 >>> EMAIL
>>> COMMENTARY >>>
Interruption from Zimbabwe
The Colour of Lies
20th March 2007 / by ***
ATTENTION! Do not believe what you are
going to hear, to watch, to read out of
Zimbabwe these weeks! Do not believe
images, do not believe texts!
Where are you positioned once your hear,
watch, read stories about Zimbabwe?
One hundred kilometres away? One thousand
kilometres away? Ten thousand kilometres
away?
Sometimes it is a distance of only ten
metres when I see and hear the wailing
convoy passing, first the flickering blue
lights and sirens of single outriders,
forcing the other traffic to a complete
halt, then in the same speed a line of
black limousines, again with blue lights
and sirens, followed by a stretched black
limousine with presidential standards in
front and tainted windows, shielded by
more limousines in the front, on both
sides and in the back, immediately
followed by soldiers in combat-gear and
pointing guns on open pickups, at the end
a flashing red light on a single van, an
ambulance — donated by Italy as a
label says which I can decipher from ten
metres away.
But I also see, occasionally, the
standards on embassy-cars of Western
origin which pursue these days no
diplomatic directions — I am so
close and that is why I do not believe
images and texts which are seeping these
weeks from Zimbabwe like matter from an
abscess.
Correction: A misleading picture!
Production of matter from an abscess
would indicate a process of healing. But
these images and texts are used as
maggots which are supposed to creep into
the wound to let the organism perish.
These maggots are meant to spread
half-baked facts, they feed on rumours
planted by professional poisoners as part
of a grandiose psychological warfare,
prodding the brutalization of senses.
Each side presents its victims and their
own fitting stories. Reporters within the
war-zone, local or parachuted in, have
right from the word GO target-groups on
their mind to be portrayed either as the
good guys or as the bad ones. Based on
such convictions they are going to pick
from their sources their stories, their
pictures, their loyalty. They have been
seldom around when it happened, they
report quite often what they are told.
For you out there, ten thousand
kilometres away, or only one thousand, or
one hundred, Zimbabwe appears as a
conflict zone where Africans can be
observed again bashing each other heads
or hunting for Whites.
Those who live here learned how to
observe both sides carefully. People here
learned how to recognize when a lie is
black and when a lie is white. For most
people who live here this country is not
a conflict zone in the first place, they
did not turn it into one. They are busy
to survive within their own country, they
are not prepared to risk their skulls
again in a struggle of elites for power
and influence, no matter whether these
elites are black or white.
>>> EMAIL
>>> TEXT-ATTACHMENT 1
>>>
Harare, Sunday, 18th March 2007 08:39
ZIM STANDARD
(a privately owned Harare-based news
paper)
Letter by: Christopher W. Dell, U.S.
Ambassador, Harare
Govt spin doctors desperate to lend
credence to the 'Big Lie'
 I normally
pay little more than brief,
amused attention to the barely cogent and
semi-literate scribblings of George, er,
Nathaniel Manheru and his equally
incoherent sidekick Caesar Zvayi.
However, given the current climate in
Zimbabwe, I feel that their bumbling
efforts to practice the Big Lie touch
upon issues too important for the future
of the country to be simply dismissed
with a wry chuckle.
Key to the government's efforts to
justify its brutal and unwarranted
crackdown on its own citizens is the
assertion that the people of Zimbabwe are
a contented lot who would quietly go
about their happy lives were it not for
the evil machinations of the - choose
your epithet - "imperialists,"
"former colonialists," or
racists / Westerners / enemies." The
government's spin doctors' current
favourite "example" is the
story they have fabricated from thin air
about my alleged meeting with Morgan
Tsvangarai and Arthur Mutambara at the
Bronte Hotel in Harare on 9 January.
This meeting, according to the spin
doctors, is the sole reason Zimbabweans
today are increasingly vocal in their
protests against the government and
determined to push for change. To lend
their fantasy the appearance of fact,
Messrs. Manheru and Zvayi (unably abetted
by the pseudo-intellectual rantings of
Tafataona Mahoso in The Sunday Mail and a
legion of faceless Herald Reporters),
have invented colourful details: the size
of each side's delegation, a cash-filled
briefcase , etc.
The facts are somewhat different: 1) on
the date of the supposed meeting I was in
Bulawayo, on vacation with visiting
family. In fact, if anyone wants to check
for themselves, they can go to the
Natural History Museum there and see
where I signed the guest book (I realise
that the relevant page is likely to
disappear in "mysterious
circumstances" when this is
published, but never mind: there are
other witnesses who can verify that I was
indeed in Bulawayo on that day, including
diplomats and, of course, the ubiquitous
CIO, which tracked me throughout my
holiday); 2) I have Never set foot inside
the Bronte Hotel and was unaware of its
very existence until Zvayi kindly brought
it to my attention; 3) the first and only
time I have ever met jointly with
Tsvangarai and Mutambara was courtesy of
the Government of Zimbabwe. That meeting
took place last Tuesday, 13 March in
Magistrates' Court 6 in Harare. I think
we can all offer the government a large
vote of thanks for bringing these two
leaders together and giving them an
opportunity to get to know each other
better.
One can only imagine just how badly the
government misses the services of the
former Minister of Information, who knew
that to tell the Big Lie successfully,
one had to get the little lies right. I
humbly suggest that the spin doctors
could do with a few lessons from their
Professor, or since time for them is
growing short, that they look back to
history to consult the original writings
on the Big Lie for some badly needed
advice. Meanwhile, the unfortunate people
of Zimbabwe will continue to grapple with
the sad truth that their lives have been
made a living hell thanks to the failed
policies of a failing regime.
 Ah, there goes the image of a
Rambo-diplomat! Doesn’t mince
matters, gives it them hot, those enemies
of Western values …
But, perhaps, we may not be experts of
such scenarios … therefore we are
going to ask for assistance from someone
who knows how grand conspiracies work
involving tricky games of diplomats
— adapted, for example, in his
twentieth novel, THE MISSION SONG.
Please welcome: Mr. John Le Carré —
despite the French sounding of his name a
former British member of secret services
and, later, revealer of Anglo-American
intelligence disasters.
5  ‚The
conquest of the world, meaning in
principle to take away from those who
sport a different appearance or a
slightly flatter nose than ourselves is
not a nice matter, if you look at it
strictly.‘ — Marlow
„Oh yes, who does not know THE HEART
OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad. I could not
suppress the inkling to quote his words
at the beginning of my newest novel which
puts Africa in the spotlight. Okay,
Coppola discovered him before me for his
Indochina movie with Marlon Brando as
Conrad’s Colonel Kurtz in APOCALYPSE
NOW ...“
Could it be that you did lend
again some ideas when you tried to find
for your new story an introductory
scenario, Mr. Carré? The idea that your
African born translator will be abused in
a complot of Western financiers and
African warlords whilst they meet for a
deal on an island in the North Sea, this
idea sounds familiar …
„Great! Someone made the connection
finally! You see, that is my daily bread:
to poke in reality in order to come up
with the draft for a thriller. And who
else on international stage could offer
more thrilling patterns than …“
Let us guess: Henry Kissinger?
„You got a hit! However, when I
worked on my book I concentrated on the
Congo which raised public interest due to
upcoming elections. With Kissinger it was
the Iran, but in the focus — bizarre
enough — there was indeed an island
in the North Sea without a name, centre
and exit-point for a conspiracy —
but, in this case, it was no phantasm
…
6 It is in
the London ‚Royal Institute of
International Affairs‘, the Chatham
House, where, in discretion and secrecy,
the gentlemen of the ‚Empire‘,
today known as the Commonwealth,
heroically fight against centrifugal
tendencies. In January 2001 it was this
distinguished locality where Sheikh Ahmed
Zaki Yamani introduced a selected circle
to details and facts about Henry
Kissinger and the historical oil-crisis
of 1973/74 ... Saudi Arabia’s former
oil-minister and in the Seventies ‚spiritus
rector‘ of the much feared OPEC,
talked a day later in a taped interview
to the ‚Observer‘:
'I am 100
per cent sure that the
Americans were behind the increase in the
price of oil. The oil companies were in
in real trouble at that time, they had
borrowed a lot of money and they needed a
high oil price to save them.'
He says he was convinced of this by the
attitude of the Shah of Iran, who in one
crucial day in 1974 moved from the Saudi
view, that a hike would be dangerous to
Opec because it would alienate the US, to
advocating higher prices.
'King Faisal sent me to the Shah of Iran,
who said: "Why are you against the
increase in the price of oil? That is
what they want? Ask Henry Kissinger
— he is the one who wants a higher
price".'
Yamani contends that proof of his
long-held belief has recently emerged in
the minutes of a secret meeting on a
Swedish island, where UK and U.S.
officials determined to orchestrate a 400
per cent increase in the oil price.
Just an incidental remark for
Mr. Rockefeller here — Henry
Kissinger accumulated his first political
experiences as advisor of your
second-born from 1957 onwards; your
Nelson was then already governor.
Subsequently, Kissinger’s services
were appreciated by the U.S.-presidents
John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and
Richard Nixon. After the election of the
latter one in 1968 Kissinger was
appointed as Presidential Advisor for
Security and Foreign Affairs. But being,
as we are, on his track, we realize that
he never really changed loyalty since
1957! …
… Hello, Mr. Rockefeller!
CONTROL! … Where is he?
Just retired for a brief nap … It
was not clear whether we are still in
Latin America or already back in Africa,
there would be day, there would be night.
We are clarifying this in a
moment with Señor Galeano ... Mr. Le
Carré, what is your comment with regard
to our rolling event: by train on tracks
of world history?
7 The
deception of the public by policy-makers
and by media-makers has reached a degree
which I consider as most dangerous. (...)
We are living in a world of virtual news.
This being considered, it falls within
the responsibility of authors and
film-makers to fill this gap of
information.
8 Should we
die then we die of self-betrayal, lack of
interest and apathy. The media with its
‚embedded journalism‘ has
failed us, it reported what it were told
and it continues to spread the lies of
governments. Mussolini saw fascism as
identity of state- and of economic power.
The difference now is that the media is
part and parcel of it.
Well, Mr. Le Carré, originally
we thought your experience could help us
to judge whether the activities of the
present American ambassador to Zimbabwe
could provide the draft for another
thriller.
May we introduce you to some details.
Interestingly, you will find on the
Internet-based WIKIPEDIA-encyclopaedia
always an updated profile of his
worldwide activities and, of course, all
steps of his career-ladder.
CONTROL! DOWNLOAD FROM INTERNET, PLEASE!
>>> Christopher
William Dell is a career
United States Foreign Service officer who
has served as United States Ambassador to
the Republic of Zimbabwe since August 12,
2004
> Ambassador to Angola, 2001-2004
> Chief of Mission, US Office,
Pristina, Kosovo, 2000-2001
> Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy
Sofia, Bulgaria, 1997-2000
> Deputy Director, Office of Regional
Political Affairs, Bureau of European and
Canadian Affairs, 1994-1996
> Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy,
Maputo, Mozambique, 1991-1994
> Special Assistant to the Under
Secretary for International Security
Affairs, 1989-1991
> Executive Assistant to the Special
Negotiator for Greek Bases Agreement,
Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs,
1987-1989
> Desk Officer for Spain and Portugal,
Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs,
1986-1987
> Staff Assistant, Bureau of Political
Military Affairs, 1985-1986
> Political Officer, US Embassy
Lisbon, Portugal, 1984-1985
> Vice Consul, US Consulate Oporto,
Portugal, 1983-1984
> Vice Consul, US Consulate Matamoras,
Mexico, 1981-1983
„Impressive career — always the
finger on the pulse of the time, so to
speak! …
But you know, in my novels there were
never on one side the GOOD ones only and
one the other side the BAD ones only, you
don’t find them even in real life!
… Just consult WIKIPEDIA by typing
in my name ...“
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