The iPINIONS Journal: Commentaries on the Major Events of Our Times: Volume VI

By Anthony Livingston Hall

In the sixth volume of The iPINIONS Journal, political commentator Anthony Livingston Hall shares an intelligent, humorous, and sometimes moving collection of essays that provide an entertaining and thought-provoking recap of 2010’s major events.

With a unique perspective, Hall provides commentary on the passage of the healthcare reform, the BP oil spill, and whether Michael Jackson is the biological father of his children. As he offers his opinion on an eclectic mix of political, social, and cultural events that include the Tea Party craze, political upheaval in the Ukraine, the Jersey Shore phenomenon, the unity pact among the Chilean miners, the military quagmire in Afghanistan, and the rehabilitation of Michael Vick, Hall displays his worldview with a passion for international current events that is unsurpassed. Included are his post-mortem commentaries on famous people who made pioneering or extraordinary contributions to mankind such as: United States Senator Robert Byrd, New York Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner, and Tom Bosley of the television show Happy Days.

This volume of commentaries is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to recall, assess, and engage in lively discussions about the major events of 2010.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 20, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462004560

Anthony Livingston Hall

Anthony L. Hall is a Washington-based lawyer who is licensed to practice in a number of foreign jurisdictions. He hails from The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Islands and was educated at some of America’s best schools, including Williams College. Hall is also a syndicated columnist and the author of The iPINIONS Journal, a weblog of enlightening and entertaining commentaries that provide a refreshing take on current events. He lives in Arlington, Virginia. http://ipjn.com

Book preview

— The iPINIONS Journal —

Commentaries on the

Major Events of Our Times:

Volume VI

— —

Anthony Livingston Hall

iUniverse

Bloomington

The iPINIONS Journal

Commentaries on the Major Events of Our Times: Volume VI

Copyright © 2011 by Anthony Livingston Hall

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4620-0454-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4620-0455-3 (dj)

ISBN: 978-1-4620-0456-0 (ebk)

iUniverse rev. date: 04/14/2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Interview: ALH Speaks

AFRICA

Where Political and Economic Development Continues to be One Step Forward Two Steps Back

Winnie: Nelson Mandela is a Traitor and an Albatross

Democratic Silver Lining in Zimbabwe’s (de facto) Dictatorship

Malawi Imprisons Couple for Being Gay

A presidential pardon

Rape as Weapon of War in DR Congo

Africa’s Democratic Despots

End of shotgun coalition in Zimbabwe

AMERICAS

Where Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Continues to Dominate Like a Bull in a China Shop

Argentina vs. Britain over the Falklands … Still?!

Chilean Earthquake

U.S. and France Pulling Train on Manuel Noriega

France convicts Noriega too

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

U.S. Used Guatemalans as Guinea Pigs?!

Comeuppance for Pfizer (and other pharmaceutical companies) in Africa…?

Pfizer settles

Viva Chávez

Russians Treat Chávez Like a Rich Fool

Chávez pulling a Christmas ambush?

ASIA

Where the Only Thing Th at Matters is What’s Going On in or with China

World Beware: China Calling in its (Loan-Sharking) Debts

A Win for Toyota?! Oops

Video Games Depicting Rape vs. Murder

Thailand’s Tiananmen Square

China Suffers Oil Spill Disaster …Too

Floods Over Pakistan

U.S. Embraces India’s Emergence as World Power

Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi is Free. Now What? (So What?)

CARIBBEAN

Where Cuba’s Belated Enlightenment Is Surpassed by Haiti’s Chronic Despair

Political Fraternization with Drug Gangs Comes Home to Roost in Jamaica

Coke arrested

Vaudevillian Politics in the Turks and Caicos Islands

Open Letter to political leaders of the TCI Dear Leaders:

All-party protest march

Emancipation Day

Castro Admits his ‘Cuban Model’ has Failed

Castro backslides

Belize’s Nationalization of Telemedia

China Putting Squeeze on The Bahamas over Baha Mar

Kerzner on Atlantis vs. Baha Mar

Haiti, Haiti, Haiti… Again

Haitians Returning to Africa; Blaming the U.S. and France?

Haiti’s Compassionate Poseurs

Can Wyclef Save Haiti

Wyclef disqualified

Hurricane Tomas Adds to Haiti’s Living Nightmare

Thank God for small blessings

Haiti earthquake one year later

EUROPE

Where, Alas, the Most Interesting News Events Revolve Around The British Royals

Immigrant Riots Spread to Italy

Constant Change, if not Chaos, in Ukraine

Yanukovych forms coalition

A Europe Divided by Debt Cannot Stand

Greece just another panhandling PIG in Europe

The bailout

UK Recommends End of Special Relationship with U.S.

Polish Tragedy in Russia

Underdog Wins Britain’s Historic Election Debate

Love’s Labour’s lost

Icelandic Volcano Grounds Air Travel Over Europe

Prince Albert’s Getting Married: No More Babies Out of Wedlock…?

Burqa Banned in France

Russia Elects First Black Politician

France Declares Its Own War on Terrorism

Barcelona Bans Bullfighting

EU Threatens France Over Roma Migrants

EU: U.S. Security Measures are Useless and Overly Intrusive

Putinization of Russia Continues…

Stalin Causes Rift Between Putin and Medvedev

Putin Jokes About Ruling Until He’s 120

Putin’s Photo-op Flop

Putin Decrees His Nemesis, Khodorkovsky, a Bernie Madoff

Long Live The British Royals

Fergie Caught in Royal Sting

Prince William to Kate: Enough of the Wait

Student Protesters Assault Prince Charles and Wife Camilla

MIDDLE EAST

Where Nation-Building In Iraq and Afghanistan Is proving Every Bit as Elusive As Brokering Peace Between Israel and Palestine

So Much for the Enviable Reputation of the Mossad

Congressional Panel Condemns Turkey for Armenian Genocide … Again

Settlements are to Israel What Nuclear Weapons are to Iran

Israel’s Deadly Raid on Pro-Palestinian Flotilla

New Sanctions Against Iran: Naive or Shrewd?

Afghanistan: Obama’s Achilles Heel

Training Afghans is Hopeless … and Dangerous

Obama’s Ironic Mission to Afghanistan

Obama, Don’t Let McChrystal Resign, Fire Him!

McChrystal resigns

Why the Obsession over Afghanistan Deadline?

UNITED STATES

Where The Shock of Obama’s Plummeting Popularity Was Surpassed Only by The Shock of BP’s Arrogant Incompetence

The Obama Presidency: Year 2

Obama Delivers Healthcare Reform to America

Obama Planting Seeds for Success

Michelle Obama’s Spanish Flytrap

Obama Aping Bush on Mideast Peace Too

I (Still) Support Obama Wholeheartedly!

The Obamas Go to Church?

Obama-Clinton in 2012?

Rahm Emmanuel, Obama’s Ballbuster in Chief, Resigns

Mutiny Against Obama Over Bush Tax Cuts

Angry Democrats come to their senses

From a Shellacking in November to a December to Remember

Arizona: Front Line On Illegal Immigration Scapegoating Hispanics

Amendments to make law less racist

Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies

AG Holder’s Ignorance is No Excuse

Judge Defangs Immigration Law

Tea Party Craze

Who (or What) Is It?

Why I am so Utterly Dismissive

Tea Party candidates: more bark than bite

The Racist Mrs. Sherrod: the Tea Party’s Latest Big Lie

Sherrod rejects offer of new job

Primaries and Midterm Elections

Sex, Lies, and Spin

Hyping the Prospects of Republican Women

John McCain: Triumph of the Panderer over the Politician

Elections Becoming Freak Show Contests

Midterm elections

Republicans reclaim House, Democrats retain Senate

The BP Oil Spill

Obama’s Katrina?

Lessons learned

The Oil Has Landed

Spill Turns Media Swooning Over Obama Toxic

Obama Delivers Oval Office Address

Obama Golfs, CEO Sails, Oil Gushes

BP Involved in Release of Lockerbie Bomber?

Oil, Oil Everywhere, But Not a Drop to See

The well is capped

Other Events of Note

The Election of Scott Brown: Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing

Obama: a failure to communicate

So much for the Scott Brown effect

Republican Strategy of Obstruction and Nullification

The U.S. Senate: Framers’ Intent vs. Today’s Reality

Ethically Challenged Rep. Charlie Rangel Forced to Step Aside

Rangel convicted on 11 counts

Today is Tax Day: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Reforming Wall Street? Fuhgettaboutit!

Times Square Bomb Scare

Journalist Helen Thomas’s Anti-Semitic Rant

The Real Drug War: Crack vs. Powder Cocaine

Budget Cuts at the Pentagon?! When Pigs Fly…

Blagojevich Convicted on Only 1 of 24 Counts

Turning MLK’s Dream into a Nightmare

Beck turns political rally into religious revival

Stewart-Colbert rally to restore sanity and/or fear

Media Circus Over Burning Qurans on 9/11

Obama appeals to pastor’s better angels?

Quran burning cancelled… ?

George W. Bush’s Memoir, ‘Decision Points’

Bush not only rehashes, he plagiarizes too.

Prosecuting CIA Agents…?

Political Scandal Hits DC Suburb

THE GLOBALSPHERE

Where a Mining Saga Makes Chile The Center of the Universe … for 69 Days And Where WikiLeaks’s Leaks Prove Almost as Terrorizing As Al-Qaeda’s Violence

Google Finds Own Chinese Medicine Hard to Swallow

Google’s conscientious objection in China

Google backslides… again

Summit on Nuclear Security

Obama secures global commitments to secure nukes

Terrorists Are Planning More Attacks?! Nooooo

Coal mining: tragedy upon tragedy…and one big triumph Tragedy in China and the U.S.

Missing miners found… dead

Tragedy in New Zealand

All hopes of a rescue explode

Triumph in Chile

Miners Trapped

Miners rescued

Miners’ unity pact falls apart in spotlight

WikiLeaks Terror

Cables from Soldiers in Afghanistan

Cables from Diplomats Around the World

Founder Arrested and Bailed

Assange fears Guantanamo … and assassination

SPORTS

Where the Winter Olympics, World Cup, And Even Women’s Basketball Figure Far More Prominently than The Travails of Tiger, LeBron, Or any Other Sporting Event

The Vancouver Winter Olympics

Tragedy Mars Opening Ceremony

Let the Games Begin

Dead Georgian Luger

Closing Ceremony

Overall Performance of Marquee Athletes

Soccer World Cup

South Africa’s Rocky Start as Host

Shame and Disgrace Highlight Group Matches

Spain Wins World Cup!

UConn’s Women’s Basketball

Longest Winning Streak in Sports History

Johnnies come lately praise UConn

Streak ends.

Other Notable Events in the World of Sports McGwire Admits He Used Steroids

NFL Championship Sunday: Favre Intercepted … Again

Hallelujah! The Saints go marching in: 31-17

Favre returns only to retire in shame

Tiger’s Homeboys: Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley

The Masters: Tiger returns

Duke Wins NCAA Men’s Championship

NBA: Lakers Repeat

LeBron Abandons Cleveland for Miami

Michael Weighs In

Magic Weighs in

Indictment is Strike Two Against Roger Clemens

U.S. Tennis Open: Women Showing More Skin than Skill

Venus shows most skin but does not win

Reggie Bush Forfeits Heisman Trophy

India’s Filthy and Empty Commonwealth Games

Yankees Return to Their Losing Ways

SF Giants World Series Champs

Yankees Re-sign Jeter

Manny Pacquiao - The Best Fighter Ever?!

The Rehabilitation (and Vindication?) of Michael Vick

Eagles fail to soar

ENTERTAINMENT

Where Th at’s Entertainment Degenerates into Brain-Dead Competition On American Idol and Dancing With The Stars (Never mind What the Popularity of The Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives… Says About Our Culture)

The Late Shift Part II

Copperfield Rape Victim Arrested for Prostitution

52nd Annual Grammy Awards

The Bachelor: Mind-numbing (American) Television

82nd Annual Academy Awards

The Rise and Fall of Enron … Again

Left Lost by Lost…?

White House Gate-Crashers Now Stars of Reality TV

Eminem: No Profanity Allowed In My House!

Michael Jackson: Worth more Dead than Alive

Spider-Man … on Broadway?!

Tangled web delays Spider-Man

Spider-Man shut down

Lead actress quits show

Another delay

The official reviews

CNN’s Larry King is Live No More

American Idol…

Jumped the Shark

Ellen Out, J Lo and Steven Tyler In

Dancing With The Stars

Bristol Palin Strutting Her Stuff…?

Bristol Stayin’ Alive?

Bristol comes in last…finally

POTPOURRI

Where the Clash of Religious, Social, and Cultural Trends Makes Multiculturalism Seem Like a Pipe Dream

Black is Beautiful! Just Not in South Africa

My Good Friday Sermon

Pope Accused of Harboring Pedophile Priest(s)

The Blind Side: This Time Life Imitates Art

No Hollywood ending

The Day the Grand Old Opry Flooded the Music Did Not Die

Miss USA Trumps Another Ethnic Stereotype

Miss Haiti: This Black Nation’s White Hope

Miss Universe…

Mel Gibson Now Exposed as a Racist and Misogynist

Polanski sets professional precedent for Mel

Obama on ‘The View’ vs. Bush on ‘Dr. Phil’

JetBlues: The Revenge of the Flight Attendant

Jetblue hero is just a diva

Married Fools: Peter and Stephanie, Ashton and Demi

Peter & Stephanie

Ashton & Demi

Bishop Eddie Long’s Gay-Sex Scandal

Long buys off accusers

Mario Vargas Llosa Awarded Nobel Prize for Literature

Happy Columbus Day?

Women Make Better Politicians Than Men

Gays Serving in the Military

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repealed

Srecna Slava, Bibi!

Passenger to TSA: If you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested!

The Madoff Suicides Continue…

Happy Festivus

Happy Kwanzaa

Al and Tipper Gore: End of Love Story

The Divorce

Gore family values… ?

Gore a sex-crazed poodle?

Gore another Tiger… ?

Gore gets off

A Mosque (Near) Ground Zero!

Political Bigotry vs. Religious Faith

Obama pulls a John Kerry…

DEATHS OF FAMOUS PEOPLE

Where It Never Ceases To Amaze Me How Soon They Are Forgotten

J.D. Salinger, Literary One-hit Wonder

Dorothy Height, ‘Godmother of the Civil Rights Movement’

Lena Horne, Pioneering Entertainer and Civil Rights Activist

Post Mortem on Deaths of (some) Famous People

John Wooden, Record-Setting Basketball Coach

Robert C. Byrd, the Longest-Serving Senator in U.S. History

Desmond Seales, Media Mogul of the Caribbean

George Steinbrenner, Owner of the New York Yankees

Tom Bosley, Mr. Cunningham of ‘Happy Days’

Acknowledgement

Bibliography: Notes On Source Materials

About The Author

For Bibi

Moja naj draža tašta

INTRODUCTION

Over the years many readers have asked me to publish a podcast to hear if you sound the way you write. Well, I finally cried uncle after persistent prodding from my most loyal reader (MLR) and submitted to an interview, which she conducted.

This same reader convinced me it would be a good idea to publish a transcript of our interview as the introduction to this volume. Frankly, I thought all of the claims about people being interested in hearing my voice were way overrated. But the interview’s merit lies in the questions she asked about why I began publishing these commentaries and how I go about writing them. I gather a few people also enjoyed what little I revealed about my personality.

The interview was conducted on September 26 and uploaded onto my weblog the next day. For personal reasons, the interviewer prefers to remain anonymous. This is why I’m referring to her as MLR.

The commentaries in this volume cover events from 2010. But I have also included updates from January 2011 (before I submitted my manuscript at the end of January, 2011), when I had cause to write commentaries that brought a measure of closure to some of these events.

Finally, as with all previous volumes, I hope this one serves as a reliable and accessible resource to help you not just recall the major events of 2010, but assess your comprehension of, and perspective on, them as well.

With that, here is the transcript—complete with the title under which it was published:

NOTE: There was laughter and even a few groans during the interview, but it seems silly to try to recreate that spontaneity here.

Interview: ALH Speaks

MLR: Hi Anthony, first of all, people should know that you shun publicity even more than J.D. Salinger. So I’m really pleased that you finally agreed to do this interview after years of badgering from me and some of your other loyal fans. So let me welcome you with my first question: when and why did you launch The iPINIONS Journal?

ALH: Thank you. You are nothing if not persistent, my dear. But before I answer your question may I take this perhaps-once-in-a- lifetime opportunity to say thank you to all of my readers. I really appreciate the time anyone takes to read my commentaries. Now to your question: in fact it was not I but a colleague who launched the site in February 2005. She cajoled me into writing an article for what I thought was a foreign affairs magazine. It turned out to be the first entry for something called Anthony’s blog. She persuaded me that this would be a simple way of memorializing the insights on current events I often shared in conversations but which nobody could remember fifteen minutes after I said them: I suppose she was trying to tell me I am as glib as Chinese food is filling. But I soon realized how mentally therapeutic it was to compose my thoughts in this fashion, and to be honest I also found it tremendously gratifying to think a few readers might find some redeeming value in them.

MLR: Do you remember what that first commentary was about, and why did you change the name of the site from Anthony’s blog?

ALH: As a matter of fact I do; it was about the folly of then-Secretary of State Condi Rice threatening to invade Syria despite the fact that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were already turning into Vietnam-style quagmires. As for the name change, well, let’s just say it was doubly cursed for being too plain and too vain.

MLR: Speaking of vain, why are you so shy about promoting your books? They are even better than similar books by people like Maureen Dowd and Thomas Friedman of the New York Times. And I know most writers would stand on their heads to get on television, but you have turned down repeated invitations from CNN to appear on discussion panels and promote your books. Don’t you want as many people as possible to read your stuff?

ALH: Why yes of course I do. Oh, by the way, you are very kind but I must disavow any comparisons to the celebrated writers you mentioned. I’m hardly in their league. As for promoting my stuff, well, for people like Dowd and Friedman, writing is a job. For me it’s just a hobby. Yet I’m continually resisting efforts by well-intentioned friends, like you, to turn it into a money-making enterprise. But I would like to think that, besides my inimitable writing style, visitors to my weblog actually appreciate that it’s probably the only one on the Internet that is completely ad-free: there are no unseemly and oxymoronic Google ads for erectile dysfunction, for example.

MLR: That’s funny. But knowing you, you’d probably give all of your profits to charity anyway. Do you track how many hits you get on your site, and do you know the primary demographics of your audience?

ALH: I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t a clue in either case. The colleague who launched the site for me used to mention all kinds of stats but stopped doing so years ago after I showed so little interest in them. Again, that information would only be of interest if monetizing the site were my primary interest.

MLR: So when does a busy lawyer like you find the time to write these commentaries every day?

ALH: Well, it’s not as difficult to find the time as one might think. In fact, this is rather like asking a busy person how she finds the time to exercise. I think it’s simply a matter of interest and discipline. For example, it’s invariably the case that the people who wonder how I find the time are the very ones who think nothing of spending three hours sitting on the couch watching TV every night. Anyway, my commentaries usually take about 30-45 minutes to write. So I set aside an hour each night to sit at my desk, where I sip on a glass of red wine and thoroughly enjoy the experience of knocking them out.

MLR: You probably write on a wider range of topics than anyone out there. I’m sure your readers really like that one day you write about Washington politics and the next day about the latest Hollywood gossip and the next day about professional sports. How do you come up with topics to write about every day?

ALH: That’s actually the easiest part. I am a voracious reader of newspapers. All of which I read online, by the way. But on any given day I read at least 20 stories that might be worthy of comment.

MLR: How do you find time to read that many articles on a busy day? What subjects do find most interesting to write about?

ALH: Well, I get up around 5 am and read for an hour before going off to the gym. I’m a political junkie, so I write about politics perhaps three days out of the week. I then scatter a potpourri of commentaries on practically everything else over the next three days. And on the seventh day I rest.

MLR: That’s pretty good. Would you call yourself a liberal? If not, how do you define your politics?

ALH: I shun those labels, not least because they’ve become so caricatured by partisan politics they really don’t stand for anything anymore. But, if pressed, I would say that I’m a progressive whose politics can be defined by an abiding interest is redressing the grotesque disparities not only between rich and poor people, but especially between rich and poor nations.

MLR: How do you react when people post negative comments in response to your posts?

ALH: Oh dear, this is going to sound awfully rude but I stopped responding to comments years ago when I realized it was becoming too time consuming. It was turning my avocation into a veritable vocation. So I gave it up.

MLR: How do you think the Caribbean theme that is so prevalent throughout your commentaries align with your audience? Do you write for other sites or publications?

ALH: Hmmm. Besides the fact that I’m from the Caribbean, I don’t think it’s fair to say that a Caribbean theme is prevalent throughout my commentaries. As a matter of fact, many people back home have indicated that they wish I would write more about current events in the Caribbean. … I’m sorry what was your other question?

MLR: Do you write for other sites or publications?

ALH: Ahhh, right. Christ I’m getting old. Actually, my commentaries are picked up—without permission I might add—by other sites and publications all over the world; which I really don’t mind as long as they give proper attribution. But in homage to my heritage, I am a featured columnist with Caribbean News Now and the Florida Courier.

MLR: Why do you think you have such a dedicated following of readers?

ALH: Well, I suspect they like my irreverent but informative, insightful and entertaining take on current events; although, perhaps I would just like to think that’s the reason why.

MLR: Which would you say has had more influence on your political views: growing up in the Caribbean or being educated in the U.S. and UK?

ALH: Ahhh, now that’s a very good question … interesting: I would have to say that my heritage has a far greater influence on my political views than my education. I’m pretty sure this accounts for my abiding identity with the poor and dispossessed. I take great pride in thinking that I do my small part to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

MLR: What? Excuse me?

ALH: I’m sorry. Actually I believe that’s a bastardization of an old Irish proverb exhorting newspaper writers to know their public duty. Or something like that.

MLR: What is the single thing you think your readers should know about you that you have not commented on in your writings?

ALH: That I enjoy yoga.

MLR: Do you enjoy living in the DC area and what specifically do you enjoy most?

ALH: Yes, I enjoy living there very much; specifically because it’s the political capital of the world with all of the relevance, diversity, and dynamism that entails. I also appreciate the wide range of cultural events and entertainment available—highlighted by the Smithsonian museums and the Kennedy Center for the performing arts. But what really surprises my family and friends when they visit is that we have some of the best biking and hiking trails in the country.

MLR: Wow … you should be working for the DC board of tourism. Okay, we’re almost done. Are you familiar with Proust Questionnaire?

ALH: Yes I am.

MLR: Okay, I’d like to end by testing you.

ALH: Oh no.

MLR: No, it’ll be fun. Just remember the trick is to keep your answers as spontaneous and short as possible.

ALH: You mean glib don’t you. never mind. Go ahead.

MLR: What is your current state of mind?

ALH: Anxious.

MLR: What is your greatest fear?

ALH: Disappointing my family.

MLR: What trait do you most deplore in yourself?

ALH: My fastidiousness about food.

MLR: What is the trait you most deplore in others?

ALH: Phoniness.

MLR: What living person do you most admire?

ALH: That’s easy: Mandela. MLR: What living person do you most despise?

ALH: It changes almost daily: today, Newt Gingrich. MLR: On what occasion do you lie?

ALH: Why assume that I do? No, just kidding, I only tell little white lies when telling the truth would be unnecessary and cruel.

MLR: Who are your favorite writers?

ALH: Writers? How many?

MLR: Three or four.

ALH: George Orwell, James Baldwin, Gore Vidal, Wole Soyinka. MLR: Who is your favorite hero of fiction?

ALH: Horace Rumpole.

MLR: How would you like to die?

ALH: Quickly.

MLR: What is your motto?

ALH: Oh that is so contrived. I don’t have one.

MLR: Can you think of one you like?

ALH: Live free or die? No, no just kidding. Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo. How’s that?

MLR: That’s it. Thanks Anthony. That was fun.

ALH: Thank you darling. You were terrific.

AFRICA

Where Political and Economic Development

Continues to be

One Step Forward

Two Steps Back

Winnie: Nelson Mandela is a Traitor and an Albatross

Truth be told, there was always a disconnect between Winnie Mandela’s behavior and the Joan-of-Arc vestments she wore during the last throes of Apartheid rule in South Africa. In fact, her behavior always gave the impression those vestments were covering up character traits that were more Idi Amin than Indira Gandhi.

But anti-Apartheid supporters in the West overlooked her intemperate, boorish, and even murderous ways because we considered her a rebel with a cause. This included, most notably, giving Winnie a pass when she allegedly incited members of her entourage (a.k.a. the Mandela United Football Club)—who served variously as her bodyguards, political enforcers, and … boy toys—to beat a young South African boy to death in 1988. (She was convicted and sentenced to six years, but her sentence was suspended and she got off with a simple fine.)

In any event, most of us were finally disabused of all hope she would ever reconcile her behavior with those vestments when it became clear neither marriage to a freed Nelson Mandela nor black rule, for which she struggled so heroically, was enough to satiate her promiscuous political ambition. Therefore, it was clearly just a matter of time before spiteful bile came pouring out of this woman scorned not just by Nelson (who divorced her in 1996), but by the new black leadership (which has refused to honor her as the mother of the nation in ways she no doubt expected) as well.

Well, here comes the bile. It flows from an interview conducted by Nadira Naipaul (wife of internationally acclaimed Trinidadian writer V.S. Naipaul)—excerpts of which were published on Monday in the London newspaper the Evening Standard. Here are just some of the things Winnie is now saying about Mandela—a man who, by all accounts, wore the vestments of a political saint and savior as well as any mortal ever could:

This name Mandela is an albatross around the necks of my family… Mandela let us down. Economically we are still on the outside. The economy is very much ‘white.’ I cannot forgive him for going to receive the Nobel with his jailer de Klerk.

Mandela is now like a corporate foundation. He is wheeled out globally to collect the money.

Frankly, even though she has been effectively marginalized as a political voice in South Africa, and even though what she says about him probably couldn’t matter any less to Mandela, this must disappoint, if not outrage, anyone who cares about his legacy. Never mind that if it were up to Winnie, and not Nelson, the Mandela name today would be analogous to that of Mugabe. Which makes me wonder why she’s still being féted all over America—as she is this week. Enough said…?

I just pray Michelle won’t be saying similar things about this name Obama someday—given Barack’s pragmatic determination to emulate Mandela’s art of political compromise … with friends and foe alike.

NOTE: Not surprisingly, Winnie’s remarks spread like wildfire throughout South Africa. The ANC claims it sought immediate clarification. But party spokesman Ismael Mnisi told the BBC, she has not gotten back to us. No kidding.

March 9

Democratic Silver Lining in Zimbabwe’s (de facto) Dictatorship

Last year I joined political commentators from around the world in hailing the coalition government between President Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as the best hope for democracy in Zimbabwe. We did so knowing full well that this coalition was forged only because Mugabe refused to cede power after losing at the polls.

But here is the business-as-usual note I sounded:

Now Mugabe can afford to be magnanimous. Indeed, I suspect he would be happy to confer the title of prime minister upon his politically cuckolded foe, Tsvangirai; provided, however, that that title is conferred with all of the political power wielded by a Nubian eunuch.

(Zimbabwe forms (improbable) coalition government, The iPINIONS Journal, February 12, 2009)

This is why it came as no surprise to me when Mugabe immediately sought to wield dictatorial control over this coalition by rejecting the MDC’s nominee for deputy agriculture minister, Roy Bennett. And it only reinforced Mugabe’s intent to brook no opposition that he did this by having Bennett arrested on clearly trumped-up charges of treason; namely, of plotting a coup d’état. What is surprising, however, is that a Zimbabwean court acquitted Bennett on all charges yesterday. Because, given that the judiciary routinely did his bidding, this acquittal represents a transformative challenge to Mugabe’s 30-year dictatorship. It also marks an ironic triumph for a white Zimbabwean at a time when Mugabe is attempting to rid the country of the few who remain: a silver lining indeed.

Remember the economic disaster Mugabe created six years ago when he executed his national land reforms? These reforms amounted to nothing more than seizing farms from the white farmers who made Zimbabwe the bread basked of Sub-Saharan Africa and redistributing them among his black cronies. Unfortunately, this new landed gentry knew nothing, and cared even less, about farming, which soon turned the country into the agricultural basket case it is today.

Now Mugabe has vowed to execute an indigenization and empowerment program. This will require all foreign companies to transfer at least 51 percent of their shares to black Zimbabweans. But nobody doubts that this program will do for business in Zimbabwe what Mugabe’s land reforms did for agriculture, which is why the neutered MDC raised such existential opposition to it.

In the meantime, that Bennett is happy to have been acquitted is clearly understandable. What is not, however, is his resolve to continue the good fight against Mugabe’s confiscatory oppression. (Bennett’s farm was among the first seized in 2004 under Mugabe’s land reforms.)

Good has triumphed over evil. I’ve been standing resolute with the people of Zimbabwe who’ve been undergoing the same persecution. But it’s made me more resolute and fortified me more in my fight towards real change in Zimbabwe.

(Bennett, BBC, May 10, 2010)

Perhaps he should have ended this statement by quoting American Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale who lamented that I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country. More importantly, though, the irony should not be lost on Zimbabweans that the person with the most moral authority to lead their downtrodden country is this white man.

May 11

Malawi Imprisons Couple for Being Gay

I was surprised at the number of friends and colleagues who knew nothing about Malawi until Madonna stirred international controversy by going there in 2006 to adopt the first of two Malawian babies. (She adopted the second one last year.)

But now Malawi is stirring international controversy on its own. For, according to a report by the London Times, a Malawian court convicted Steven Monjeza (26) and Tiwonge Chimbalanga (20) of unnatural acts and gross indecency. And yesterday the presiding judge sentenced them to the maximum 14 years in prison.

Clearly this is abominable. What is even more so, however, is that homosexuality is still a crime in over 80 countries, including Ghana, India, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands (my mother country). And it’s punishable by death in many of them, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Afghanistan (where American soldiers are dying on a futile nation-building mission).

Of course, I fully appreciate that there are many religious fanatics, even in the United States, who believe homosexuality is an abomination unto God that should be punishable by death. Indeed, it’s an indication of how retarded otherwise progressive countries are on this issue that the U.S. only decriminalized all sodomy laws a few years ago with the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas (2003).

Frankly, given ongoing battles worldwide to ban gay marriage and the ordination of gay priests, I can’t think of a single country that has the moral authority and political influence to lead the fight against the persecution and prosecution of gay people. But hypocrisy has never inhibited rich and powerful countries from imposing their notions of morality and human rights on others. Therefore, I wonder why they aren’t doing more to end the apartheid systems that are oppressing homosexuals in countries all over the world the way they exerted pressure (via economic and political sanctions) to end the apartheid system that was oppressing blacks in South Africa. Especially since Malawi relies on Western donors for over 40 percent of its development budget.

In the meantime, though, given that celebrities wield as much influence as heads of state these days, perhaps Madonna will use hers to prevail upon the Malawian government to not only pardon this couple, but repeal the country’s laws against homosexuality. After all, reports are that she got this government to change its adoption laws to facilitate the adoptions mentioned above.

NOTE: The British government has a special duty to help repeal anti-gay laws in many countries around the world because many of these laws were enacted under British colonial rule.

May 20

UPDATE

A presidential pardon

In a clearly pragmatic move, President Bingu wa Mutharika announced today that he was exercising his presidential powers to pardon this gay couple on humanitarian grounds. It’s no accident he did so during a state visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon—who undoubtedly reinforced the displeasure of Western countries, Malawi’s indispensable donors.

The president announced the couple would be released immediately, only nine days into their 14-year sentence. And even though homosexuality remains illegal, this pardon has now set a precedent which makes it more of a moral than criminal offense. This means that it should be punishable more by confession, remorse, and redemption than by imprisonment.

May 29

Rape as Weapon of War in DR Congo

It speaks volumes that the raping of thousands is becoming a more defining feature of the civil/regional war still brewing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) than the killing of millions. (This war began in 1998 and officially ended in 2003..)

According to the UN Population Fund, there were 17,507 sexual violence attacks throughout Congo in 2009—including more than 9,000 in North and South Kivu, which have been at the centre of the conflict in the east.

(Al Jazeera, October 16, 2010)

No doubt this is why so much media coverage attended last week’s visit to this war-ravaged country by Margot Wallstrom, the UN special envoy on sexual violence against women in conflict.

It’s worth noting, however, that sexual violence has been perpetrated against women as a staff of conflict, as well as a perk of conquest, since time immemorial. And there’s no greater testament to this fact than the way white men raped (and impregnated) black women during the Antebellum Era in the United States; notwithstanding that miscegenation laws were a fact of life in America from the late seventeenth century to the late 1960s. Interestingly enough, mass rapes in this context account for why so many black Americans do not look like they hail from any of the ethnic tribes in Africa. But I digress.. (Well, I just think it’s helpful to bear in mind that, when it comes to barbarity and amorality, the blacks who are raping women as a weapon of war today have nothing on the whites who raped women simply as a prerogative of presumed racial superiority back then.)

That said, the rapes being committed in the DRC smack of a genocidal plan. Yet nothing reflects how inured the world has become to chronic violence and the suffering it breeds in Africa quite like the manifest indifference to these rapes in Europe and America.

This brings me to last week’s ironic visit by the UN delegation to the DRC. Because what makes the pervasive nature of these rapes so troubling is that the vast majority of them occurred under the noses of UN peacekeeping forces. In reality, what happened in 2009 (as referenced in the quote above) also happened in 2005 (when I first lamented these rapes in a published commentary), and has happened every year since. Even worse, in far too many cases the victims had just cause to fear the peacekeepers as much as the combatants (on both sides of this infernal and interminable civil war).

A few weeks ago, disgusted officials leaked an internal UN report which found that peacekeepers had sexually molested and abused African refugees in the DR Congo. These leaks forced [Secretary General Kofi] Annan to admit that he had known for some time about his staffs criminal conduct—including pedophilia, rape, and prostitution (some of which was caught on tape).

He offered words of contrition to the African victims and pledged to convene a commission to investigate these crimes. But his contrition would’ve been far more persuasive had another UN report a few years ago not found evidence of similar widespread sexual abuse of African refugees by UN personnel and peacekeepers.

(Kofi Annan’s UN Malaise, The iPINIONS Journal, February 20, 2005)

This is why I’m so convinced that this highly publicized visit by the UN special envoy will do little to combat the onslaught of rape in the DRC. For as much as UN and local officials talk about protecting women and holding the perpetrators to account, it is distressingly and patently clear that there’s little they can, or are willing to, do.

The reality is that eastern DR Congo itself is shattered, with both rebels and government troops preying on civilians. In such a context of lawlessness, what can be done?

(Barbara Plett, BBC UN Correspondent, October 14, 2010)

May God help the poor, defenseless women of the DRC..

October 18

Africa’s Democratic Despots

African leaders once personified unbridled despotism. Now they’re personifying the growing spectacle of leaders refusing to give up power after losing free and fair elections; ergo, their oxymoronic designation as democratic despots.

This has led to an untenable new norm developing on the Continent, where opposition leaders—who win clear and convincing elections— are being forced to either enter into shotgun marriages (i.e., coalition governments) with sore losers, or lead civil wars to oust them by force. Here, for example, is how I commented in 2008 when this phenomenon was playing out in Kenya—the putative beacon of democracy in Africa:

Almost four months after contested election results plunged Kenya into tribal warfare that killed 1,500 and left 600,000 displaced, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Opposition Leader Raila Odinga held a joint press conference to announce that they had finally signed a National Accord and Reconciliation Act (NARA) to form a coalition government. Never mind that the consensus among international election observers was not only that Kibaki’s ruling Party of National Unity (PNU) had lost control of parliament, but that he too had been duly ousted as president…

Which brings me to Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe: Because, like Kibaki and his ruling party, all indications are that he and his ruling ZANU-PF lost national elections that were held on March 29. Yet, like Kibaki, Mugabe refused to concede defeat, which also plunged Zimbabwe into postelection violence.

(Kenya forms grand coalition: a model for Zimbabwe? The iPINIONS Journal, April24, 2008)

Sure enough, though, Mugabe soon emulated Kibaki, compelling me to duly comment as follows:

I predicted opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, the undisputed winner in presidential elections last March, would ultimately agree to serve in a coalition government under his perennial oppressor, President Robert Mugabe.

(Zimbabwe forms (improbable) coalition government, The iPINIONS Journal, February 12, 2009)

More to the point, I predicted the marital arrangement between this democratic despot and his democratically elected challenger would end up being like that between a Roman Caesar and his Nubian eunuch. And all indications are that this is precisely the nature of Zimbabwe’s coalition government.

Now it seems that President Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast is determined to follow suit. Because, like Kibaki and Mugabe and their respective ruling parties, Gbagbo and his ruling party have summarily invalidated election results that gave opposition leader Alassane Ouattara a 10-point victory in last month’s presidential election. Also, like Kibaki and Mugabe, Gbagbo has given the finger to patently feckless international demands—most notably from United Nations, France, the United States, the European Union, the African Union, and regional bloc ECOWAS—for him to step down.

Meanwhile, Ouattara is doing his best to force the issue by forming a separate government and calling for a national pacifist struggle … to install the legitimate authorities of Ivory Coast. Unfortunately, it’s an indication of how little influence he has that Ivoirians are already engaging in the same kind of partisan violence