Morgan Tsvangirai is walking a delicate balance for very high stakes in Zimbabwe. While trying, ultimately, to unseat President Robert Mugabe (and let there be no mistake that this has been his goal all along, with the negotiations for power sharing merely a stopping point and not an acceptable final resolution) he also has to make sure that he does nothing to cause Mugabe to revert to form, withdraw from talks, and foment a return to the political carnage over which Mugabe has for so long presided.
An example of just how delicate Tsvangirai's situation is becomes apparent in his comments today. While making clear that he wants Mugabe to make an “honourable exit,” he also asserted in words that could have come from the mouth of Nelson Mandela or Desmond Tutu during the CODESA negotiations or Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) hearings that Mugabe is “”just as human as every one of us.” Admittedly, Tsvangirai was perhaps less Tutuesque when he qualified his praise by also maintaining “although of course I think he is ignorant, or chooses to be in denial, as far as the violence is concerned.”
As is Thabo Mbeki's wont, the South African President is still optimistic about the end result of the ongoing Zimbabwean negotiations. Mbeki is a member of a small minority on this front.
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 […]
