Some significant points have been overlooked in this thread. To deal with a trivial one first, Teribus has been selective in quoting Mugabe's assessment of himself as a Marxist. Mugabe always described himself as a "Catholic Marxist." Maybe it just didn't suit Teribus's agenda to call Mugabe "a good little Christian." (Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if Mugabe ditched the Catholicism, as well as the Marxism, somewhere along with the way.)

More important is that for several years Mugabe has not been effectively in control of Zimbabwe. The country is run by a junta of generals and security chiefs, and unlike Mugabe they have little prospect of negotiating a soft landing for themselves. For this reason Alanabit's strategy of waiting for nature to take its course offers a less certain outcome than in some other instances.

For this reason too, the new deal is not worth the paper it's written on. The very fact that it was "brokered" by Mbeki speaks volumes. Mbeki, who was fatally wounded in terms of domestic politics and who is regarded on the world stage as little better than an imbecile (because of his crackpot theories about AIDS and his blind faith in Comrade Mugabe), has always adopted a less-than-evenhanded "over my dead body" stance to the prospect of Tsvangirai getting his hands on power. This did indeed border on insanity because regardless of whatever shortcomings Tsvangirai might have, the regime which Mugabe fronts has wreaked havoc on South Africa's economony and has threatened to destabilise the whole region.

In short I see little hope for Zimbabwe unless a deal is struck with the Zanu-PF monsters who run the show.