The negotiations in Kenya appear to have reached stalemate, and possibly collapse. One can only hope that the solution still lies in talks and not in a resumption of violence in the streets. But in all likelihood the masses are not going to raise arms over an issue as relatively esoteric (from the vantage point […]
Who benefits from the delays plaguing Zimbabwe's election? The smart money is that Robert Mugabe benefits by being able to consolidate his hold on power and marshal his resources. But what if the time allows certain facts to become clear and gives those Mugabe loyalists who are beginning to stray the impetus to do so? […]
Prime Minister Helen Clark of New Zealand, left, and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China after the signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (China Daily/Reuters) China and New Zealand have signed a free trade agreement, effective October 1st, marking the first concluded agreement China has signed with a developed country. Talks […]
Stop me if this sounds familiar: Recently prominent South African political leaders met away from the country's major metropolitan areas in order to determine future leadership. The divisions were stark and clear and the leadership campaign tightly contested between two men, both of whom have their supporters and their detractors. Welcome not to Polokwane 2007, […]
"Freedom for Uighurs. Freedom for Tibet. We must fight together." Can Asgar, a leader of the Uighur diaspora in Munich In the midst of widespread protests following the Olympic Torch in London and Paris, two other anti-Chinese government demonstrations by Uighurs in China's Xinjiang Province and in Istanbul, Turkey have recently occurred. The first and […]
Anarchy would seem to be the enemy of autocracy. After all, anarchy implies a lack of control where autocracy embodies control. Nonetheless, the most skilled tyrants know that there are times when unleashing the forces of chaos is a marvelous tool in their arsenal. Anarchy allows for police crackdowns, it allows for score settling, it […]
For all of the talk about China and its potentially deleterious impact on Africa, there is another potential player in African affairs from the east. India may well provide a useful foil to China, and perhaps even will present a somewhat less predatory visage. Having a diversity of options can only help African leaders to […]
Happy Friday! 4 Quick Items about subjects we have touched on recently: 1. Joshua Foust at Registan.net brings greater depth to this blog's analysis of Central Asia's water problems which appeared yesterday. Along with discussing Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan's recent water troubles, Foust reports on a recent raid by Tajikistan citizens into Kyrgyzstan in order to […]
Tempered optimism may have dominated the news cycle with regard to Zimbabwe for a couple of days, as supporters of the opposition have basked in the prospects of something even “sweeter than a miracle.” But might grim reality be setting in? Never mind that even if all goes well and the opposition emerges fully victorious […]
The Journal of Turkish Weekly recently wrote an interesting piece concerning Central Asia's growing water issues, which I briefly touched on about a week ago when I reported on EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana's speech concerning climate change. The Journal's outlook focus's on Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan's "uneasy' water and energy relationship, mainly pertaining to […]
[Crossposted from a much longer post on the Zimbabwe situation at the FPA Africa Blog.] While South Africa maintains its wary silence on the elections, the ANC has issued a predictable and unexceptional statement asking Zimbabweans of all parties to respect the results, however they turn out. One hopes this boilerplate does not ask Zimbabweans to respect […]
So, what do we know today about the crisis in Zim? Well, rumors swirl more freely than facts, and so what we actually know, as opposed to what we can project, is relatively limited. We know that we all are still waiting for something resembling real election results, that barring shenenigans on Mugabe's part, he […]
Lest we forget, in the one-crisis-at-a-time media mindset that tends to prevail, especially in the West (and I know I’ve been pretty myopic lately, but I’m one man, not an entire newspaper!) Kenya is not out of the woods yet. The major players are squabbling anew, this time over the composition and size of the country's […]
South Africa's premiere political cartoonist, Zapiro (who received an honorary doctorate recently at Rhodes University, one of my old stomping grounds) has been on the Mugabe beat in recent days. Here are some samples: From 2 April: From 1 April: From 28 March: And a classic, from March 2005, republished 27 March, 2008:
Across Africa, and indeed the world, all eyes are on Zimbabwe. That includes mine, as I’ve been writing extensively about the election at the FPA's Africa Blog. If it is possible to be both optimistic and cynical, that probably sums up the tone of my coverage.