The Washington Post’s PostGlobal page has an editorial by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar, Consulting Editor of The Economic Times which India's largest financial daily in which he argues that there is no moral grounds to oust Robert Mugabe from rule in Zimbabwe. Aiyar starts with the “others do it defense”
Robert Mugabe is indeed an odious ruler with blood on his hands. But since when is that a disqualification to rule? The world has long been full of rulers even more odious and bloodthirsty than he.
He then suggests that its just about racism:
The vast majority of 20th century world rulers were bloody autocrats, and the shift to democracy in the 21st century has so far been partial and unconvincing. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan are autocracies. Does anybody suggest UN action to topple them? All the Central Asian republics are autocracies. Does anybody suggest toppling them? No, because they are generally pro-Western autocracies, and that apparently expiates their sins. Of Mugabe's many crimes, the one that is apparently unforgivable is that he has confiscated the land of white farmers, killed some and driven out others. In earlier times, when he accommodated whites, the West hailed him as a great freedom fighter. Britain even knighted him. These encomiums were poured on him despite his killing 10,000 to 20,000 members of the rival Matabele tribe during an uprising. Nobody called him a bloody criminal at the time. Only when he turned viciously against whites did the western media and political class suddenly find in him despicable qualities that had somehow escaped them earlier.
Given this supposed bias Aiyar is willing to let Mugabe’s current crimes such as burning the wife of an Zimbabwean opposition party official party official alive slide. After all he notes that we cannot interfere in the actions of other nations:
There is much to be said for the Westphalian principle of not interfering with the internal affairs of countries, no matter how odious their rulers or practices may be. Better would be economic sanctions that may spur an internal process in Zimbabwe that ousts Mugabe. These may simply worsen economic misery without ousting Mugabe. Yet that is a risk worth taking.
I wonder what Aiyar would have said to the Jews of Nazi Germany, Ukrainians of Stalinist Russia and the intellectuals (or merely glass wearing people) of Cambodia under Pol Pot? Die is probably the answer.