Much like the servant Grusha in the famous allegory The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Morgan Tsvangirai, Robert Mugabe's main opponent in Zimbabwe's presidential race, has dropped out of the runoff election rather than tear his beloved nation apart.

In the weeks after his slim March 29 loss to Tsvanigirai, Mugabe sanctioned mobs that stormed the nation's countryside, driving farmers from their lands and slaughtering anyone who dared stand in their way. Though the consequences of the violence proved dire – Zimbabwe's inflation is the highest in the world and food shortages leave citizens starving – it nonetheless achieved its desired effect: many opposition voters were swayed into "supporting" Mugabe. Yesterday, Tsvangirai said he won't participate in an election so obviously tainted with blood.

Mugabe continues to assert that "colonial powers" are to blame for the violence.