Bashing Mugabe, with a pinch of salt!

Imagine that you had to find something good to say about Robert Mugabe, the ZANU-PF leader, with the proviso that it could not be something from his past, thus eliminating his purported leadership of the liberation struggle which (by the way) he only assumed right at the end of the struggle in the late 1970s. You would not be able to talk about how he managed to lull the world into a false sense of optimism about the future of Zimbabwe by preaching reconciliation at independence- clearly designed with one purpose in mind -to consolidate his shaky hold on the reins of power.
If you could not talk about his exaggerated influence in the anti-apartheid struggle (Zimbabwe did not make the economic sacrifices that Mozambique for instance, suffered by shutting Rhodesian access to the ports of Beira and Maputo during our own war of independence). On the contrary, trade between Zimbabwe and apartheid South African actually grew, even as Mugabe made a lot of noise about the need for sanctions. In more recent years, if Mugabe had retained a small portion of the pragmatism that he showed in his handling of the apartheid regime , Zimbabwe might have been spared much of its current pains.
What good is there to be said on behalf of this fellow? I can only think of one but it may not be recognized for generations hence. Mugabe is a good student of history. He understands that those who shy away from exercising their power will be ignored by history (Barack Obama take note). Like it or not, history is made by those who understand that fortune tends to favor the brave, which explains why all my readers are probably reasonably fluent in a foreign language -English.
Mugabe obviously knows that in the ever turning mill of history, brute force is often rewarded. It does not matter in the end how the west was one. Does anyone truly regret that some of the world's supposedly great countries (the United States, Mexico, Australia, South Africa) were founded on the genocidal rape, murder and decimation of native tribes in proportions that would shock modern consciences?
Recently, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd allegedly called on those asking Australia to be more accommodating towards the sensitivities of its new immigrants to leave if they did not like that country as it was. Clearly, Rudd has conveniently forgotten that his is a country founded by means of a murderous assault on the indigenous populations, some of who were kept in captivity as circus exhibits barely a hundred years ago. Who cares?
Fast forward a hundred years. Who is to say that another generation of Zimbabweans might not have a different take on the events of our own hapless one? It's worth repeating here: one day Mugabe may indeed be seen to have been the true genius that he has always wanted to be.