Alas, all farces must come to an end....

The crucible of crazy that is the EPRDF is wading in so much shitamagoo that you have to wonder… does Jesus love stupid, maniacal sociopaths?

Doubt it.

Soooo, the farce of a “trial” is finally over; someone must have thrown raw meat laced with downers into Ato Meles’ cage because, bara-bing! the prisoners have been released. And it only took the EPRDF three years to realize what a colossal jackass it has made of itself.

The dementia of this trial is unparalleled by any, you must understand. Proceedings were routinely postponed because… heck, just because; judges were routinely absent; and promised “tones and tones” of evidence proving, um, genocide, was reduced to a government witness misidentifying one defendant.

Fun was had by all.

Thing is, Ato Meles has long lost all credibility with the Ethiopian people who have been living with his flowering psychosis for a decade and a half. What was amazing to witness, however, was how much humiliation his benefactors at the State Department and at 10Downing were willing to live through for their trainwreck of an ally. Remember the State Department’s appeal for a “fair and speedy” (har, har) trial? (On par with Donald Levine’s affirmation that at least they were not being boiled alive?)

The biggest loser of this trial/verdict/pardon/saving face drama is not Ato Meles. It is his enablers in the west who stood by as innocent men and women were dragged through this farce. Now they are beating their chests in victory: we mediated a release! Look, mommy. Look what I did on my summer vacation.

Ah, STFU!

If Ato Meles did not routinely hemorrhage common sense, he would have understood just how much he has legitimized the CUD as a true “party of the people.” The jailed leaders, journalists and human rights activists could not have a more solid democratic accreditation than being tried in an EPRDF court.

In one of his inane speeches to his emasculated parliament Ato Meles noted how the west’s mediation effort to have the prisoners released was “shameful.” For once, for once, I agree. It was excruciating to witness how the west pretends Ato Meles is a statesman who can be dealt with on the up and up. No matter how many times he breaks his word, wriggles and bloodies himself out of negotiated deals, the Bush administration and the EU keep lowering the bar for a man with the intellectual aptitude and disposition of a schoolyard bully.

As for Ato Meles, he has proved himself, yet again, to be an extraordinarily ordinary… thug.

Welcome home, all who were released. You have done your part. We will do ours.