The Diplomatic Times Review

Spiegel Online Correspondent Hans-Jurgen Schlamp, writing today from Brussels, Belgium, headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which is trying to pressure Russia into a speedy departure from Georgia, notes that, "NATO had some sharp words for Moscow on Tuesday, demanding a complete withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgia. But as cowardly as it might sound, the next moves with Moscow should be made at the negotiating table." His argument is headlined "Dialogue With Russia is the Only Way."

There are other ways but this is the only prudent one. You don't start World War III over a nation such as Georgia, especially when that nation's leader, Mikheil Saakashvilli,  foolishly invaded South Ossetia and then called on the West to help him when Russia responded.

In an August 19, 2008, post headlined "Is there nothing the U.S. can do about Georgia?" Dave Montgomery of McClatchy Newspapers' Texas, USA-based Fort Worth Star-Telegram, asserted that, "The United States and its European allies have condemned Russia for its incursion in Georgia, but their options for retaliating against the Kremlin are limited.

"The United States has ruled out military action, and NATO on Tuesday [August 19. 2008] declined to abolish cooperative programs with Russia in part because of misgivings about challenging a nation with vast oil and natural gas supplies, a large military and a huge nuclear arsenal," Montgomery wrote, adding: "Other options under consideration would strike at Moscow's post-Soviet hunger to restore its lost international status, but analysts differ about their potential effectiveness."

McClatchy has several informative articles on the conflict. Click on the headline link above to get to them.

"As NATO ministers gather in Brussels to discuss how tough to get with Russia after the Georgian crisis, an opinion poll shows one in two Poles fear an attack by Russia. Eastern European countries are unhappy with the response of the West," Der Speigel Online International reported August 19, 2008.

Foreign News & Opinion makes its debut today, August 18, 2008. The goal is to aggregate important and interesting foreign affairs articles, editorials, news analysis and opinion from around the world. Hopefully, Foreign News & Opinion will become a site busy readers can rely on to become fairly well-informed on international events. Your comments are welcome.

Munir Umrani, Aggregator.

Do you win a war by destroying a country? Helena Cobban at Just World News has some thoughts on the subject in a July 30, 2008, post headlined "Defining 'winning.'

Gregory Djerejian at The Belgravia Dispatch has a July 31, 2008, post headlined "Should We De-Emphasize The Terror Threat in U.S. Foreign Policy?" I highly recommend it.

"On blogs and around kitchen tables across the country, mixed-race Americans are celebrating the fact that, for the first time, a biracial person, Barack Obama, will be a major party's nominee for president of the United States," the San Francisco Chronicle's Tyche Hendricks reported July 20, 2008.

If you want to read more, please see "Obama raises profile of mixed-race Americans."

Mahmoud Ali Youssef, the foreign minister of Djibouti and chairman of a one-day emergency meeting of the 22-member Arab League in Cairo, Egypt, convened to discuss  the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court's July 14, 2008, decision to charge Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, with 10-counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur "is a dangerous precedent in dealing with heads of state."

Al-jazeera quoted him on July 20, 2008, as saying:"The indictment is a dangerous precedent in dealing with heads of state. It will have dangerous repercussions, not only on Sudan but on the whole region."

According to Al-jazeera, Mr. Youssef characterized the act as a "double-standard."

If you want to read more, see "Sudan genocide charges 'dangerous' ."

Newsweek's Larry Kaplow, writing in a July 20, 2008, post in the Checkpoint Baghdad Blog, "with reporting from Hussam Ali, Yassar Ghani, Salih Mehdi and Hassan al-Jarrah," contends that:

Iraqis are mystified by Barack Obama. As he kicked off his tour of Europe and the Middle East—including a stop in Baghdad—this week, both leaders and ordinary people here were trying to size up the Democratic candidate. For many, opinions are distorted by decades of misinformation and years of post-war cynicism about American motives in general. If you ask unemployed, 34-year-old Uday Ahmed whether he views Obama as a Muslim, because his father was Muslim, or as a Christian, which is the candidate's religion, he answers: "I think he is Jewish." It's an old conspiracy complex common in the Middle East, that Jews run American policy. But Ahmed didn't seem to mind. "If he is going to save my country from the chaos, I think I will like him. It is so important to have a good person, whether he is a Muslim, a Christian, or Jewish."

To read the entire article, please see "What Iraqis Think of Barack."

American national news anchors Brian Douglas Williams of NBC, Katherine Anne "Katie" Couric of CBS and Charles deWolfe Gibson of ABC will join presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on his foreign trip this summer to Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Europe, Iraq and Afghanistan. See "Media stars will accompany Obama overseas." According to the International Herald Tribune's Jim Rutenberg:

... when Obama heads for Iraq and other locations overseas this summer, Williams is planning to catch up with him in person, as are the other two evening news anchors, Charles Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS, who, like Williams, are far along in discussions to interview Obama on successive nights.

Rutenberg added: "And while the anchors are jockeying for interviews with Obama at stops along his route, the regulars on the Obama campaign plane will have new seat mates: star political reporters from the major newspapers and magazines who are flocking to catch Obama's first overseas trip since becoming the presumptive nominee of his party.

I guess this means the trip is important. What do you think?

According to Al-jazeera, former Cuban President "Fidel Castro has called on Columbia's FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)  rebels to release its remaining hostages." The reportedly number around 700.

The call came in the wake of the rescue of former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt on July 2, 2008, and 14 other hostages, including three Americans, after Columbian intelligence allegedly tricked FARC into bringing them aboard a government airplane.

"It may seem incredible to say this, given past experience, but a few years from now Europe and the world could be looking back at the Bush administration with nostalgia," writes British author Anatol Lieven, "a professor at King’s College, Cambridge, and a senior fellow of the New America Foundation," in the March 24, 2008, edition of FT.com (The Financial Times) "This possibility will arise if the US elects Senator John McCain as president in November."

The author of America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism notes that, "Over the years the US has inserted itself into potential flashpoints in different parts of the world. The Republican party is now about to put forward a natural incendiary as the man to deal with those flashpoints," Mr. Lieven contends.

If you care to read more, see "Why we should fear a McCain presidency."

Iowa, USA, Attorney and blogger Gordon R. Fischer has rightly come under fire for stating at Iowa True Blue, his personal blog:

"B. Clinton questions Obama's patriotism.  In repsonse (sic), an Obama aide compared B. Clinton to Joe McCarthy. This is patently unfair.  To McCarthy.

"When Joe McCarthy questioned others' patriotism, McCarthy (1) actually believed, at least aparently (sic), the questions were genuine, and (2) he did so in order to build up, not tear down, his own party, the GOP.  Bill Clinton cannot possibly seriously believe Obama is not a patriot, and cannot possibly be said to be helping -- instead he is hurting -- his own party.  B. Clinton should never be forgiven.  Period.  This is a stain on his legacy, much worse, much deeper, than the one on Monica's blue dress.

Fischer has since offered what he calls "A Sincere and Contrite Apology" and "A Sincere and Contrite Apology, Part Two."

After coming under fire, he deleted the offending passage. I took the passage above from a March 24, 2008, post ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper put up at Political Punch.  As Tapper notes: 

Gordon Fischer, the former director of the Iowa Democratic Party and a senior adviser for Sen. Barack Obama's efforts in the Hawkeye State, is still very much involved in making sure Obama gets delegates as the caucus process continues.

He's also quite fired up about former President Bill Clinton's comments in front of a North Carolina VFW Hall, which the Obama campaign took to be an impugning of Obama's patriotism.

By the way, the Monica Mr. Fischer is referring to is former White House Intern Monica Lewinsky, with whom Mr. Clinton reportedly had sexual relations with in the White House, while he was president. As Wikipedia notes, "The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of President Clinton in 1998 by the U.S. House of Representatives and his subsequent acquittal on all charges (of perjury and obstruction of justice) in a 21-day Senate trial."

It's time for personal attacks against candidates and their spouses to end. Secondly, both Republican and Democratic presidential aspirants need to put a muzzle on irresponsible surrogates.

The March 2008 edition of The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs has five interesting perspective on the December 27, 2007, assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. I found them informative. Most have appeared elsewhere.

Gareth Porter, "historian, national security policy analyst, journalist and author of "Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam", asserts in a  March 21, 2008, post at International Press Service (IPS) Web Site:

Sen. John McCain's confusion in recent allegations of Iranian training of al Qaeda fighters in Iraq is the result of a drumbeat of official propaganda about close Iran-al Qaeda ties that the George W. Bush administration and neoconservatives have promoted ever since early 2002.

He said, "McCain, the Republican nominee for the presidency, was confusing the Bush administration's charges of Iranian training of Shi'a militiamen associated with the Mahdi Army with the administration's propaganda theme of Iranian tacit or explicit support for al Qaeda operatives in Iran -- charges which have amplified by right-wing media."

If you want to read more, "POLITICS-US: McCain's Gaffes Reflect Bush's Iran-Qaeda Myth."

One of the benefits of the manufactured controversy over Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Senator Barack Obama's former pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ, in Chicago, is Obama's March 18, 2008, "A More Perfect Union" speech on the racial tension that has surfaced in his battle with Senator Hillary Clinton for the right to face Republican presidential candidate John McCain in the November 2008  presidential election in the United States.

The speech provided a opening for demagogues, quacks and serious scholars and commentators to weigh in on the most incendiary issue in the United States. One of the more scholarly I've read this week was a March 21, 2008, commentary by Paul Finkelman, blogger, "legal scholar and historian," who is a "President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, and Senior Fellow in the Government Law Center at Albany Law School" in Albany, New York, USA.

The professor, author of the 1996 book Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson, contends that:

Senator Obama's speech raised the issue of how slavery has affected our Constitution. Few politicians since the Civil War have acknowledged this connection.

Senator Obama's discussion of this is an important first step in healing the wounds that still linger from slavery. Whatever the outcome of the Democratic nomination process or the general election, we can thank Senator Obama for finally asking the nation to think about how the Constitution was shaped by slavery and how slavery shaped our history.

Indeed, I'd say most American probably haven't given this much thought. However, it is something I've thought about for years, and wondered how could a country with such lofty ideals be founded on slavery and then dismiss it as if it had never happened. Here's Finkelman's entire commentary.

Bob Hepburn, columnist at the Canadian newspaper The Toronto Star , asked in a March 20, 2008, column:

Why doesn't Canada have its own version of Barack Obama?

Many Canadians have been asking that question ever since Obama launched his presidential campaign complete with his spell-binding speeches, his slogan of "Yes We Can," and his promise of real change in America.

Hepburn said, "That question became more obvious after listening to Obama, who is trying to become the first black U.S. president, deliver a bold and passionate speech on Tuesday [March 18, 2008] that confronted head-on the deep racial divisions that have long existed in the United States."

If you want to read more, see "Longing for an Obama of our own."

Bloomberg.Com correspondent Hans Nichols reported March 12, 2008, that,  John McCain, the Republican Party's nominee in the presidential election in the United State in November 2008, "is at least as determined as George W. Bush to stay the course in Iraq and more confrontational than the president on foreign policy issues ranging from Russia and China to North Korea."

If you want to know more, see "McCain More Hawkish on Foreign Policy Than Bush, Comments Show."

William Jefferson Clinton, the forty-second president of the United States, has joined his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton, in suggesting that she and Senator Barack Obama  would make a formidable team against the Republican ticket in the November 2008 presidential elections in the United States. See "Bill Clinton: A Clinton-Obama ticket would be 'unstoppable.'"

Both Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton are seeking the Democratic Party nomination to face Republican nominee John McCain. Of course the Clintons think Ms. Clinton should lead the ticket despite the fact that Mr. Obama is ahead in delegates. In fact, the Clinton's seem to think Senator Clinton is entitled to lead the ticket. Such arrogance.

Sensibly, Mr. Obama has said it is too early to talk about Clinton-Obama ticket or an Obama-Clinton ticket when there are still primaries and caucus ahead and so-called "super delegates to woo.

If anything, Ms. Clinton should end her campaign and join Mr. Obama' in the Democrats' effort to win the White House .

CNN commentator Roland S. Martin maintains in a march 6, 2008, commentary that Senator Barack Obama faces a tougher task [than Senator Hillary Clinton, his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination in the United States] because of his denunciation of the politics of old, which have sort of tied his hands." See "Commentary: Now it's Obama's turn to make adjustments."

"He is expected to be Mr. Positive on the campaign trail, and not go negative against Clinton," Mr. Martin wrote. "Yet there are ways in which he can better define Clinton that will not only not be seen as negative, but also better reposition him leading into the final contests."

I concur with Mr. Martin's analysis.

Harvard University professor Samantha Power, one of Democratic Presidential contender Senator Barack Obama's foreign policy advisers, did the right thing on March 7, 2008, when she apologized and then resigned for calling Senator Hillary Clinton, Mr. Obama's rival to be the Democratic party nominee to face Republican nominee Senator John McCain in the November 2008 presidential election in the United States, a monster. It was the money quote in an interview she gave the The Scotsman, Scotland's national newspaper. The article was published March 7, 2008.

Mr. Obama, who has pledged to run a clean campaign devoid of personal attacks, disavowed Ms. Power's remarks.

In discussing her mistake, which gave both Senator Clinton and McCain ammunition to use against the candidate she supposedly supports, Ms. Powers has been quoted as saying:

With deep regret, I am resigning from my role as an adviser to the Obama campaign. I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor and purpose of the Obama campaign. And I extend my deepest apologies to Senator Clinton, Senator Obama and the remarkable team I have worked with over these long 14 months.

The Ireland born, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide (2003), told the Boston Globe: "I care passionately - obviously, too passionately - about the Obama campaign. At the moment I felt I might do damage to the campaign, it was essential for me to remove myself and all the distractions that I had brought."

Obviously, she didn't care enough to keep her mouth shut. Issue and policy advisers should not speak for the campaign or publicly voice their opinions. Their opinions should be for the candidate and his staff's ears only.

Now, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business economics professor Austan Goolsbee, an economic adviser to Mr. Obama, should should also resign. On February 8, 2008, he supposedly told Canadian consulate officials in Chicago that Mr. Obama's position on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was just political posturing. This embarrassed Mr. Obama and gave Senator Clinton another issue to attack him on the eve of the March 4, 2008, Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island primaries. It put Mr. Obama in a  defensive posture for four days.

The Standard of Kenya reported February 19, 2008, that, "The executive Prime Minister’s office, abolished [in Kenya] on December 12, 1964 when Jomo Kenyatta became Kenya’s first President [after winning independence from Britain], is now inevitable if a political settlement out of the impasse is to be reached, The Standard has learnt." See "Reforms could see the return of powerful PM.

"The Standard said, "It is understood to be behind the inordinate delay in striking a deal because of its far-reaching political implications."

For background on what led to the call for power sharing and the reinstitution of the executive Prime Minister’s office, see Kenya Elections.com, "Kenyan General Election, 2007 and "Twilight robbery, daylight murder."

Meanwhile, Standard correspondent Ben Agina reported February 19, 2008, that, "US Secretary of State, Ms Condoleezza Rice, gave the strongest hint yet of a possible power sharing arrangement between [Kenyan] President [Mwai] Kibaki and ODM [Orange Democratic Movement] leader, Mr Raila Odinga. See "US proposes ‘real power sharing.’"

The Daily Nation of Kenya told its readers February 10, 2008, that, "The US has asked President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga to cede ground and quickly agree on a power-sharing deal to restore stability to the country. See "US pushes for quick peace deal."

The publication quoted Ms. Rice, "at the Muthaiga residence of US ambassador Michael Ranneberger," as saying: “The time for a political settlement was supposed to be yesterday and it (agreeing on a coalition) has to be urgent. The leaders (President Kibaki and Mr Odinga) have to come together and there is need to have a power sharing arrangement for the country to move forward.” 

RELATED LINKS

Grand coalition government could save Kenya -- The Sunday Standard, Standard News Team, Kenya

Coalition can still function without Raila, Kibaki at helm -- The Standard, Dominic Odipo, Kenya

"Canada's envoys to Washington, London, Kabul, Islamabad, Paris, The Hague, the United Nations, the European Union and NATO"... were "summoned to Ottawa [the Canadian capital] for a meeting at Foreign Affairs headquarters last Friday [February 8, 2008] to be briefed on the Manley report," according to a February 14, 2008, CanWest News Service report in the National Post of Canada. See "Diplomats assigned to troop search."

"While they were getting a firsthand briefing, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was leading his visible diplomatic offensive with telephone calls to the leaders of the U.S., Britain, NATO and France," according to the Post.

The publication quotes Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier as saying: "We need strong international leadership [on Afghanistan]. We need better co-ordination. That's why my government asked for a UN special envoy on Afghanistan and the Manley report [which was put together by Captain T. F. Manley] told us that: that the international community must better co-ordinate their work."

CHICAGO, USA -- Democratic Representative Howard L. Berman of California,USA, the No. 2 Democrat on the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, will become chairman of that committee in March, 2008. He succeeds Representative Thomas Lantos, also a Democrat from Californian, who died of cancer on February 11, 2008.

Unlike the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the House committee, called Committee on International Relations, from 1995-2007, does not ratify treaties confirm ambassadors. One of its strengths conducting investigations into international issues that affect the United States, among other things.

By the way, Mr. Berman, who represents California's 28th congressional district, has been a congressman since January 3, 1983.

If you want to read more about him, please see "Berman Brings Different Style but Familiar Agenda to Foreign Affairs Panel."

CHICAGO, USA -- El Diario of New York, USA says, "Hillary Clinton's campaign is in trouble and the highest ranking Hispanic in her camp is paying the price." See "Last in, first out."

CHICAGO, USA -- Joshua Green at The Atlantic Online has published a fascinating look "Inside the Clinton Shake-Up, which commenced on February 10, 2008. although some observers saw if coming after the Iowa caucus in January 2008." In an insightful, must read political analysis, Mr. Green wrote:

Like so much involving Hillary Clinton, Sunday’s departure of her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, has gotten tons of attention, but its larger significance has been somewhat misunderstood. I’ve spent a fair  amount of time over the last two years reporting on “Hillaryland,” as Clinton’s inner circle is known, for pieces like this one and this one, and also, infamously, for one that did not run when GQ magazine opted to kill it after learning of the Clinton campaign’s displeasure (full story here)

Mr. Green said, "The latter piece focused on the inner workings of Clinton’s presidential campaign and Solis Doyle’s controversial role in it, and I’ll draw on what I learned then to try to add perspective to recent happenings."

He certainly added perspective, which compels me to highly recommend the article. I'd love to see it gain wide circulation and be the subject of informed debate. I think it provides a clue to how a Clinton Administration would perform.

For an earlier analysis of the inside workings of the Clinton campaign, see Michael Cottle's article in the January 25, 2008, edition of The New Republic headlined "Putsch in Hillaryland."

CHICAGO, USA -- Former Arkansas governor "Mike Huckabee, still battling against the odds for the Republican nomination, weighed in on the Democratic fight today [February 12, 2008], saying he’s not surprised that Senator Barack Obama is doing so well against Senator Hillary Clinton, and he suggested Obama would be a tougher opponent for the Republicans this fall," Wall Street Journal reporter Laura Meckler reported February 12, 2008, in the Washington Wire blog.

Ms. Meckler said Mr. Huckabee told attendees at a breakfast hosted by the Boston, Massachusetts, USA-based  Christian Science Monitor:

Voters, ultimately, when they think about a leader, are not thinking about somebody who can fix the carburetor as much as it is they want someone who can drive the car and … describe the destination they want to go. That’s where I think Obama has had the distinct advantage.

According to WSJ Online, Mr. Huckabee said thinks political observers underestimated the junior senator from Illinois, USA, and “his capacity to inspire and I think bring a different kind of dialogue to the race.”

WSJ Online quotes Mr. Huckabee as saying Mr. Obama “has energized an enormous level of the electorate–not only in the Democrat Party — but I think in the general population.”

He gave Clinton credit for in-depth knowledge of policy but said: “She does not have the personality of her husband. But then again very few people do.”

CHICAGO, USA -- "The only real surprise in the announcement by the Clinton campaign of a senior staff reshuffle was that it took so long, proclaims Gerard Baker in an "American View" column in the February 12, 2008, Times Online headlined "Treacherous path to power trips Team Hillary Clinton."

Chicago Tribune correspondents Mike Dorning and Jill Zuckman reported in the February 11, 2008, edition of that newspaper that, Patti Solis Doyle, Democratic Presidential contender Hillary Clinton's former campaign manager, "had been living on borrowed time as Clinton's campaign manager following the poor showing in Iowa and the rockiness leading up to the New Hampshire primary. See "New head for Clinton campaign."

"What happened today [February 10, 2008] would have happened the day after New Hampshire had we lost," one knowledgeable source said, adding that others may soon follow Solis Doyle's departure," the Tribune reported.

According to Mr. Baker, United States Editor and an Assistant Editor of The Times, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch,  Ms. Solis "has been the object of repeated internal criticism and intense efforts to unseat her in the past few months. He contends:

The news that she was being replaced by Maggie Williams, a long-time adviser and friend to the New York senator, was the latest indication of how treacherous and unpredictable Mrs Clinton's once inevitable path to the Democratic nomination has become. It came in the midst of another slew of primary state victories for the surging Barack Obama that are close to providing him with the kind of momentum that, if unchecked, could carry him through to the nomination.

The Tribune said, "Initially, Williams was brought in to run the campaign even though Solis Doyle was still there. The result was confusion for the staff, who weren't sure who was really in charge, the source said." The Tribune noted:

But even more troublesome was the campaign's money crunch. Over the last seven years, Clinton had raised $175 million for her re-election and her presidential campaign. But Solis Doyle didn't tell Clinton that there was next to no cash on hand until after the New Hampshire primary.

"We were lying about money," the Tribune quotes its source as saying. "The cash on hand was nothing."

According to the Tribune, "Clinton didn't tell Solis Doyle she was lending money to keep the campaign afloat. Solis Doyle found out third-hand. And when she asked Clinton about it, the senator told her she couldn't understand how the campaign had gotten to such a point, the source said.

To read the email Ms. Solis Doyle sent to the Clinton staff about her replacement, see TPM Election Central's February 10, 2008, report headlined "Breaking: Hillary Top Staff Being Reshuffled; Solis Doyle Replaced As Campaign Manager."

NOTE: Links added to make readers familiar with the persons mentioned in this post.

Macharia Munene, professor of history and international relations at United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya, published an unflattering indictment of professor Ali Mazrui, who, according to Mr. Munene is "one of the most prolific academics that Africa has produced."

His article was in response to Mr. Mazrui's January 28, 2008, article in Uganda's Daily Monitor headlined "Should Kenya be suspended from the Commonwealth?" In the article, Mr. Mazrui, a professor of political science and currently director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at State University of New York, at Binghamton,said:

Kenya should be flattered, rather than insulted, by the amount of international attention it has received from the African Union, the European Union, the United States, other African leaders and the indefatigable Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

He also said, "If the crisis in the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo] had received half the attention that Kenya has attracted since the December 2007 election, two million Congolese lives might have been saved.  If the DRC has been the most neglected African crisis of this 21st century, the Kenya crisis has been the most responded to internationally."

Mr. Munene, writing in the February 11, 2008, edition of the Kenyan publication Business Daily, said Mr. Mazrui, "unlike [Senegalese]historian Cheikh Anta Diop or poet [Ugandan] Okot p'Bitek, did not create intellectual trouble for imperialist gatekeepers. They then promoted him as probably the best that Africans could produce."

Mr. Munene also wrote:

Seemingly in tune with the West that deliberately based its conclusions on selective information, Mazrui called for the AU and the Commonwealth to ostracise Kenya. His plea to Kenyans to do everything not to “lose friendship with the wider Western world” is amusing, but not surprising
. 
Blind to the on-going post modern colonialist manipulations in Kenya, Mazrui appeared to be quick to accept and repeat flawed logic from the West. The tragedy of Ali Mazrui, therefore, whether knowingly or not, is that he always gives the impression of being an articulate instrument of Western imperialism against African interests.

If you want to Mr. Munene's entire argument, please see "The ‘tragedy’ of Ali Mazrui."

RELATED LINKS

These Kenyans aren't traitors, they are the people's heroes -- By Cabral Pinto, Daily Nation, Kenya

Heed the adage that peace and injustice cannot cohabit -- By William R. Ochieng, Daily Nation, Kenya

CHICAGO, USA -- Any observer of the American presidential campaign who claims not to know where Senator Barack Obama stands on foreign policy matters should read 'Remarks of Senator Barack Obama to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs." 

That includes Mr. George W. Bush, the American president, who on February 10, 2008, told Chris Wallace, host of "Fox News Sunday" at Rupert Murdoch's conservative,  Fox News Network, he doesn't know what Mr. Obama believe in. Said Mr. Bush, according to a Fox News "Transcript: President Bush on 'FOX News Sunday":

I certainly don't know what he believes in. The only foreign policy thing I remember he said was he's going to  attack Pakistan and break the Mani Mijad (ph). I think (INAUDIBLE) that in a press conference.

By the way, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, once called the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, has been trying to influence global affairs since 1922. I've attended some of their events over the years.