Mugabe's Last Gasp?

It's hard to imagine how he's stayed in power these past few months, but, finally, Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe's days may be numbered in single digits.

In a sign of blatant fear and desperation, Mugabe ordered food prices cut by half. Chaos ensued. From The Times:

"Bags of sugar burst open in struggles between shoppers who had streamed into supermarkets. Computerised checkouts jammed, unable to cope with the rapid price changes. There was further confusion when officials forced their way into storerooms and declared stock items to be “illegal hoarding,” and ordered all goods to be moved on to supermarket floors.

"At one store where the manager tried to restrict sales to two of each item, one worker was seriously injured in the mayhem. Annual inflation reached 4,500 per cent in May, the result of nearly three decades of economic policies devoid of prudence or forethought.

"Economists estimate that the real figure is closer to 10,000 per cent. Prices are more than doubling every month as suppliers and retailers struggle to keep up with the decline of the currency."

In a sign of how Mugabe has lost touch with reality, he blamed his country's economic mess on - the British: This nonsense of price escalation must come to an end. We will never admit to defeat by British tactics.”