If diamonds are forever, so is the pain they cause. Though this strain of diamond fever—with its corresponding blood diamonds—doesn’t call Sierra Leone and Guinea home, it does bear a strong resemblance to the one(s) found there a decade ago. This time, however, it’s hit Zimbabwe, as Mugabe’s sickening government looks to one of the country’s natural riches to spice things up economically.

But diamond fever’s not the only illness plaguing Zimbabwe’s borders. The country’s hoping to gather international aid in its fight against a cholera epidemic, which has been declared a national emergency. When will someone cut this oppressed, violent, inflation-stricken, refugee spawning, utterly ravaged country a break?

And on another side of Africa lies Rwanda, stirring up trouble for its neighbor, the Congo. The beleaguered former Belgian territory is preparing for an internal rebellion, and neighboring Rwanda, harboring a series of “strategic interests” is content to fuel the fire by sending over hundreds “if not,” as The New York Times put it, “thousands of troops to rebel front lines.”

A blood-spattered Mumbai has led many—powerful and otherwise—to ask whether Pakistan is doing what it can (or, worse, what it shouldn’t) to battle militancy. The most recent carnage has raised questions of how effective the country’s current government is when fighting that extremist-spawned violence.

More than a half a year since the disastrous Sichuan earthquake struck China, couples victim to a one-child policy are trying to rebuild. While still in mourning, many middle-aged couples are seeking government-funded medical help—such as reversing vasectomies—to start again by having another child now that so many of the country’s single children were lost during calamity.

And here I thought the taboo was strong enough never to make the substance available as anything but a black (er white) market ware; I was wrong.

Merchants in Namibia held a closed door auction for nine tons of ivory (the product of roughly 10,000 dead elephants) yesterday morning. Six buyers from Japan and China purchased 7.2 of those tons.

The argument for that sale: Now that there are more than 312,000 elephants in Africa, the animal can no longer be considered extinct. Moreover, the ivory sold in Namibia purportedly comes from both elephants dying from natural causes and those selected from a group of government operations-owned animals (that doesn’t sound sinister at all). Lastly, those throwing the auction, one of a planned four “internationally authorized sales” presenting a net 108 metric tons (or 238,032 pounds), have promised those events will precede a nine year “resting period” in which no ivory will be procurable in Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. That period, the equivalent of letting the field lie fallow on the seventh year, would be observed in order to “safeguard stocks.”

Not to sound like a crazed PETAite or even a softie, but facing the idea that ivory may be bought legally makes me slightly ill.

Even if, as the merchants claim, the elephants died a natural death or were carefully gleaned from preserves, how can these merchants be themselves sure any number of the pachyderms were not poacher trophies? Like the one conflict diamond that gets cut and mixed into a more purely obtained batch and sullies the trade, that one poached elephant piled into the haul suddenly turns the whole ivory business rogue.

Why does having more elephants suddenly send the message that an ivory selling fest is what’s in order? And while I’m on a simile-making kick, I’ll compare that to procrastination. Finding yourself in the unique, wonderful and implausible position of having been given the gift of extra time to spend on a project when you least expected it, will you use it to finish the piece at a leisurely pace? Not likely. You’ll somehow end up squandering it in such a manner as to be in the dire straits you were caught in before. I don’t think witnessing a healthy growth in elephant numbers should imply that more of them ought to be killed. Why not enjoy their presence in peace, remembering that ivory’s mien may easily be mimicked by cream-colored plastic?

I guess you can say that it would be a waste not to use the ivory that’s been languishing in safes or faults or wherever these years since it became illegal (nine years ago and one year ago on eBay), and that extant ivory-wielding jewelry or figurines, chess sets or pianos should be sold regardless. But as much as that makes sense, and as an antique lover, I do understand the rationale, I can’t shake the feeling (and please don’t liken me to an anti-legalizing drugs finger waggler) that making all of it available will remind those who didn’t know about or miss it how “nice” or “pretty” it is, eventually increasing demand for this tusk-stealing material.

Banning anything’s a slippery slope. Most things we use, even for decorative purposes alone, involve some form of direct or indirect killing or oppression: silver/gold/precious stones (mining, often slave-like and definitely dangerous), wood (tree chopping, cheap and/or forced labor), bone (self-explanatory and much like ivory), plastic (cancer producing through factory emissions and deadly to those working in them), etc. Even were we to limit ourselves to the use of obsidian, we could conjure up collective memories of those slain by lava.

So there’s no easy solution.

But why risk endangering elephants again? And if it was, until so recently, illegal, why mess with a good thing?

Raising Tent Cities Reno has a new internal suburb of sorts—a tent city. The shutting down of the winter shelter, the hike in foreclosures, Hurricane Ike and the generally feeble economy have left a slew of people in both the area and country homeless. Tent-cities have been cropping up throughout the U.S., and Reno has been the site of one of the nation’s largest. More than 150 people in Nevada have flocked to the city, setting up tents in a dirt-filled area scheduled to become a parking lot and thus only a temporary “haven.”

California’s Unemployment Rate Soaring The effects of a sick economy have been felt nationwide. After Michigan and Rhode Island, California has the largest unemployment rate in the country (tying the rate seen in Mississippi). We’re at a whopping 7.7 percent (“up three-tenths of a percentage point from July’s adjusted level,” the Los Angeles Times has reported from figures determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Stalemate in Zimbabwe If it seemed too good to be true that Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangarai could come to a smooth, peaceful agreement regarding a balance of power, that’s because it was. A mere three days after their seemingly historic and very public collaboration, Mugabe put progress on hold by demanding he retain control over Zimbabwe’s security forces as well as most of the more potent ministries.

Dread and Hunger in Afghanistan A severe winter and thus unyielding harvest has found food supply woefully short for nine million Afghanis (more than a quarter of the country’s population), leaving many desperate and British charity Oxfam to admit that “time is running out to avert a humanitarian crisis.”

Obama Planning to Bite as well as Barack The brief September 11th-honoring truce Obama and McCain shared yeserday is over. This morning, The New York Times noted that Sen. Barack Obama is set to “intensify his assault against Sen. John McCain with new television advertisements and more forceful attacks.” Obama is to pull the stops out as a result of watching McCain-spurred lash-outs on the former’s persona and campaign promises that Obama felt were inaccurate and mis-representative.

Not Palin with Nerves Gov. Sarah Palin fielded questions in an interview she took with ABC last night. In it, The New York Times wrote, she emphasized the fact that she is “ready” to fill the VP (or, should the “need arise” the Presidential) spot. Though she misstepped several times throughout the interview, clinging to a set of memorized lines, for the most part, Palin stayed true to her belief that she is set and equipped to act as second-in-command.

Could Zimbabwe be Breaking out of its Power-Sharing Stalemate? Stricken country president Robert Mugabe and his opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai held a meeting Thursday in which Mugabe, who has held Zimbabwe in a choke-hold for almost 30 years, agreed to cede some of his power to Tsvangirai, The New York Times reported. According to the article, Tsvangirai is to become prime minister, keeping Mugabe in his present presidential position. The country is in economic- and human-rights-related shambles, so the country and world will, no doubt, be eagerly waiting to see if some balance will help catalyze Zimbabwe toward recovery.

Man’s best friend does it again. A dog’s motherly instincts saved an abandoned baby boy from death in Argentina. The dog heard the cries of the child and promptly called dibbs. What’s species got to do with it?

Can Moyo please pass the mojo? For the first time since 1980, Zimbabwe’s chief opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, holds a majority in Parliament. This historic twist was brought about by the election of Lovemore Moyo to the position of speaker of Parliament. (It’s all in the name, baby.)

The government of Pakistan has had it up to HERE with the Taliban. The Pakistani government banned the Islamic militant group today due to an upsurge in terrorist activity and the Taliban’s admitted responsibility for the recent suicide bombings that occurred in a military arms factory. These bombings resulted in 67 deaths.

India to residents: You’ve been very, very naughty. In response to protests planned for today, Indian officials declared a 24-hour curfew in Kashmir. Many residents of the Muslim-majority territory are opposed to India’s rule and wish to align with Pakistan instead—so India pretty much told everyone to go pout in their rooms until further notice.

Madge is back: While the Dems were getting in gear to gather ’round and speech it up in Denver, Madonna took the stage (in a top hat, no less) to kick off her own party in Wales this weekend. The singer’s Sweet and Sticky tour is now underway and doesn’t seem to disappoint — if crotch shots and wedgies are your thing.
Speaking of wedgies . . . thank you, Olivia Newton John, for inspiring this.

Bring on the crazy: As if there aren’t enough egos in the American Idol peanut gallery, songwriter Kara Dioguardi is taking a seat at the judging table. You know what this means: Paula will have to step up her crazy game in order to compete for attention. Pass the popcorn, people.

More than a week after Zimbabwe’s latest presidential elections, President Robert Mugabe’s administration has yet to release the results. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has appealed to the High Court, the president of neighboring democracy South Africa and the U.N. to pressure the president to make an announcement.

Word on the street seems to be that Mugabe had 43 percent of votes — not enough to win a majority — and that a runoff between the him and Tsvangirai, with 47 percent of votes, may be necessary. Meanwhile, the country sits on edge as fears of violence breaking out grows by the day. Riot police and water cannons appeared in Harare last weekend, reported the Washington Post.

Every bit of this week’s news reads as if it were recycled from reports of the legislative and presidential elections in 2000 and 2002.

Take this example of Mugabe’s enduring association of capitalism with colonialism.

“President Robert Mugabe launched a make-or-break election campaign Friday by describing a controversial new law allowing seizure of white-owned farmland without compensation as a ‘victory over colonialism.’” — Agence France-Presse, April 7, 2000.

“… President Robert Mugabe on Monday called on veterans of the nation’s fight for independence in the 1970s to ’safeguard’ the land seized from ‘the former colonizers,’ …” — New York Times, April 8, 2008.

The resemblance is downright uncanny, though few would be surprised. After all, Mugabe has been in power for nearly three decades, and he hasn’t really changed his spots.

In The Shackled Continent, Economist writer Robert Guest places the blame on what he calls “predatory, incompetent governments” as being responsible for Africa’s impoverished state. Though democratic polls are now commonplace on the continent, bad economic policies, corruption, and an atmosphere of terror has scared off native entrepreneurs and overseas investors alike. Most Africans — South Africans a notable exception of recent — cannot vote their leaders peacefully out of the office.

Guest used the term “vampire” states. Last week, supporters of the opposition MDC waved copies of South Africa’s Sunday Times, on which was bannered “Save Us From This Vampire!”

Back in 2000, Mugabe’s war veterans whipped and raped farm workers who did not seem enthusiastic about ZANU. Card-carrying members of the party stood near voters, metal bars in hand, as they stalked the voters queues in 2000. In 2007, dozens of Tsvangirai’s followers were beaten, and Mugabe has gone so far as to jail journalists from Western countries reporting on the elections. To wit:

“Political violence is rising in Zimbabwe despite growing international pressure on President Robert Mugabe to rein in militant supporters spearheading his re-election campaign, human rights groups said on Thursday.” — Reuters, Jan. 17, 2002.

“A top ruling party official, Didymus Mutasa, said party officials were planning to “purge” the electoral commission of alleged opposition supporters…” — The Washington Post, April 5, 2008.

In the end, Mugabe has proved that African elections aren’t truly free or fair. At age 84, he continues to rule his country like his revolutionary army, dictating prices and printing money to pay off the month’s debts — in perhaps the most ridiculous fact printed this week, the New York Times reported that Mugabe, having jailed Times journalist Barry Bearak, released him on bond of 300 million Zim dollars, or $10,000 at official exchange rates. The black market rate is a mere $7.

Africa has moved little beyond the sick land that Guest examined more than three years ago. South Africa and other nations continue to tacitly approve Mugabe’s actions by not doing much to disapprove. So what about the light at the end of the tunnel?

Guest espouses the notion of baby steps in the right direction. For Zimbabwe, hopefully, that translates to Mugabe’s finally releasing the results of the election.

On two different occasions my media law professor at USC Annenberg asked our class of aspiring journalists whether we would be willing to go to jail to protect a source. As prosecutors force more reporters to either hand over the names of anonymous sources or risk going to jail, the question takes on greater importance. The group of students, accustomed to modern comforts like fluffy pillows and bottled water, pondered whether they would voluntarily agree to jail time.

But here is a question often overlooked in class: What happens if a foreign, autocratic country arrests you for doing your job, throws you in jail and keeps changing the charges? What if you don’t have warm clothes or a blanket? What if you don’t trust the legal system?

That is what happened to Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times reporter Barry Bearak while covering the Zimbabwe elections last week. He has been in jail since Thursday. That is four days—and counting— “held in a cold cell with no shoes, warm clothes or blankets,” according to New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller.

Sitting in jail in the United States can be scary. The NYPD arrested me for being part of the Critical Mass bike ride during the weekend of the Republican National Convention in 2004. During my 28 hours in jail, I became so terrified, I thought my family would never find me. I can’t imagine what goes through your mind when you are sitting in jail in Zimbabwe.

Bearak was originally arrested on a charge of working as a journalist without accreditation. The charge then changed to falsely presenting himself as a journalist.

Now imagine Bearak was your husband, and you had to report on him. Bearak and his wife, Celia Dugger, are the Times’ bureau chief’s in Johannesburg. After Bearak’s arrest, Dugger wrote an article from South Africa about the progress in Zimbabwe’s election and at the end mentioned her husband: “The government has also cracked down on foreign journalists, who have been covering the election without accreditation. On Thursday, the police arrested Barry Bearak, a correspondent in the Johannesburg bureau of The New York Times, on charges related to covering the election without official permission from the government. He was still being held in a Harare jail on Saturday.”

I know I would go to jail to protect a source. That feels to me like part of the job description. If I didn’t, I could never promise confidentiality. And if reporters can’t promise confidentiality, they will miss the opportunity and obligation to hold others accountable and be a check on power. For the sake of my profession, I have to be willing to sacrifice a few months in jail.

But what about in Zimbabwe? I have never been there. I have never spent time in their jails. Maybe they are very nice. But I doubt it. Reporters Without Borders said in its 2007 report that Zimbabwe “is one of most vicious on the continent in its treatment of journalists. Surveillance, threats, imprisonment, censorship blackmail, abuse of power and denial of justice are all brought to bear to keep firm control over the news.”

Unfortunately, I think the lesson about Bearak is that he too had no choice. In order to do his job – to report on the election in Zimbabwe – he had to be in Harare, and he had to write a fair and accurate story. And now, he has to wait in a cold cell and hope the government releases him.

As for the aspiring journalists, we have to be willing to do the same. If we don’t go to places like Zimbabwe, Sudan or Cuba and accurately report on government suppression, we are not doing our job. That said, it is pretty damn scary. And we should all be doing what we can to pressure the Zimbabwean government to release Bearak. It could be us.