“And this kind of ridiculous posturing may have an effect for as long as there are enough guilt-stricken intellectuals in the West who are willing to let their masochism get the better of their intellects; who are willing in spite of the evidence of their own eyes, to let unreason trump reason.”

Very well put. And this is a strange masochism. It is not on themselves that the masochist intellectuals and bureaucrats are inflicting pain, but on innocent Zimbabweans. Mbeki is, in particular, a disgrace and he should be vilified right along with Mugabe for his cowardly inaction. Zimbabwe has been thoroughly betrayed.