Robert Mugabe is obviously going through a down wave at the moment because his behaviour is quite bizarre. After eventually forming a unity government (which took longer than a human takes to learn to walk), he was also spotted next to the hospital bed of his rival Morgan Tsvangirai -the man he tried to kill several times over the last few years.

And now, today, he APPEALS TO THE WEST for aid and to drop sanctions!

Robert “Bob” Mugabe”

This, from TIME:

Where once he thundered defiantly at the West, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe on Thursday changed his tone, pleading for international help to restart his country’s moribund economy — and clearly hoping that the power sharing government he established with the opposition will soften Western hearts. “Please come to our aid,” said Mugabe, announcing the unity government’s Short Term Emergency Recovery Plan (STERP). “To the European Union and the United States, I appeal for the removal of your sanctions which are inhuman, cruel and unwarranted,” Mugabe said. “SADC [the Southern African Development Community] and the African Union have, in support of our inclusive government’s economic stabilization and recovery efforts, already strongly called for the removal of these sanctions. We thus repeat our loud call for their immediate removal.”

STERP is the first major initiative of the unity government inaugurated last month, in which Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party shares power with the erstwhile opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The economic plan was jointly presented by the President and by Finance Minister Tendai Biti, of the MDC, who said its goal was to raise production in Zimbabwe’s factories, most of which are standing idle, to 60% of capacity. (See pictures of political tension in Zimbabwe)

Zimbabweans have been encouraged by Mugabe’s new, more conciliatory tone, and by his appearance at the hospital bedside of MDC leader and prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai after the road accident that killed Tsvangirai’s wife, Susan. Still, many remain wary of a President who has repeatedly unleashed waves of violence and repression in order to stay in power. And that skepticism will be shared by many in the international community.

Convincing the outside world to come to Zimbabwe’s aid while its government included Mugabe would take more than..

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Hmm [strokes beard], I’d advise international leaders to strike while the iron’s hot, because it won’t be long before the wave turns and he is back to his old self again; torturing, killing and spending like the madman he is.

Can you imagine, in time, Robert Mugabe and the likes of Gordon Brown mucking about at braais, giving each other one-for-one gatskops, for a lag.

“You really pushed your luck back there, Bob!”

“Hey, fuck you, Bronzer, I’ll torture you and kill you!”

Together : “HAH HAH HAHAHAHAHAH”

Good times..