Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : PEAK OIL - The New Y2K or The Beginning of the Real End? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (638)	5/28/2005 10:06:38 PM
From: Bearcatbob	Respond to of 1183

Globeandmail.com > International > Article GGGGGText Size: Mugabe admits need for aidSaturday, May 28, 2005 Updated at 4:31 PM EDT Associated Press HARARE, Zimbabwe — Major increases in the price of staple foods went into effect Saturday as President Robert Mugabe, who recently refused assistance claiming the country had a bumper harvest, acknowledged that Zimbabwe needs food aid to avert famine. The price hikes — 51 per cent for corn meal and 29 per cent for bread — came days ahead of a meeting with James Morris, World Food Program chief, to discuss Zimbabwe's massive food aid requirements despite its long-standing claims it was self-sufficient. Zimbabwe's economy has slowly collapsed since Mr. Mugabe introduced his land reform program and confiscated white-owned farms, beginning five years ago. Zimbabwe's once thriving agricultural sector, which made it the regional bread basket, is destroyed. Still, Saturday's price hikes, announced on state radio, were taken with apparent resignation in Harare, where residents had fought running battles with police last week as paramilitary squads torched and bulldozed roadside shops and hundreds of homes. Advertisements Tens of thousands of people were arrested or left homeless in the midwinter cold. Opposition politicians said the blitz by authorities was intended to subdue the population and so forestall riots which followed price rises in 1998, when at least seven people died after Mr. Mugabe deployed troops backed by tanks into the townships. "Things are really calm now," said Lovemore Machingedzi, an official of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in the capital's southern suburbs, which bore the brunt of the unrest of the past few days. Mr. Machingedzi warned, however, of an explosive mood with the once-landless blacks who were powerful supporters of Mr. Mugabe's government now facing the demolition of settlements they established after seizing the white-owned farms. "My understanding is that the situation where they are is very, very tense because they thought they could do what they want," he said. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai accused Mr. Mugabe of launching the attacks to punish the urban poor for voting against his ruling Zanu-PF, which won the disputed March 31 parliamentary elections. The clampdown on street traders last week, opposition politicians said, was to intimidate people ahead of the food price hikes and to deter protests as economic catastrophe looms. At a meeting of his ruling party central committee Friday, Mr. Mugabe publicly backed the crackdown on street traders and shack dwellers, officially code named "Operation Murambatsvina," or "Operation Drive Out Trash." According to the opposition, Mr. Mugabe wants the urban poor, who lived in the small shacks and ran the roadside shops, to return to rural areas where he can control them. "Our towns and cities, including the capital, had become havens for illicit and criminal practices which just could not be allowed to go on," he said. Mr. Mugabe's government has blamed speculators, black market dealers and alleged Western economic sanctions for the current economic crisis. After predicting a "bumper" 2.5 million metric ton maize harvest and scorning aid offers, Mr. Mugabe now admits the country urgently needs more than 1.2 million tons to save 4 million Zimbabweans from famine. His fiercest critic, Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, has accused Mr. Mugabe of using access to food to intimidate rural voters, while the MDC alleges a plan to drive the urban poor back to the countryside "where they can be more easily controlled."

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (638)	5/30/2005 4:43:45 AM
From: kryptonic6	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1183

Associating a fuel shortage in Zimbabwe with Peak Oil is like blaming a rainstorm for thirst - each totally irrelevant. I was born in 1984, so I don't remember the oil shocks of the 1970's, but I understand there were 1/2 mile-long gas lines, astronomical stagflation, and a widespread fear that life as we knew it might be over - all because of a 5% oil shortage. Five years past peak, we're going to be dealing with roughly a 10-15% shortfall. I'm curious, what are your main objections with the comparison, and how do you see things playing out differently in the U.S.? Zimbabwe is a political fiasco - tolerated in silence due to political correctness! The U.S. is a political fiasco, but granted it has not deteriorated anywhere near the point of Zimbabwe.