sad but probably true (although things are slowly improving on the technology front - it is possible to get 512kb "broadband" for a large amount of money)

at least it's an alternative source of information to News Corp controlled stories and non news.

the vast majority of people in Zimbabwe are unlikely to receive any of this information in any unbiased format - the argument of Wikileaks being used to educate voters in zimbabwe is flawed because very few people have any access to information at all.

Since the coalition government was formed Mugabe has done hundreds of things to sabotage it, this is not the most extreme, or the most damaging thing that has happened. It is topical enough to make the news only because wikileaks is a bigger story than Zimbabwean democracy world wide (sadly). The reason I listed those things was to try and give the situation a small amount of context other than the context of "wikileaks is causing collateral damage" which I think is an over reaction.

He is Prime Minister but is consistently over ruled, ignored and side lined by Mugabe. The country is controlled by Mugabe not because he is President but because he has control of the Army and the Police force...not exactly democratic.

Name a decent western power.

The sanctions in question were "smart sanctions" against selected ZANU (PF) members, and were effectively causing more harm than good in that they gave Mugabe an excuse to blame the economic difficulties of the country on them. Free and fair elections are what everybody wants, but regardless of this leak, violence and intimidation is the recipe for elections in Zimbabwe.

It's easy to simplify things when all you have to do is talk about them. Mugabe lost the last election, even though he rigged it immensely, it wasn't enough to win, but it was enough to prevent Tsvangirai from having the majority of the vote (he still had less than 50% which is required to become president). A run off was organised, which resulted in so much violence that Tsvangirai eventually pulled out before it happened. After months and months of debate, fighting, coercing and pussy-footing, we ended up with the current "coalition government". Since the coalition was formed, Mugabe has done about 1000 different things to sabotage it as much as he possibly can (largely unreported on in western media). This particular incident involves Wikileaks and bam, we have a headline. I'm not sure Tsvangirai is exactly "awesome" he has shown himself to be corrupt and disorganised. There is a real crisis of leadership in the country which I don't think we'll see a solution to in my life time.

I grew up in Zimbabwe (my family still live there) and there are probably a few things that are worth pointing out about this:

• This is not the first time Mugabe has had Tsvangirai charged with treason
• The sanctions placed on Zimbabwe are "smart sanctions" against specific members of ZANU (PF) (Mugabe's party) and their personal interests
• The state media in Zimbabwe consistently blame the country's economic hardships on the sanctions, which is clearly preposterous - but fools a lot of people who have no access to alternative media
• There is likely to be an election in the next 6 months, and this is mostly a ploy to sabotage it
• If it wasn't for Wikileaks, something else equally infuriating would undoubtedly have happened anyway (i.e. political turmoil in Zimbabwe is hardly collateral damage of cable gate)

I think Wikileaks is great. I am sure Zimbabwe would be a different place if the majority of people had access to unbiased information - the vast majority of people only have access to state media check out http://www.herald.co.zw/ and http://www.chronicle.co.zw/ for a taste of what that's like!

PHP is a great language to teach people programming on because it's simple, and practical, I think your aim should be to teach them something that they can use rather than to get them to win any contest. After a few PHP lessons, and a dollar or two for a cheap hosting solution, they can have something cool to show for it.

I recently forgot my verified by visa password - the only security question it asked me that wasn't printed on the card was my date of birth - it's not the first time I've had to reset my password, and each time the question is the same. That means if somebody has my card, all they need to know is my date of birth, and they can reset my 3DS password easily.

The biggest advantage skype has is the number of people who use it. Even my granny uses it - and if you mentioned SIP, file sharing or teleconferencing, you wouldn't get much of a response.