Newsweek Shows an Interest in Zimbabwe

Unfortunately, it's not for the widespread misery inflicted on the Zimbabwean people, but rather on the elephants. Forget about the wacko policies by the nutbar dictator Robert Mugabe that has turned a once thriving agricultural exporter into a barren wasteland. We have to worry about the elephants, because they're the real signal that things are bad in Zimbabwe. You have to read more than halfway into the article to find out the real situation in Zimbabwe:

The neglect means more misery for Zimbabwe's human population, too. Hwange National Park was once a major employer in a country that attracted about 1 million visitors a year. But that was before President Robert Mugabe began forcibly expropriating thousands of white-owned farms, replacing their owners with cronies and Zimbabwean civil-war veterans. The radical land-redistribution program destroyed Zimbabwe's agricultural base, scared off tourists and sent the economy into free fall. Gross domestic product has declined from $8.4 billion to $4.3 billion in seven years; farm output has dropped by 80 percent. The annual inflation rate rose last month above 400 percent, and life expectancy has fallen to 33 years.

Newsweek doesn't have time to do a thorough piece on Mugabe, but thought that the elephants were worth writing about.

What about the people. Apparently that's not quite worth a story of its own. And what does that say about Newsweek's priorities?

[first blogged over at LGF here.]

UPDATE:
It is somewhat disconcerting to realize that very few folks are blogging the misery that is ongoing in Zimbabwe. If you know of any blogs that are covering the subject, leave them in the comments.

UPDATE 11/29/2005:
This is Zimbabwe has been covering the misery inflicted by the Mugabe regime.