Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (Zimbabwe, or perhaps better as, Carter's Folly--one of many) provided a bleak assessment of Zimbabwe, and claims that he has thus far
failed to "restore democratic freedoms and the rule of law to Zimbabwe". The deck, however, has been stacked against him.
Not only has Tsvangirai suffered personal tragedy (his wife was killed in a car accident, and one of his grandsons drowned), but Mugabe has continued his intimidation and economically destructive policies. Mugabe arrested one of Tsvangirai's ministerial candidates on charges of terrorism and continues to seize land to hand out to his hanger's-on. Mugabe has also maintained control of the security services.
All told, Zimbabwe is a failure, but it is not Tsvangirai's fault. Mugabe's yes. President Carter's yes.
Six Palestinians have been
killed in fighting on the West Bank. Fatah faithful policement engaged in a shootout with two member of Hamas that they had gone to arrest, killing the two Hamas members, three policemen, and the owner of the home that the Hamas members were living in.
To put the West Bank and Gaza into perspective: Taiwan was a dictatorship for decades before transitioning to democracy. The Philippines struggled along for 70 years or so, before being given the opportunity for a meaningful vote. South Korea had several decades of struggles before transitioning to democracy. For some reason, western leaders are under the delusion that democracy can form where there are no democratic institutions and no security.
The life cycle of democracy requires, firstly, security; secondly, democratic institutions; thirdly, competitive elections. Western leaders seem to be under the impression that the first two steps can be skipped, merely because they wish it so.
North Korea continues to present that
international testing that VP Biden warned the American people would occur. President Obama has stumbled on a unique way of dealing with the testing: by pretending it doesn't exist. I half think the Administration is so intent of changing the greatest nation in the world (and this was a campaign promise, remember) that it does not notice anything going on outside the borders of the United States.
SecDef Gates is expressing
exasperation at North Korea's intrasigence. Gates claims that painful sanctions may be necessary. Perhaps sanctions similar to those that were in effect for a decade?
These people have their heads so far up their rectums they'll never see daylight. There are two options for dealing with North Korea: all other options have been taken off the table by inept (and possibly well meaning) bureaucrats. Those two options are accepting a nuclear North Korea having the capability of striking U.S. interests, allies, and territory; or conducting operations to remove North Korea as a threat.
Sanctions have lost their teeth because they have never been enforced. The Clinton and Bush Administrations never followed through on sanctions. Whether it was incompetent Albright or the exceptionally inept Chris Hill (current Ambassador to Iraq), the U.S. always provided an out for the mad midget of North Korea (Manchuria would be more alliterative, but unfortunately, it is not geographically correct).
The worst part of the U.S.'s inept attempts to halt North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons is that our incompetence has provided a blueprint for any other regime intent on pursuing nuclear weapons. I'm fairly certain Libya regrets its interpretation of the U.S.'s resolve in 2003. Libya's weapons programs were not even known about. If Libya had kept working on their nuclear weapons program in secret, they could be unveiling a nuclear bomb in five or 10 years. No other irresponsible actor will ever again make the mistake of assuming the U.S. is capable of looking after its own interests.