Robert Mugabe has been threatening Civil War if he loses the looming Zimbabwe run-off election. What he means is that he is just itching for an excuse to kill everyone who doesn’t like him. That’s probably almost everyone in that country, but those who vote against him are in the greatest danger. Mugabe was once a freedom fighter and now his own people have to fight for their freedom against his tyranny.

This brings to mind something the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said: “Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster and if you gaze into the abyss the abyss gazes into you.” Mugabe may once have battled monsters but is now himself transformed into a monster and Zimbabwe has under his tyranny long since fallen into the abyss.