Birds of a feather…
WHEN you start agreeing with Robert Mugabe on an issue, you know you have entered the realm of the unbelievable. But when it comes to Donald Trump, anything is possible.
A week ago, the American president threatened to “totally destroy North Korea” when he addressed the UN General Assembly.
He also mocked Kim Jong-un, the leader of that country, by calling him “Rocket Man”.
Enter Mugabe, who decided to speak truth to power. “Are we having a return of Goliath to our midst, who threatens the extinction of other countries?” he asked.
“Please blow your trumpet – blow your trumpet in a musical way towards the values of unity, peace, co-operation, togetherness, dialogue, which we have always stood for and which are well-writ in our very sacred document, the charter of the UN.”
You couldn’t but agree with the Zimbabwean president. However, at the ripe old age of 93, he may have forgotten the role he played in the brutality that was unleashed on his own people in the mid-1980s. Zimbabwe’s 5th Brigade, which reported directly to Mugabe, brutally crushed an uprising in Matabeleland.
Thousands of people were killed and atrocities committed. This unit was trained by army officers from the very country that Trump currently has in his sights: North Korea.
Back in the day when Mugabe was a charismatic leader with integrity, he formed a close bond with Kim Jong-iI, the current North Korean leader’s father. Mugabe even travelled to the Asian country shortly after taking power.
Mugabe was right to criticise Trump, but he must also realise that, from Trump’s perspective, he fits into the same category as the current North Korean leader.
There is no shortage of crackpots in this world. Take Sheikh Saad al-Hajari as an example. The Saudi cleric recently claimed women should not be able to drive because they have only a quarter of a brain. Following the outrage that erupted on social media, he was banned from giving sermons in the kingdom.
Then there is David Meade, an American who calls himself a Christian numerologist. Others refer to him as a conspiracy theorist. He claimed the world would end on Saturday, or the world as we knew it would end.
And, as Max Ehrmann pointed out in the poem Desiderata: “With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.”