An international pariah

Washington Post: Robert Mugabe, having led Zimbabwe away from the rule of law, respect for human rights and economic sanity, has now abruptly taken his country out of the 54-member Commonwealth, an organization predominantly made up of Britain and its former colonies. As with President Mugabe's other rash and despotic actions, it will be his fellow Zimbabweans who will suffer the most from this latest act. His ruinous land reform policies have already brought hunger and starvation to millions of his countrymen. The thumbing of his nose at Zimbabwe's past International Monetary Fund obligations has brought his country to the brink of expulsion from that global financial institution. And now Mr. Mugabe's decision to leave the Commonwealth following that group's action to keep Zimbabwe on suspension only reinforces the outcast role he has chosen for his nation.
An unenviable record
After 23 years in power, Mr. Mugabe has little positive to show for it. Foreign investment has been chased away. The country is under sanctions of the European Union and the United States. And to underscore the extent to which Mr. Mugabe is held to be beyond the pale, international travel restrictions forced him to seek a special waiver from the Swiss government to attend a U.N. information summit in Geneva. But it is the state of political freedom that is under the greatest duress in Zimbabwe.
Faced with implacable international opposition to his political repression and abuse of human rights, Mr. Mugabe has resorted to the old standby slogans of race and the haves vs. the have-nots to justify his outrageous behavior. It won't wash. Race didn't cause food shortages in Zimbabwe; Mr. Mugabe's policies are to blame. Race was not responsible for voting irregularities and violence in Mr. Mugabe's re-election vote; Mr. Mugabe's thugs were responsible. Zimbabwe's civil society is in meltdown, and a once relatively prosperous country has been transformed into a failed state. That, too, is Mr. Mugabe's doing.