The calls for Robert Mugabe's ouster are increasing in both frequency and intensity. The European Union, the Western media (for example The Washington Post), and Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga have all recently made it clear that it is time for Mugabe to go, preferably voluntarily, but increasingly there are calls for the use of force if necessary.
The flip side to the calls for Mugabe's removal is that they allow Mugabe to reprise his favorite role as the victim of Western imperialism and outside influence. And so ZANU-PF has declared that Great Britain (which is Mugabe shorthand for all of his outside enemies) is plotting using military force in Zimbabwe. Of course the flip side to Mugabe's warnings, intended to inspire patriotic defenses of the country's sovereignty, is that with all that has transpired in recent months, Zimbabweans might just welcome any military intervention, even from the former colonial power with whom Zimbabweans have a rightfully fraught relationship.
