Tony King, a professor at the University of the West of England, uses this Guardian article on the currency crisis as a springboard to what strikes me as some reasonable commentary at H-SAfrica:
. . . The government is running out of paper for banknotes, and is facing the prospect of losing the software licence as the German firm that supplies both is withdrawing from Zimbabwe, which means the army and police will go unpaid – and may well be contributing to Zanu-PF's willingness to negotiate. This kind of thing doesn't readily make the headlines, but it's an example of how sanctions *can* work, an antidote perhaps to the received wisdom in some circles that sanctions are ineffective.
The question should never simply be “Do sanctions work?” But rather the questions we should ask are more complicated: What sort of sanctions? Enacted how? To what ends? Proponents of sanctions can rightfully point to those levied against Apartheid South Africa in the 1980s. Opponents can equally rightly look to the American policies against Cuba as an example of ineffective sanctions. Circumstances and conditions matter much more than blanket arguments for or against sanctions absent context.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
