Michael Gerson
11/25/2009
Robert Mugabe has made the people of Zimbabwe destitute and dependent. Magodonga Mahlangu and Jennifer Williams, leaders of Women of Zimbabwe Arise and recent recipients of the John F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, have lead and engaged in non-violent protests against social injustice. Protesters are organized via word of mouth so that their communications can not be traced, and they are prepared for the arrests and beatings that result from their activism. Tens of thousands of women are committed to holding the government accountable and rising above the “stink” surrounding them (sometimes quite literally, as sewage systems fail and the government does nothing). With such fearlessness among Zimbabwean women, notes Gerson, it is Mugabe who should fear.
Gerson writes about politics, global health and development, religion, and foreign policy.
Link to full text in primary source.
Opinion summaries provided by Opinion Source, an organization with which Safe Democracy is associated
The disproportionately heavy dependence on coal in China is unique among major economies and has made China the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. With coal reserves estimated to last only 50 years and in an attempt to combat environmental and ecological damage, recent years have seen increasing emphasis placed on developing indigenous renewable energy sources. China is reportedly now the world’s leading renewable energy producer. On energy security and environmental grounds, maintaining the momentum of rapid renewable energy production growth will continue to be a high strategic development priority. China’s resource endowment, its proven technological capability, and the commercial opportunities afforded by further expansion seem guaranteed to assure the fulfillment of this priority goal.
Regarding the United States’ international relations and their importance in the Afghan war, the author says it is a mistake for America to align itself too closely with Pakistan. Zakaria notes that, unlike Pakistan’s objectives, India’s (notably the desire to defeat the Taliban) are compatible with the those of the United States. Critics of a closer relationship between the Obama administration and India say that India is too close to China, a country to which Obama has been accused of “kowtowing”. Yet India’s influence in Pakistan is significant, and in a region teeming with failed states, India is notable for its stable democracy and expanding economy. The United States should look to a relationship with India as the true “prize” in its relations with Asia.
President Obama will likely decide on a combination of proposed strategies in Afghanistan, says Dionne. The president can change nothing about the difficulty of the situation, and the fiscal burden of continuing the war is undeniable. Should he enact a surtax to pay for the war effort, Obama will alienate some of his allies who disagree with the war, as well as his potential for a working relationship with those who support the war but oppose higher taxes. The situation in Afghanistan does not present many opportunities for centrist strategies, but that is the sort of thinking that Obama promised Americans last year, and he would do well to exercise it regarding Afghanistan.
A dictatorship that fosters the production and distribution of cocaine is not apt to enjoy a positive international image. But when that same government cloaks itself in the language of social justice and emphasizes the enfranchisement of indigenous people, it wins world-wide acclaim. This is the case in Bolivia, where O’Grady says elections scheduled for December 6 will mark the official end of its democracy. While the US and the OAS obsess over Honduras’s legal removal of an undemocratic president, Bolivia’s President Morales has fortified his narco-dictatorship. O’Grady traces Morales’ rise and performance in office, stating that South America’s latest dictator is not the ideological communist that many fear. Akin to a mob boss, he rose to power by protecting the coca business and is now set to oversee the end of Bolivian democracy.
Europeans need to learn that Barack Obama will continue to listen to those from the Old Continent who have something useful to say. He will not, on the other hand, have much time for others who are just there to glad-hand the president or who show no understanding of how he is trying to reposition the US in the world. The authors say that Europeans need to overcome a number of illusions that dominate the transatlantic relationship, including the misperception that they must continue to turn to America when fearful for Europe’s protection. The authors say the cold war ended 20 years ago and the US government finds the constant attention of European governments to be tiresome.
Ramallah, a Palestinian settlement on the West Bank, is making great progress toward functionality and prosperity. But the peace process has imploded and opportunities have been missed as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and President Obama have failed to reach effective terms in their negotiations. The author suggests following the example of Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, who is largely responsible for the current successful state of Ramallah. Fayyad has drawn up a detailed, two-year plan for its transition into statehood, with the ultimate goal being for Palestinians to have “strong, competent institutions”. The author believes that Fayyad’s plan is the only hope for the region and that the United States should strongly support it.
Three decades after Iranian college students overran and occupied the American Embassy in Tehran, Bowden considers how we continue to deal with that country’s revolution. America’s reductionistic way of remembering the “hostage crisis” ignores its larger significance in Iran and impedes our understanding of the political drama unfolding there today. The movement to oust the Shah was primarily a nationalist one. Many of those in the streets in 1978 and 1979 desired the establishment of a theocracy in order to cast off authoritarianism and found a democracy. Bowden explains how the Islamists schemed to take power. However, 30 years after seizing control, the mullahs of Qom find themselves in a difficult spot. Younger Iranians want real democracy and the revolutionary rhetoric of change is no longer anti-American and Islamist.
Friends of both countries are hesitant to point out these failures for reasons best understood by them alone. Corruption exists in large parts of the world and its existence in Pakistan and Afghanistan is not a unique phenomenon. It is only that the Global War on Terror has produced increasing complexity and urgency in the matter. Undoubtedly, corruption is a major problem in the Pakistan and Afghanistan.
