Well Simon I hope you're happy? As I recall you were one of the main protaganists against such intervention? I can't help but think you are disingenuous - or is the fact that so many are dieing your idea of something to poke fun at (irony)???

David, Brighton,

Er excuse me Mr Jenkins but why should we act when African itself isn't interested. Also I'd like to remind you Zimbabwe wanted independence and have turned a rich prosperous country into the worst in Africa. We never voted Mugabe the Zimbabweans did so they should clean up their own backyard!

John, Salford, England

I only learned this week that Mugabe was knighted by the Thatcher government..If ever there was a justification for abolishing this pointless,discreditted award,this is it.

Morgan, Cardiff, Wales

oh palleeeez! you poms bleat NOW about Mugabe! - us Rhodesians went to the bush and fought a bush war for 13 years because we knew he would do this! you handed the jewel of africa to him on a plate. get real! AWA -Africa Wins Again!

Bruce, Perth,, Scotland

Mugabe was England's choice. Don't lett me that Zimbabwe might have been better run under Ian Smith after all??!!
If Mugabe was white, I'm sure we would have declared war on him by now and had him executed. The double standards of political correctness is sickening.

Pedro Tam, London, UK

The truth is that the huge so called 'anti-war' movement made sure that no one can go into a country and rescue the people from such brutal and murdering dictators.

Howard, Dublin, Ireland

Oh we will act ok, by giving them money which should be spent on this country, not a tinpot stalinist state!

A Thorn, london,

A cynical polemic from Simon Jenkins, mocking the idealism behind Blair's 1999 Chicago speech.

He gives no credit for the benign Kosovo intervention, branding it "media inspired" and "oversold", whatever that means.

Does Simon advocate bombing Burma and Zimbabwe? We need to know.

Bob, London,

Cypher in texas is more than welcome to build Fortress America. The world will be a better place for it.

Mike`, Runcorn, United Kingdom

Where is South Africa's rage at Zimbabwe's inhumantiy? South Africa is the key to this, if they were to do something i'm sure we'd offer our full support, that way we are not directly involved and so cannot summon accusations of 'the interferiing west' but are merely helping Zimabwe's neighbour.

kim, london,

Let the Africans "solve" their own problems, since they will scream racisim and colonialism if anyone else tries to do it for them. Don't expect the US to do much. We've been burned too often. No good deed goes unpunished, so let the Africans complain to each other. We're done after Somalia.

Carl H Huffman, SC, USA

As a Rhodesian I remember the efforts of the UK to shoehorn Mugabe into power . Thank you so much. I wish you showed the same outrage against a murderer as you did against Ian Smith who was a patronising but not evil old school racist. Would to God Zim had oil, we'd be swamped with Pom "democracy"

Mark Stevens, Hungerford, UK

I don't think things would have grim and governments be as passive right if the Labour party hadn't been in charge all these years. Taking us into Iraq has made intervention a dirty word and been used against us by Russian, China, Mugabe etc. Nobody seems to think doing nothing can be evil in itsel

Helen Maher, West Hampstead,

It is time for the US to withdrawal from the world. We must begin looking inward and build FORTRESS AMERICA and let the rest of the planet rot in its own excrement.

Who out there wants to host the UN in their country??

Cypher, Dallas, TX, USA

The main problem with American intervention in the last 50 has been that they always lose. Rambo, they have yet to realise, was fiction. Walking around dressed like androids mouthing lines like 'Hell's a comin' doesn't win wars. Brains wins wars. So Obama might as well bring them home.......

eric campbell, harrogate, uk

Whatever happened to “the new doctrine of humanitarian intervention”? Perhaps the constant backbiting from our EU "friends" (Mr. Jenkins included) has had it's desired effect. Satisfied?

David Krajec, Dallas TX, USA

We cannot and should not be the world's policeman or conscience.

John, Reading, uk

I disagree with Donna Walker that our intervention in Iraq was about oil. At the close of the "first" Iraq war, under a UN mandate to liberate Kuwait, Saddam launched missiles against Israel, to point an accusing finger at those who were ultimately responsible for the war against him. Bad move...

Edmund Burke, Kingston upon Thames, England

Not a single word about the rest of Africa's refusal to lift so much as a finger of reproach to Mugabe. They clearly have decided that they are all brothers together and that all poltical behaviour including mass murder and torture of their citizens does not warrant criticism from fellow Africans.

Rodney, Barbados,

Zimbabwe inherited a first-class infrastructure from the former regime as well as an agricultural powerhouse industry that was the envy of Africa. In less than 30 years, they have destroyed it all. They have made their bed, now let them lie in it. Why should the West sort them out?

MaryJ, San Francisco, CA

Any military intervention will involve casaulties on the intervening side no matter how well prepared they are.

This is a fact of war.

Would you be willing to sacrifice your son's life to save 200 Africans you don't know? 2,000?

Only those willing to make such sacrifices can demand action.

Jiong Gu, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Every right thinking man or woman anywhere in the world will share this sense of shame and frustration. While Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Than Shwe of Burma continue to terrorize their people, the so-called liberals of the world keep discussing niceties of propriety, doing nothing to help the hapless.

V. C. Bhutani, Delhi, India

It has been often stated that this is an African problem and that the 'African Leaders' are capable of and willing to something about it!! This is lip-service and only to placate the decent human beings from reacting. So do they have any consceince? Alas no!!

Bharat, London, UK

Mugabe has lost a lot of weight recently and has already been out of Zimbabwe for cancer treatment, so it might be that Europe/Africa/America are just biding their time before intervening. When Mugabe dies, his cronies will flee..... it's just a matter of (very short) time.

Jean, Voorburg, Netherlands

Get real, folks! It has never been a perfect world and it never will be. We can't got plunging billions into sorting out Zimbabwe if there is no real prospect of a profitable return on the investment. On the same note; so what if the wars in Iraq and elsewhere have been about oil? We need oil!

James, Manchester,

When Uncle Bob and Zanu-Pf Pals are finally ousted, will they all turn up at Heathrow Terminal 5 shouting for 'Yumin Rites' and 'Asylum'? will our useless Nu Lie-bour Gov allow them in because 'Yuman Rites' Lawyers will be swarming all over Term 5 like locusts? To send them back would be a Sin!

B Clark, Chelmsford, england

The sad truth is that it would take a generational committment from western countries to make a difference in these poor countries. That would involve an initial military response, followed by military, financial and political support for decades to follow.

David Lea-Smith, Edinburgh, U.K.

"Where now ... fine words ................new doctrine of humanitarian intervention?"
Perhaps the next US President will note that according to the media, America and her allies are wrong when they intervene but also wrong when they don't - and will leave it to the smart Europeans to act alone.

Al, Weybridge, UQ

This is all rubbish. What goes on inside any sovereign country is the concern of that country's government and citizens - no one else's. In any case, the doctrine of intervention is bankrupt. There aren't enough soldiers; and wherever they are sent in, they create a smoking wilderness as in Iraq.

Tom Welsh, Basingstoke,

It's all our fault, according to Mugabe. He bangs on about a legacy of white colonisation as if we'd pulled out last week. Trouble is we are responsible for the creation of this mindset. Political correctness has enabled the left leaning cabal to lambast our empire. Mugabe is merely playing on this.

logdon, stockport,

Forget it as Americas no longer support Humanitarian Intervention or Democracy abroad. Read the newspapers on Obama and the Change You Can Believe In. We talk nicely to everyone. If they kill their people we still talk nicely. Americans have had enough. Isolation has started.

Gene, Gebüg, Germany

Frustration is targeted at politicians who tell the world "they are doing everything in their power" and "holding discussions" with various parties. However, when they exhibit no consistency or principles, and act capriciously , they can only expect to receive contempt.

Padraig, Perth, Australia

Why wasn't Mugabe arrested for "Crimes Against Humanity" when he was in Rome? - Pinochet was arrested when in Britain for medical treatment. Britain, under this ghastly Government, has shown itself to be utterly spineless

Liz Brown, Montmartin en Graignes,

The international community are a total and utter joke and for the UN.........!!!!

ian payne, walsall,

Stephan wins this weeks quiz.....answer: ZIM HAS NO OIL!

gavin, jhb, rsa

I bet the Zimbabweans wish that they were still ruled by a man like ian Smith and their country was still called Rhodesia.

John, LONDON, ENGLAND

Is ther any oil in Zimbabwe? No? Forget it then.

Jake Mosfet, Huddersfield,

The male idea that he can do anything he pleases with what
he considers his private sphere always matters more than the suffering imposed on those concerned - mad bad and dangerous to know.

manon, paris, france

There is nothing the west want in zimbabwe, thats why there is no intervention,if there was oil they would have intervened already.the united nations is a waste of time, how could they invite him to a food summit in Rome that was a chance to show him his government is illegitimate and unacceptable

peter, wirral, merseyside

Forget intervention in Zimbabwe by the US, the UN, or the EU. The UN would be stopped by Mugabe apologists like China. The EU hasn't the will or the military. The US is busy trying to put post-Taliban Afghanistan & post-Hussein Iraq right. Slamming the US for everything seems routine and it's wrong.

Jill, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

For "proof" Ren from Dublin need only look to China who are developing Afghanistans biggest resource,their world class copper deposits not USA. Iraq IS about democracy.More excuses not to act.So many of them are offered while millions die.The UN said 1 million died in Iraq from oil for food sanction

Mike Coulten, Newmarket, UK

Neighbouring leaders always defend their right to act how they please.This is why African leaders are so supportive of Mugabe,this is why Saudi,Iran,Syria finance,incite and facilitate the insurgency by those that would deny the majority and impose their minority will.House of Saud is afraid.Good

Mike Coulten, Newmarket, UK

SADCC and the AU will not act against Robert Mugabe. He acts in concert with Emmerson Munangagwa and his generals. This group must be brought before the International Criminal Court. They are now repeating their horrific deeds of Gukurahandayi. Theirs signatures are unmistakeable.

Timmi Culverwell, Kimberly,

The only result of intervention would be to swap a corrupt and brutal government for another equally corrupt and brutal. South Africa looked bright for a time, but is now on its way to becoming just another failed state. Sadly, that's just the way it is in Africa.

Glen, Melbourne , Australia

Lets face it. We cannot control our own Za Nulab party and we are supposed to be a democracy. Is there not something about motes and beams?

Mugabe is simply doing what comes naturally to Marxist/Socialists.

M. Cawdery, ramone, Co. UK, EU.

No matter what America or the UK do, there will be people who say it's wrong. We're damned if we do, and damned if we don't.

Arthur, Newcastle,

If Mugabe wasn't arrested last week in italy, there is no possibility of any meaningful action against him by the UN or Western nations. He may be captive in his own regime and the option of quietly leaving office, regardless of his crimes, has now gone.

Tony Gee, London,

I agree, Simon. But what is to be done? It is true that time wounds all heels, but that precious comodity is running out for the undeserving people of Zimbabwe. Until neighboring states, the UN, EU and USA take a more interventionalist stance, they will continue to suffer.

John Lancaster, Brussels, Belgium

Those countries that have always been the first to response to crisis wherever it happened, are either now suffering from compassion fatigue or put off by the intransigent stand taken by the leaders of the countries for whom aid was intended. It's a Catch 22 situation--do it and be damned, don't....

SD Goh, PJ, Malaysia

The difference between the middle east and Africa over intervention has not been fully explored. Try also colonialism and colour for such reticence by otherwise playing right into Mugabe's hands, and that much of Africa is a basket case

Terry, L'Absie, France

Is this the same Zimbabwe that, under another name, declared UDI and announced that it wanted nothing more to do with Britain? It could, I seem to remember it saying, take care of itself. Well, then, let it do so.

Peter Johns, London, UK

Is it not the veto-ing power of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, that has rendered the UN a spineless entity? China will veto action in Darfur, for example.
The UN needs to be re-invented along democratic lines; i.e, one nation, one vote, and no veto power to any.

Dilip Dhokia, Bradford, UK

Imagine if you will, what a gift Mugabes squalid despotism would be to the Apartheid monster had it survived.

Arnold Ward, Weybridge, Surrey, UK

Well said Simon. No attention should be paid at all to the usless UN which is even worse than the defunct League of Nations. Just go in an slap Mugabe around until he sees sense and deposes himself and stands trial for murder and abuse of human rights.

Len, Perth, Western Australia

As a people who lives in Africa, in my opinion, I think Africa gets everything it deserves. It is its own worst enemy and one only has to look at the way Mugabe is supported by leaders in neighbouring countries like South Africa's Mbeki for proof. The world should stay clear away.

Joseph, Cape Town, South Africa

Sure, we can go in but we need the UN to nod. They will yap until hell freezes over. Leave it.
Its an African problem with what must be an African solution. OK it may take a generation or two and millions will die but thats how it works. No more tent cities with only old men, women and kids.

michael murphy, brightlingsea, england

You cannot be given freedom, you have to take it. If someone gives it, they can take it away. Zimbabweans have to solve this problem themselves. (I'm not saying others should not help.)

It may be ugly, and bloody, but its ultimately necessary, as its the only possible way.

Suleiman, Lagos, Nigeria

Afganistan and Iraq are about containing China and putting Iran on notice, not bringing democracy to the mid east. For proof one only has to observe the agreement presently being forced upon the Iraqi government. Humanitarian Intervention CAN work, but it is intentions which matter.

Ren, Dublin,

Any action in Zim/Burma/Sudan to impose decency would result in exactly the same as Iraq, the powers within and nearby would forment the news that people like you can then wail over and later claim that there was no real threat anyway. People do bad things because they can. You make it so they can

Mike Coulten, Newmarket, UK

It is the knowledge of CERTAIN retribution that stops bad behaviour. You are worse than wrong. We MUST go with guns at the ready so that when defined lines are crossed those responsible are ALWAYS seen to pay. Chirac let Saddam think he could get away with it. You help. The UN is the backstop.

Mike Coulten, Newmarket, UK

At the moment our forces are tied up in Iraq and Afghanistan. We can only repair the evil in the world a little bit at a time.

Pete, Gerrardstown, West Virginia, USA

Who cares what the naysayers think. This should be a UN led invasion, and monitored, democratic elections, followed by massive assistance from around the world until Zimbabwe recovers.

David, Amsterdam, Netherlands

While politicians whinged, wringing their hands ineffectually, the world demanded "humanitarian intervention" in Iraq where Saddam had massacred and committed genocide against his own people and Iran with, yes, WMD. When finally the Yanks had the guts to do something the world cheered. Briefly.

Bob Evans, Anaheim, California

Once you "intervene", which in these cases means overthrowing the rulers, then what? You broke it, you own it. And it isn't within western powers' writ to determine everyone's future, nor is it of vital national interest to the western nations who are the ones looked to to "do something."

Lewis, Stone Mountain, Ga, U.S.A.

I agree with you Garry, let the world look after itself. When the US and Britain were proactive, critics said the UN etc were bodies overlooked - a great uproar. When nothing happens because the UN is an ineffective talk shop then everyone looks to the US as to why they are not doing anything

Glen, Johannesburg,

And i say good riddance to the whole concept. When the world demands intervention what they mean is the US go in not them. Well we are tired of being the worlds policeman. I say u want intervention then u can just do it yourselves or get the sainted UN to do something. Thats what theyre for.

Garry, Cburg, USA

he is squandering the money in our war with Somalia, Eritrea etc.
We were whining about delivery of arms to Zim, while we were doing the same. I can go on ..
Do a search in google for "Ethiopia bought arms from North Korea with U.S. assent"
Google "America's Latest African Blunder" and you will see

simon, London, UK

Western democracies, most heavily entangled in Africa's past, are not well-suited to dealing with those skilled in the black arts of deceitful propaganda. Such people know this weakness and exploit it mercilessly. You are right, Simon, there will be no intervention from the EU, Nato, or the UN.

Colin, shrewsbury,

Just where are these "willing coalitions to enforce the relief " to come from Simon? You couldn't fill a taxi cab with Europe's willing . They all wait on the one country. Guess who?

erin, new york, USA

Well written as always Simon. I fear however you are correct, humanitarian intervention was oversold and restocking is not on short order. The areas of the world most in need of this commodity will not get is and coincidence or not, their economic unimportance does not augur well for their futures

Michael, The Valley, Anguilla

Why then does the world, or rather the politicians of the world wring their hands pitifully and make it seem they can do nothing to stop what is happening..

maggi, NSW, Australia

Only works when there is oil involved.
Kosovo oil pipeline
Afghanistan - oil pipeline
Iraq - oil

Stephen, St. Ives, England

Our leaders' lack of intervention in Zimbabwe is a disgrace and only serves to cement in peoples' minds the belief that intervention in Iraq was about oil, not human rights or democracy. At the very least, we should be dropping food aid into Zimbabwe by helicopter. I am so ashamed of our Government.

Donna Walker, Effingham, England