Mugabe Again Proves U.N.'s Weakness

This badly beaten face belongs to Morgan Tsvanvirai, a leader of the opposition to Robert Mugabe's dictatorial regime in Zimbabwe.

His beating, following an anti-government demonstration, was so severe he suffered a skull fracture and needed transfusions due to internal bleeding, BBC reports.

The government blames the opposition -- 49 of whom were arrested -- for attacking police, who had to fight back, causing the injuries.

That's interesting. You'd think federal prosecutors would show up in court if these folks attacked police, but no prosecutors were to be seen, so the 49 were released.

Correspondents covering the trial said there were an "astonishing" number of broken arms among the demonstrators, indicating a high level of physical violence occured in Zimbabwe's police station.

Our reaction, stated by Condi Rice:

"The world community again has been shown that the regime of Robert Mugabe is ruthless and repressive and creates only suffering for the people of Zimbabwe."

She's right that the whole world has seen what a thug Mugabe is (again). The problem is that China sees but doesn't care. It will continue to block UN efforts to protect Zimbabweans from Mugabe, proving once again the powerlessness of the world body.

Even South Africa, which to its great shame sells arms to Mugabe's government, spoke out against Mugabe this time, but there was no condemnation from China. It will likely come, but it will be hollow, as Beijing will continue to support Mugabe politically and economically.

The U.N. is frozen, the African Union is powerless to do anything, and the world just watches. It would take U.S. troops a day to topple this piece of human slime. Unfortunately, the failure to secure Iraq has shown us that regime change is not a simple matter, so Mugabe sits content on his bloody throne.