Insomnia + Google Reader = Decreased Life Expectancy

Who has the most tedious-yet-incredibly-important job in the world right now? Everyone involved in the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s presidential election verification process, that’s who. Working with representatives from all involved parties, the ZEC began the painstaking process of comparing disputed election results. “‘Where we don't agree, we will pull out every relevant document to ensure we have the same figures,’ ZEC chairman George Chiweshe said beforehand. ‘At some stage, we have to agree.’" If only that were true. Though none of the participants commented on Thursday’s meeting, a BBC correspondent is “almost certain” that a dispute is already underway.

Have fun with that.

Meanwhile, reports of state-sponsored violence and pillaging keep coming in. The MDC claims 20 of its supporters were killed by ZANU-PF militants, and a ZANU-PF MP reportedly led a group of 200 party loyals in an attack on a farm that displaced 60 families.

The U.S. Senate passed a resolution sponsored by Senator Kerry which, after a long list of “whereases,” calls on Zimbabwe to immediately release the election results, condemns the post-election violence, and recommends U.S. and international sanctions against Zimbabwe. Now, this could either be the beginning of official U.S. action against Zimbabwe, or it could be a bunch of senators try to appear like they’re thinking of doing something to uphold human rights and democracy. Thoughts?

I love this article from The Guardian—and will let it speak for itself.

In other news: The U.S. and Belarus engage in a game of tit-for-tat.