Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma are bound to be inextricably linked for the foreseeable future — through the resolution of Zuma's corruption trial or the 2009 election at least — and yet increasingly they seem to represent opposite sides of the same coin. Or to be more precise, they seem to absorb the characteristics of their beholders, who project upon them images that reflect less who the two power brokers are but rather what people want them to be. At times this leaves little room for ambivalence or for reasoned analysis about how one feels about the candidates, but this nonetheless seems to be the plight of today's ANC, which, if not as hopelessly fractured as some believe, is nonetheless characterized by some fairly important internal divisions.
Despite their vaunted status within the country neither Zuma nor Mbeki are in the most comfortable positions. Zuma has, in the words of the Mail & Guardian, engaged in a recent, and not especially successful, “charm offensive without charm,” and, oh yeah, he is looking at a fairly serious criminal conviction. Mbeki, meanwhile, is in what seems to have become his default position as a beleaguered lame duck head of state criticized on all sides. (When some of your most vocal support comes from Robert Mugabe's Ambassador to South Africa, who recently chided MDC leaders for criticizing Mbeki as not being an honest broker in the Zim situation, things are not good better to be damned outright than to be praised by Mugabe's mouthpieces.) It is at times like these that the private sector must look awfully appealing to both men.
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 […]
