in Czechoslovakia. In those two earlier cases the victors had the smarts to immediately take over the military and police, and set up their own guards. Allende thought all he needed was a pistol to proctect his power.
For that matter, Clinton won both terms with minority votes, as did GWB in 2000.

PiperPaul
February 14, 2016 6:26 pm

“Please” report to the Climate Change Correction Booth to receive wisdom from the Frankfurt School instructors.

Sweet Old Bob
February 14, 2016 6:50 pm

The best foreign aid the U.S. could send his country might come from a drone …..

Tekov Yuhoser
February 14, 2016 7:01 pm

Sam Kinison had world hunger pegged 33 years ago…
https://youtu.be/MMyb0vPtaj0

LarryFine
Reply to  Tekov Yuhoser
February 17, 2016 3:16 pm

Tekov,
Thanks for that.

February 14, 2016 7:47 pm

So called rich countries cant even prevent the death of a homeless person on their own streets. Context…

Reply to  Sparks
February 14, 2016 8:17 pm

The homeless person has responsibility for preventing his own death, which usually is caused by drug and alcohol abuse. Many refuse shelter because of restrictions in the shelter on alcohol and drugs.It’s a waster to give help to those who won’t help themselves. Context…

Mango Chutney
Reply to  majormike1
February 15, 2016 12:13 am

Many addictions stem from untreated mental illness, often caused by childhood trauma. Context…

Reply to  majormike1
February 15, 2016 6:01 am

Elitist Class, Worker Class, Victim class.
The three types of people according to bleeding heart liberals.
Liberals whose guilty consciences render them grist for the Progressive mill.

Reply to  majormike1
February 17, 2016 3:07 am

Majormike1,
Every person has a responsibility for preventing his own death and that of others where possible in my opinion, You are being unreasonably unrealistic with this falsehood associating Homelessness with drug and alcohol abuse, it simply isn’t true, and it’s inaccurate to say “but but but… there are homeless people who have drug and alcohol problems” because you know very well that there are more people who are not homeless who have drug and alcohol problems than there are homeless people.
Homelessness can happen over a wide variety circumstances, My own personal experience opened my eyes to this nonsense about homeless people, My house burnt down one Christmas day when my dog got into a room where there was a heater left on, being a dog he jumped onto the bed and accidentally knocked a blanket onto the floor where it caught fire, and as I was in another part of the house at the time it obviously got out of control, to cut a long story short… I was referred to temporary accommodation the reason I had to take it was because it was local to where I worked, after losing everything including the dog (which I frantically tried to safe three times running into a burning until I was burnt and my clothes were melted to me and on fire) keeping my job was a priority, while staying in the temporary accommodation a very basic small one bed room flat (my dog had a larger more attractive accommodation) it wasn’t so hard to understand how living in such gloomy conditions after such a traumatic experience could break a persons spirit, and cause them to maybe fall into that lifestyle of alcohol abuse and drugs, fortunately I had my job, friends and family, many people would have came out much worse than I did, I also met other homeless residents, there were women with babies one step from the street, there were a lot of nice people I could tell you about, all of them were unemployed, most of them ended up homeless over family, financial and relationship breakdowns or medical problems and deaths that left them without a home and vulnerable, I know a of a few who stayed there that weren’t able to deal with their situation and spiralled down that slippery path, and it’s really not their fault and to see men to proud to ask for help disintegrate without hope is inhuman…
You’re such a hero turning your back on people like that aren’t you Mike… 😉

markl
Reply to  Sparks
February 17, 2016 9:33 am

Sparks commented: “…You’re such a hero turning your back on people like that aren’t you Mike… ;)…”
My, such sanctimony from someone who wasn’t/isn’t chronically homeless. The homeless I know and am aware of prefer their lifestyle. Many are substance abusers. Many are sadly mentally deficient. None of them would take a job if you gave it to them nor could they hold on to it. Those that become homeless….like you…..through a quirk of circumstances claw their way back to normal society quickly. Most like their “independence” (as they call it) and choose to stay that way. Those that don’t want to remain homeless don’t.

601nan
February 14, 2016 9:16 pm

One wonders what will happen to the [pruned] Ban Ki Moon when he is disposed.
Ha ha

3¢worth
February 14, 2016 9:38 pm

Africa as a whole has received to date over $1 trillion in western aid since the 1960’s, yet it is overall economically worse off today than 50 years ago. Mugabe stole the family owned farms (average size 250 acres) of hundreds of white Zimbabweans some of which had been in the same family for four generations. He sent his goons (armed with AK47’s and happy to use them) to steal anything they could find including farm machinery, seeds, fertilizer and irrigation piping (sold for scrap). Much of that once properous farmland reverted to the bush. Approximately 250,000 black Zimbabwean farmworkers were put of work with nowhere to go. Most of the white farmers immigrated to Australia taking their expertise with them. Zimbabwe was a net exporter of food not only to its African neighbours, but also to Europe which brought in scarce hard currency. Now its people are going hungry for the first time and Mugabe is demanding foreign aid. Bishop Desmond Tutu said that Zimbabwe WAS the breadbasket of Africa, now it’s just another African basketcase.

bananabender56
Reply to  3¢worth
February 14, 2016 10:55 pm

And the UK, amongst others continue to pour aid into a country beset with self inflicted problems. Last year I think the UK donated GBP100M. For $50,000 Mugabe could be permanently retired.

TG
Reply to  3¢worth
February 14, 2016 11:01 pm

3¢worth.
I was there in 1963, you’re right, it was the breadbasket of Africa. You can bet that most people, black and white (if they knew how it was), would long for the good old days of full stomachs and peace,

Felflames
Reply to  3¢worth
February 15, 2016 12:03 am

You are correct about the numbers of white south africans coming to australia.
I know quite a few, and they will all tell you ,the only way to fix africa is to let it fall so hard, the people themselves rebel and dispose of the dictators.

Ed
February 14, 2016 9:45 pm

Southern African droughts are highly cyclical in nature.
This drought was accurately predicted by Prof Will Alexander many years ago.
https://anhonestclimatedebate.wordpress.com/2009/04/03/climate-change-%E2%80%93-the-clash-of-theories-by-professor-will-alexander/
There is a high probability that there will be floods next year. No doubt the incompetent Southern African henchmen rulers will all blame global warming and ask for more money.

Sunderlandsteve
Reply to  Ed
February 15, 2016 8:24 am

No doubt incompetent western leaders will believe them and give them what they want!

RockyRoad
Reply to  Sunderlandsteve
February 15, 2016 8:40 pm

Once US debt reaches somewhere shy of $30 trillion, the whole US economy will collapse. It’s as certain as gravity waves (now confirmed)!

Reply to  Ed
February 17, 2016 3:26 pm

No doubt incompetent western leaders will believe them and give them what they want!
Of course, since it isn’t their money they’re giving. It’s ours!

Science or Fiction
February 14, 2016 10:27 pm

The stupidity by United Nations is just overwhelming.
How on earth did United Nations believe they would be able to see the difference between hypothesized climate change and: short term weather events, natural climate variation or poor government.
United Nations has created an economic black hole.

markl
Reply to  Science or Fiction
February 15, 2016 8:49 am

Science or Fiction commented: “…United Nations has created an economic black hole.”
That is their intent. Tear down the economies that are prosperous to eventually lead to economic chaos. Then the UN will step in to be the savior. AGW is a piece of that puzzle. Read Agenda 21….disregard the fluff and promises of equality for all and nations’ sovereignty that are prevalent throughout the document….it spells out the roadmap for UN control.

Science or Fiction
Reply to  markl
February 15, 2016 9:25 am

Good tip – I will look into
Agenda 21
It seems to be pretty controversial:

UN Agenda 21 – Coming to a Neighborhood near You

markl
Reply to  Science or Fiction
February 15, 2016 9:38 am

Science or Fiction commented: “…Good tip – I will look into Agenda 21…”
If you choose to read it be prepared for hundreds of pages of propaganda disguised as a “self help” book to the nations of the world on how to share everything equally. It tries to guarantee national sovereignty by repeating….over and over…..that it’s up to the individual nations to join the ‘movement.’ Even a cursory reading between the lines reveals the real intent is for the UN to be the central government/control and it’s all about ideology.

Science or Fiction
Reply to  markl
February 15, 2016 12:52 pm

I´m starting to realize than United Nations is a political organization. An organization I would not have voted for – If United Nations had provided me the possibility to vote in accordance with Human rights. Article 21. (3)
«The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections …»
Already in the introduction to the Agenda 21 document the prejudice is evident.
Agenda 21 – Chapter 1 PREAMBLE
* 1.1.  Humanity stands at a defining moment in history. We are confronted with a perpetuation of disparities between and within nations, a worsening of poverty, hunger, ill health and illiteracy, and the continuing deterioration of the ecosystems on which we depend for our well-being. However, integration of environment and development concerns and greater attention to them will lead to the fulfilment of basic needs, improved living standards for all, better protected and managed ecosystems and a safer, more prosperous future. No nation can achieve this on its own; but together we can – in a global partnership for sustainable development. 

* 1.3.  Agenda 21 addresses the pressing problems of today and also aims at preparing the world for the challenges of the next century. .. . Its successful implementation is first and foremost the responsibility of Governments. National strategies, plans, policies and processes are crucial in achieving this. International cooperation should support and supplement such national efforts. In this context, the United Nations system has a key role to play. …

* 1.4.  The developmental and environmental objectives of Agenda 21 will require a substantial flow of new and additional financial resources to developing countries, in order to cover the incremental costs for the actions they have to undertake to deal with global environmental problems and to accelerate sustainable development. Financial resources are also required for strengthening the capacity of international institutions for the implementation of Agenda 21….

United Nations seems to have downplayed it´s original purpose. By its charter United Nations was first of all supposed to «maintain international peace and security»…!

RockyRoad
Reply to  markl
February 15, 2016 8:44 pm

Sucks that the UN itself is the root of the problem. They could teach self-reliance and industry to the world but instead have placed themselves as the money-grubbing, evil controllers that think they know how to instill peace.
They couldn’t be more wrong!

TG
February 14, 2016 10:47 pm

Africa is aid dependent, The NGOs, government’s, bureaucrats, aid industry and the money sucking UN will not give up the gig willingly, there’s too much money involved on both sides. Much like drugs, it’s hard to get off the welfare bandwagon. Stop the aid and teach a continent how to be self-sufficient. It will be painful but good medicine.

Reply to  TG
February 15, 2016 6:03 am

Start with a dependable, cheap, coal-fired electrical grid.

February 14, 2016 11:30 pm

The trashing of productive farms has going on for much longer than a decade.

ralfellis
February 15, 2016 12:02 am

Even this year a ‘British’ doctor has stolen a Rhodesian farm belonging to a white farmer, whose family has been there for generations. Perhaps we should do the same to all black Rhodesians working in the national health service (NHS), and evict them too.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3426266/White-Zimbabwean-farming-family-driven-land-make-way-black-British-doctor.html

Another Ian
February 15, 2016 12:15 am

Did you know that there is the “Natural Resources Act Southern Rhodesia 1941”
when the rest of the world hadn’t got to stringing those words together in one sentence?

NZ Willy
February 15, 2016 12:35 am

Venezuela is doing the same — blaming climate change for collapsing farming productivity. It’s the next big thing. And with money being printed out of thin air, everything can be monetized! That means American dollars for them and Zimbabwe dollars for us.

James Allison
February 15, 2016 1:26 am

Ebagum

davesivyer
February 15, 2016 1:37 am

Does El Nino affect Africa as well as countries with Pacific Ocean coasts?

Martin A
February 15, 2016 1:40 am

I have a Zimbabwe $50,000,000,000,000 note pinned to my notice board. I bought it on Ebay for around £5 (plus postage).

richard verney
February 15, 2016 1:41 am

Whilst I do not like to see (or hear of) people who are starving, if the West is going to help Africa it should either write off all the debt (which in any event will never be repaid), or using its own engineering firms carry out major infrastructural reforms, such as drilling wells, or building desalination sites and piping fresh water to farmsteads, or extracting water from rivers and piping it to where it is needed etc. You have to make these countries self sufficient, and not reliant on cash handouts.
No more money should ever be handed to the governments. That is just a waste.

nottoobrite
Reply to  richard verney
February 15, 2016 3:26 am

Richard Verney,
What a wonderful world YOU live in ! To spell it out for YOU, 90% of Africans have between 5-10 children as they only expect 2-3 to live, you have to change that mentality and then perhaps some of the other unbelievable problems might reduce.
African thought for the day…how to steal money and not get found out.
( must read for all interested in Africa “419” by Will Ferguson )

Gary Pearse
Reply to  richard verney
February 15, 2016 4:51 am

Bury the pipe very deep. Years ago, I had a dimension stone quarrying and sawing project east of Moshe, Tanzania that required water and electricity. While awaiting for this and the shipping of tools and supplies, the pipe got dug up and stolen! When I got there, we had to set up a more primitive project than designed, including making a derrick out of hardwood electricity poles that were lying in the ditch with the wire having been stolen, too. The promised crane never arrived. Resourcefulness is the most highly prized skill to have in Africa.

RockyRoad
Reply to  Gary Pearse
February 15, 2016 8:47 pm

It sounds like honesty is in shortest supply, Gary. A nation without honesty (and by projection, no Rule of Law), can never be prosperous. All you have is a country of thieves–hungry thieves, too!

toorightmate
February 15, 2016 2:03 am

Geography Question.
Q. Where is the capital of Zimbabwe?
A. In a Swiss bank account.

Patrick PMJ
Reply to  toorightmate
February 15, 2016 2:21 am

Like Amin in Uganda, Mugabe pretty much used his country and it’s economy as his personal bank account, of course at the end of an AK-47, or axe, or shovel or club or rock.
I know several Zimbabweans here in Australia one I am about to marry.

Reply to  Patrick PMJ
February 15, 2016 6:05 am

Machetes are favored.
The Hutus used them to great effect

michael hart
Reply to  Patrick PMJ
February 15, 2016 11:09 am

My best wishes too, Patrick.

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Patrick PMJ
February 15, 2016 3:28 pm

Thanks!

Russell
February 15, 2016 2:08 am

This is what is currently going on in South Africa over the last few weeks. The USDA and UN’s World Health Org., on their Diet Guide Lines are basically at major risk. Big Food and Big Pharma have so much to lose. It has been called the ‘Nutrition Trial of the Century’. The Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) hearing against UCT emeritus professor Tim Noakes is becoming the ’Inquisition of a Modern-day Gallileo’ : Day 6 http://www.biznews.com/low-carb-healthy-fat-science/2016/02/15/tim-noakes-power-of-the-anointed-is-over-wisdom-of-the-crowd-rules/

Patrick MJD
February 15, 2016 2:24 am

Sorry mods…I can’t even spell my handle correctly.

Alan Robertson
February 15, 2016 2:39 am

TYPO:
“…thanks to his government’s decade[s] long policy of looting and trashing productive farms.”

Russell
February 15, 2016 2:56 am

consequences to our lifestyle and our health. But should we be putting our trust in a story sponsored by Big Food and Big Pharm? Some 12% of all South African adults are already diabetic, and it is expected that double this number will be diabetic by the year 2040. This increase begins 20 years after the introduction of the 1977 US Dietary Guidelines that promoted the adoption of diets high in carbohydrates and based on cereals and grains. Noakes’ final exhibits come from studies of different human populations, the Plains Indians and the Masai warrior tribes. Both have been described as tall and athletic, and exhibiting none of the symptoms of metabolic disease. The Plains Indians co-evolved with the North American Bison and, until the time of the American Civil War, were predominantly hunters. Once the bison were shot out by advancing frontiersmen, these people were forced to eat a Western diet of cereals, grains and processed foods. They are now amongst the most obese populations in America. He has told me that if all diabetics around the globe were put onto LCHF, “at least six pharmaceutical companies would go out of business”.

Russell
Reply to  Russell
February 15, 2016 6:34 am

First though, let me make it clear that until very recently, I too assumed that keeping fat to a minimum was the key to keeping healthy and trim; Just released
Published: 11:38 GMT, 15 February 2016 | Updated: 14:24 GMT, 15 February 2016
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3443800/The-truth-fat-sugar-Cardiologist-explains-FAT-best-medicine-s-crucial-health.html#ixzz40FOPlwiP
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3443800/The-truth-fat-sugar-Cardiologist-explains-FAT-best-medicine-s-crucial-health.html#ixzz40FNj2JkK
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Alan Robertson
Reply to  Russell
February 15, 2016 7:59 am

Simply put, those tribes which learned to grow the “three sisters” (corn, beans squash) survived and those which didn’t learn that, perished.
Buffalo existed all over the continent and hunter/fisher/gatherers played a big role in survival for all groups. The horse culture was a fairly brief phenomenon.

Russell
February 15, 2016 3:11 am

This increase begins 20 years after the introduction of the 1977 US Dietary Guidelines : The attached is the history of how we got there.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvKdYUCUca8

RockyRoad
Reply to  Russell
February 15, 2016 8:52 pm

As a corollary, there is absolutely NO connection between obesity and cholesterol; no less than 62 studies have found that to be true. So what IS the cause of obesity? Those doing the 62 studies were so stunned with their negative findings that they eventually found the problem to be “processed carbohydrates”. Destroy any natural food by processing it and it’s no longer nutritional, hence the rise of so many diseases, including diabetes.

nottoobrite
February 15, 2016 3:12 am

9 years ago I was in this hell hole to reposes 2 helicopters, we were told it was impossible, no, it was real easy, (had to truck them out as they were almost passed redemption, ) We took with us ( hidden in the trucks ) US $5.000 in $1 bills could have done it with $2,000 if Uncle Sam printed a 10 cent note..Cannot remember the exchange rate at the time but it was a suitcase full for $1

Gary Pearse
February 15, 2016 5:31 am

In the middle 1960s, I was with the Geological Survey of Nigeria and had a front seat at their civil war that killed about 3 million (most from starvation). I remember just before the war, seeing in the market place in the city (it was a town then) of Jos a large cardboard drum of rice with a sign stenciled on it “A gift to the people of Nigeria from Oxfam”. I bought several scoops for thruppence a scoop (they charged white people twice what they charged their own citizens for this “gift” (grift?). I asked the chief inspector of mines who had been there for decades about it and he said, oh the family of the minister of health and welfare owns a trucking firm and they “take care” of this sort of thing. He said everyone knows about it. It’s the way it’s done here.
I told this story to an official of Oxfam at a party in London some years later and he turned red, called me a scurrilous liar (he was a bit drunk) and stated that Oxfam has individuals on the ground seeing to the distribution, blah, blah. I said that I didn’t ask the fellow who sold it to me for thrupence a scoop for any ID but doubted very much he was part of their organization. He left in a huff. I don’t believe anything has changed since.

February 15, 2016 6:36 am

Don’t forget his speech in Paris…
“These extreme vagaries of the weather unleash hunger, disease, displacement, destruction, and death on their affected communities… It is unconscionable that not only are developed countries miserly in providing the means for implementation of the convention but also want inordinately to burden us with cleaning up the mess they themselves have created.”
https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=W4TPlpU0f6s

February 15, 2016 6:43 am

Apologies. That was the incorrect link…
Flashback: Mugabe headlines Paris: Climate will ‘unleash hunger, disease, displacement, destruction and death’
https://youtu.be/W4TPlpU0f6s
Speaking at the Paris COP21 Leaders Event, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe says that the “extreme vagaries of weather” caused by climate change “unleash hunger, disease, displacement, destruction and death on their affected communities.” He goes on to say, “It is unconscionable that not only are developed countries miserly in providing the means for implementation of the convention but also want inordinately to burden us with cleaning up the mess they themselves have created.”
Leaders Event
Paris 2015 COP21
UN Climate Change Conference
November 30, 2015
PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE: “Today we face great danger as extreme weather phenomenon such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves, among others, become the norm rather than the exception in our respective countries. These extreme vagaries of the weather unleash hunger, disease, displacement, destruction, and death on their affected communities. That damage to livelihoods and productivity is particularly devastating for those of us in the developing world. Mr. President, we are all agreed that unless current climate trends are reversed, disaster stalks our planet earth. […] It is unconscionable that not only are developed countries miserly in providing the means for implementation of the convention but also want inordinately to burden us with cleaning up the mess they themselves have created. Mr. President, we are neither creating nor imposing new responsibilities for our developed country partners. They have accepted their historical responsibilities in contributing to the precarious climate environment we currently live in.”

RockyRoad
Reply to  HARRY READ ME File (@HARRYREADMEFile)
February 15, 2016 9:01 pm

I didn’t know Mugabe’s nickname was “Climate”!

February 15, 2016 6:53 am

A disgusting state of affairs that, in my humble opinion, will never change. He will get his money and next year will be up for a Nobel Peace Prize.
http://minimalistlifestyle.wordpress.com

Robert O
February 15, 2016 7:26 am

I remember talking to a surgeon from Zimbabwee who would have spent most of her life working in the hospitals there and finally had to get out because it had become too dangerous to work there anymore, Something like the Stasi was keeping dissent to a minimum, but essentially the walls had ears.,

February 15, 2016 1:08 pm

Reading this article, I just remembered about another dictator – Adolf Hitler, who was also the first climate criminal. Adolf Hitler’s personal guilt concerning the most pronounce climatic shift since the early 19th Century is not the point of concern, but the ignorance and unwillingness to establish in a clear scientific manner the reasons for the winter conditions 1939/40 and thereafter. As science has had seven decades to shed light on WWII impact on climate change matters, which would be evidently a man-made cause, it seems meanwhile a serious competence issue: http://1ocean-1climate.com/the-first-climate-criminal-adolf-hitler-still-not-named/.

RockyRoad
Reply to  smamarver
February 15, 2016 9:09 pm

It’s likely the winter conditions of 1939/40 were predominantly natural and not caused by anything puny man can do, even in a world war. It wouldn’t be the first time the earth has seen climatic shifts and certainly won’t be the last. Besides, Hitler’s atrocities against humanity didn’t need the guise of climate yet they were anything but anti-climatic.

Reply to  RockyRoad
February 17, 2016 11:03 am

In 1940, on the 15th of February, Hermann Goering, made the following statement (reported by NYT, 02/16/1940): ”Nature is still more powerful than man. I can fight man but I cannot fight nature when I lack the means to carry out such a battle. We did not ask for ice, snow and cold – A higher power sent it to us”. Several cold records occurred since early January 1940, and the NYT reported on 02/21/1940: “In Sweden all cold records were beaten in the last twenty-four hours with 32 below zero, the coldest since 1805” Claiming this as – predominantly natural – is naive and ingnorant.

Reply to  smamarver
February 17, 2016 11:49 am

smamarver,
If a skeptic of ‘dangerous AGW’ posted a link like that, there would be immediate yelps of, “Conspiracy theorist!”
Why weren’t the years 1943 – 1945 also cold? And 1917 – 1918?

Reply to  dbstealey
February 18, 2016 10:37 am

The link tells you all: http://1ocean-1climate.com/
During the first three WWII winters naval warfare was foremost fought in waters around Europe. Since 1942 the North Atlantic and West Pacific were the major naval battle grounds.
Naval Warfare: 1917-1918 ; The situation became dramatic for Britain in early 1917. U-boats sank more ships than shipyards could deliver. In April 1917 only, the annual rate of the previous years was reached in only one month (860,000 tons). In 1917, U-boats alone sank 6,200,000 tons, the equivalent of more than 3,000 ships. http://1ocean-1climate.com/chapter-d/

derekcrane
February 15, 2016 3:40 pm

I have always said that the Gnomes of Zurich and their clients will be the beneficiaries of this UN global warming fund. The corrupt leaders of these Third World countries will merely take the money and deposit it in their Swiss Bank account for personal use around the world.

LarryFine
February 17, 2016 3:13 pm

Zimbabwe had been known as the breadbasket of Africa before that dictator took power. He stole farms from whites, turning them over to blacks who didn’t know how to farm but we’re pretty sure that it was easy. And he printed money until it was worth less than the paper it was printed on.comment image
As a result, Zimbabwe became a net importer of food, and though everyone was gazillionaires, nobody could afford to buy food.
http://chinwag.com/files/images/photos/2342854191_9f4794a1fd.jpg
In December, China forgave a $40 million debt in exchange for Zimbabwe using the Yuan as their currency instead of US Dollars, their own currency having been abandoned years ago.
And now Mugabe has his hand out to the UN, asking for $1.1 billion to fund his lifestyle, like Kayne West asking Zuckerberg for $1 billion.
No way, Jose!

Reply to  LarryFine
February 18, 2016 12:49 pm

Larry Fine,
And that Zimbabwe note was issued after the government had already taken another 12 zeroes off…

Gregg C.
February 22, 2016 5:41 am

A severe drought caused by El Nino has left over 14 million people across the usually food secure region in need of food support, aid agencies say. El Nino may not be a direct result of climate change, but the line separating the two is becoming blurred with each passing year.
No science is required anymore, NONE. Sheesh, they can say anything and apparently get away with it. The 5th estate has failed far worse that the ‘science’ community, it seems.