Why doesn't Robert Mugabe just end it and let Zimbabwe go?

Simple answer? He can't now.

The BBC's foreign affairs analyst Allan Little gives some important data points here.

Mike also noted 'The effect of control is to propagate suffering.'

The people that have helped Robert Mugabe's 'Liberation' and massed huge fortunes over war and theft are now stuck with the inertia of their crimes. They can't let Mr Mugabe 'retire with dignity' as they will be held to account for their plundering. The only protection they have is to stay in power, and they do that by keeping the people full of fear.

That is why it all keeps escalating: the leadership has to be more brutal to keep the fear greater than the people can risk confronting. Each turn requires more force, more control. Mugabe is now caught up in the machine he has created. Even if he wakes up tomorrow and decides it's time to change, and let go, he can't without his own partners tearing him limb from limb.

He took control for the sake of 'liberation from colonial powers', but in the end now he has used control for his own good which has propagated suffering out to a whole country. Now it's coming back on him.

What *can* he do then? The choice he has, is the same choice we all make every day. He can choose more control (more killing, more fear), or choose to trust (some level of self awareness to let go of control and entitlement). Huge consequences either way, but the effects are of his own making.

The real question: Is Mr. Mugabe out of things left to control and manipulate?