BBC – Mark Mardell’s America: Obama gets tough on Egypt’s weakened strong man.
Now just imagine, Jacob Zuma calls Robert Mugabe and says….
BBC – Mark Mardell’s America: Obama gets tough on Egypt’s weakened strong man
02 Wednesday Feb 2011
Posted in Notes and Asides
Glen Christopher's Blog 
My mentor for foreign relations always advised caution in drawing parallels. Therefore, as desirable as regime change in Zimbabwe may be, it is important to ask: does the RSA have the same relationship with Zimbabwe, as does the US with Egypt?
The US has long provided substantial financial support to the Mubarak government, especially to the military. And some of the Egyptian military has links to American training programs. This has bought the Obama administration at least a modicum of influence over the behavior of the military-dominated ruling Egyptian elite.
Would a call from Zuma come from a comparably substantive position of influence? Or would Mugabe be able to dismiss such communication as idealistic symbolism?
A very valid point. I agree – comparisons may be quite misleading. But consider this: UDI in then-Rhodesia ended when the then-South African prime minister, BJ Vorster, pulled the plug on Ian Smith. Quite literally: threatening to turn off the electricity which Rhodesia imported.
Zimbabwe today depends on us no less, for electricity and many other things. Rather than use these leverage points, the South African government has actively protected Mugabe, in the UN, for example, and in brokering a ludicrous ‘peace deal’ between Mugabe and the MDC, thereby rewarding the electoral loser for refusing to leave office.
Go figure.