The Zimbabwe crisis continues apace. At this point it is not worth the time to determine whether the political crisis or the economic calamity is worse, as the two simply feed from one another. Robert Mugabe plans to live forever and rule Zimbabwe for the duration, but in case he proves to be mortal, he wants to handpick his successor, a decision to which some within the opposition seem perplexingly willing to acquiesce even as members of opposition groups assert that Zimbabwe's crisis is the world's worse — a bold but not absurd assertion. And in order to step down, he wants a few assurances for his protection even as he appears to be consolidating power for a long stay in Zimbabwe. Mixed signals are, after all, a hallmark of Big Man rule. (And behind it all stands Mugabe's security forces.)
There has been progress on the political front in terms of agreement on joint presidential and parliamentary elections, but it is frankly impossible to believe that Zimbabwe's nightmare is going to find its palliative in the form of structural changes within the context of the status quo. Cliches about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic come to mind.
There appears to be no such news of progress, dubious or not, on the economic front. Inflation continues to skyrocket at such a rate that we have no real idea within 10,000% what the rate actually stands at currently. The government is seriously threatening to take over businesses that defy controversial price controls.
The International Crisis Group has issued a report on Zimbabwe in which it asserts that Zim is moving ever closer to collapse, calls for a regional solution to the problems, and expresses its concern that most of the international approaches considered or suggested have done and are likely to do more harm than good. And yet despite ICG's faith in SADC there are not a lot of signs that SADC wants to take on the task alone. It seems likely that this story will continue to be with us for a long time to come.
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 […]
