Whatever Happens In Zimbabwe Stays In Zimbabwe ( A Romantic Coup d’tat)

Zimbabwe has been a very interesting country right from the time I started comprehending issues on the international scene, especially on African affairs. This week, the world watched with bated breath as tanks rolled into the capital, Harare in a show of force by the Zimbabwean Defence Forces to purge criminal elements (alleged) around the President, Robert Gabriel Mugabe.  The military command claimed these criminal elements were the ones who were ill advising the president to take certain decisions that seemed to be detrimental to the fundamentals of the Zimbabwean revolution and the survival of the country. Indirectly, they were saying that the soul of the nation has been kept in limbo for a long time.

These all started when the Vice President, Emmerson Mnangagwa sacked by the President allegedly based on the advice of Grace Mugabe, the wife of the president. Several reasons were given as to why the veep was given the sack. One of the most absurd reasons was that it was to pave way for the President’s wife, Grace Mugabe to become vice president and later succeed his husband. Now it seems the old man is not willing to budge and hand over power to an interim president. The military is also running out of time and the opposition is now mounting pressure on the President to resign. The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai who was being treated for cancer in Britain quickly rushed back to Harare to mount pressure on the incumbent to resign and hand over power peacefully. Meanwhile, there were conflicting reports of the whereabouts of Grace Mugabe, with some reports suggesting that she fled to South Africa, other reports said she was in Namibia and others saying that she was holed up at her residence in Harare being protected by her loyal supporters in the ZANU-PF party. The main actors in this political crisis are Grace Mugabe, Emmerson “The Crocodile” Mnangawa, General Constantino Chiwenga of the Zimbabwean Defence Forces and Reverend Father Fidelis Mukonori ( A Zimbabwean Catholic Priest who is said to be a long time friend of Robert Mugabe and he is leading the mediation efforts for a peaceful transition of power.)

Meanwhile the military have been holding talks with President Robert Mugabe at his residence. The initial reports suggested he was under house arrest, but the pictures showed otherwise as they were rather engaged in frank and cordial discussions. The embattled president even had the opportunity to attend a graduation ceremony at one of the universities in the capital, Harare. Is this a house arrest? Not to mention the western media that has sharpened their teeth waiting to devour Mugabe once he has been kicked out of power. At this moment, we don’t need any pretentious statement from the toothless African Union (AU), the ever hypocritical United Nations and the South African Development Commission (SADC). I believe his enemies, especially the west are surprised as to why the country has not degenerated into chaos and civil strife, and they are confused why the military is refusing to call the situation a coup. Zimbabweans themselves will solve their problems and no life will be lost. Robert Mugabe will not go into exile but live out his days in Zimbabwe. Now to avoid a constitutional crisis in the country, Mugabe will have no option than to reappoint his vice president and hand over power to him. Since the army does not want the Speaker of the parliament to act as president. Robert Mugabe has so far refused to resign his position until the ZANU-PF hold their congress to impeach him or officially sack him as the party leader.  I will call this situation a “Romantic Coup”. Whatever happens in Zimbabwe will definitely stay in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe will remain peaceful and normal activities will go on. Long live Zimbabwe, long live Africa.

President Donald J. Trump: Making America Great Again?

Every American president tries his very best to leave a legacy before exiting the White House. This legacy could be either positive or negative depending on where you stand. Most former American presidents left legacies of helping to destabilize one country or the other. Examples of such countries are Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Iraq and currently Syria. When they are campaigning to be elected as president of the U.S.A., they always spell out their policies especially their foreign policy. This makes the whole world know the kind of administration they will have to deal with after the elections and one of them eventually emerges as the winner.

President Donald Trump is no exception to the above, in fact he made the whole world know that his administration’s foreign policy will be guided by the mantra “I will make America great again”. This he said he will do by not meddling in the affairs of other countries militarily. That is, he will allow countries to solve their own problems and will not help any of the factions. He said he will also make sure more jobs were created in America for American citizens to benefit. Thus, making sure that American companies who have factories in China and other countries will relocate back to America and provide jobs for the American people. These and other numerous measures President Donald Trump promised to undertake during the campaign period so as to make America great again.

But what have we seen since he assumed the reins of power? Is he on the path of making America great again or making more enemies for America? Is he also on the path of creating more tension in the Middle East and also on the Korean Peninsula? He launched a barrage of cruise missiles against the Syrian government for an alleged sarin gas attack in the Idlib province which killed many children. Will that make America great again? He also sent attack navy ships together with an aircraft carrier to be stationed in the Korean Peninsula, just to warn or deter North Korea from undertaking any new missile tests. This was a show of force and might, and he vowed to deal with the North Korean problem once and for all. And he promised to take military action against North Korea should they do anything to threaten South Korea or any of their allies in the region. North Korea responded that they were prepared for war and they will not hesitate to strike back decisively should the U.S. provoke them. Will this make America great again? Or is Trump trying to diffuse the pressure mounting on his administration as investigations are being conducted on his alleged ties with the Russians and they meddling in the U.S. elections of 2016, thus helping him defeat Hillary Clinton?  Has he also drained the swamp as he promised? Or are the neocons and the warmongers feeding him with wrong intelligence contrary to his foreign policy? Will America be great again under President Donald Trump? Is he really on the path of making America great again?

The Syrian Conundrum

Syria was a very peaceful country with a lively population a decade ago. Damascus, the capital city used to be one of the oldest cities in the world. In fact Syria had one of the World Heritage Sites at Palmyra with well preserved historical artifacts. All of a sudden this peaceful and lively country was thrown into a never ending confusion with some citizens calling for the stepping down of the President, Bashir Al-Assad. These protests started six years ago which later turned into a full blown civil war which has been raging on ever since. More than half a million people have lost their lives in this never ending conflict. At first all seemed to be going well for the so called moderate rebels who were being sponsored by their western friends through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman with military hardware and money. Since Russia saw it as very strategic to support Assad due to her interests, the Syrian government started gaining the upper hand with the help of the Russian military and air support.

The Assad regime had to deal with rebel factions and ISIS on several fronts and this stretched his army thin, so Russian support was so welcoming and this helped the Syrian government to push the so called moderate rebels out of their controlled territory. Russia also joined the fight against ISIS in Syria and used her military base at Latakia in Syria as a launch pad for airstrikes against the terrorist organization. In 2013 the Syrian government was accused of allegedly using chemical weapons on its citizens, but Assad’s regime denied this accusation. Russia and the US then called for a destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons. These two powers had representatives on the ground to supervise and ensure that Syria’s chemical weapons were destroyed.

Fast forward to April, 2017, the Syrian government is suspected to have launched a chemical attack in Khan Shekoun in the Idlib Province killing many children. The Syrian government comes out to deny this accusation and they accept the fact that they launched an airstrike against a rebel warehouse with no knowledge of chemical weapons in it. The western biased media decide to blame the Assad government for the deaths. In the early hours of 7^th April, 2017, the US launches a barrage of cruise missiles, more than 50 missiles against a Syrian airbase near Homs. Before they did that they contacted the Russians to make sure no Russian was caught in the strike. Several questions need to be answered.

Why will Assad gas his own people? Knowing very well that the international community will never forgive him for such an act, why will he do that? Is it true that the sarin gas that was the cause of the deaths of these innocent children was shipped from Libya to the Syrian rebels with the tacit approval of a former US Secretary of State? Why will the UN Security Council allow the US to take a unilateral decision to launch strikes on Syria? Is it not a breach of international law? Why was the US and her allies quick to blame Assad for the gas attack hours after it happened? Why didn’t they allow independent investigators to do their work?

The world must tread cautiously in relation to the Syrian civil war, because the exit of Assad will burn the Middle East. Isis and the various factions in the Syrian conflict will resort to fighting each other once Assad is kicked out and another Iraq and Libya will rear its ugly head in the region. The Syrian people should be allowed to choose their own leaders. There should be no meddling from any other foreign power. Syria needs peace and a political solution should be found as soon as possible to end the suffering of the Syrian people.

Whatever Happens In Ukraine...

Once again the world is seriously on tenterhooks as to what is happening in the Ukraine, Crimea to be precise. One side is talking about the illegality of what the other has done and the other side is also saying that they have the right to protect their interests if they feel threatened. First of all, how was the former Ukrainian President, Victor Yanukovych kicked out of office? Who engineered the whole crisis and currently who are the ones benefiting from the mess created?

 I presume the beneficiaries would be licking their lips by now as they have gotten what they wanted. But the former president agreed to most f the demands of the protesters and it suddenly took a dramatic twist as he had to flee for his life.  The Ukrainian  crisis seems to be a test case for the balance of  global power as some world powers such as the USA and her European Allies behave with impunity any time they feel their interests are threatened. They lied to the whole world about WMDs in Iraq , invasion of Afghanistan, Libya, the use of drones in Pakistan and other places where innocent civilians were killed. The UN just sat down and allowed all these atrocities to be committed without any condemnation. 

Whatever happens in the Crimean region of Ukraine would have far reaching consequences on the global economy and the world is not ready for another war that would distort the peace that is being enjoyed currently despite the pockets of conflicts going on in some parts of the world. Russian President, Vladimir Putin would not sit down for the West to have their way in Crimea. He would do everything to secure Russia's military bases in the Crimea. These bases must not fall into the hands of rogue elements who took part in the ouster of  Victor Yanukovych.

I have a hunch there is a well cooked out plan to isolate Russia and make her look vulnerable in the eyes of the western allies. This plan would definitely lead to serious repercussions on the whole world. The price of crude oil and other important commodities would shoot up and those of us in the developing countries will feel the full brunt. War must be avoided as much as possible and diplomacy must be employed to solve this crisis. As at the time of writing this post the Crimean Parliament had voted overwhelmingly to join Russia and had set a date for a referendum for the people to decide on the issue. I hope and pray the whole world will respect the outcome of the referendum because whatever happens in the Ukraine affects the whole world. The hypocrisy must end now as some of the powers take some bad decisions which their allies deem to be good and sees nothing wrong with them but when similar decisions are taken by Russia then, sanctions and other punitive measures must be applied.