Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and his country’s largely powerless prime Minister, has appealed to South African President Jacob Zuma in hopes that South Africa will finally intervene to prevent Robert Mugabe from stepping up violence and other dirty tricks prior to Zim’s upcoming but as-yet unscheduled elections. Most importantly, Tsvangirai wants to make sure that Mugabe will not have him arrested, as has happened on a number of occasions in the past. Tsvangirai believes that his arrest will lead to the already fraught Unity Government falling apart and eliminating any hope of peaceful change through the political process.
It has long been assumed by most observers that Jacob Zuma has far less patience for Robert Mugabe than did Thabo Mbeki even though it was always unclear precisely what steps Mbeki could have taken. It is almost as unclear what power Zuma has with regard to Mugabe, but the one shortcoming of both Mbeki and Zuma has been an inability to move the needle with regard to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a body that has consistently punted when it came to dealing with Zimbabwe’s crises.
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 […]
