Sunday Mail gives Jonathan Moyo rope with which to hang himself over Wikileaks

In its aggressively and slavishly pro-ZANU role the Sunday Mail is usually blunt and heavy-handed to the point of being counter-productive at winning over people to the side of its political masters. The arguments and propaganda are so often overdone that they make one laugh and shake one's head in disbelief. So it was with great surprise that one observes the clever subtlety with which the paper let the infamous Jonathan Moyo further embarrass himself over the epic Wikileaks tale. The paper allowed him to attempt to play analyst of leaked U.S.diplomatic cables in which he features in unflattering light, and to explain his justification for behavior he has ridiculed others for. We all embarrass ourselves at some time or other, but most wise people capable of feeling shame either humbly own up, or lie low and keep quiet, or all three.

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Wikileaks cables show Mugabe outfoxed all his foes

The latest batch of leaked U.S.diplomatic cables provide additional proof of the continuing dominance of president Robert Mugabe on Zimbabwe's politics in general, and over ZANU-PF in particular.

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U.S. in Zimbabwe: Wikileaks shows range of influence gambits at play

The latest batch of Wikileaked cables again have a heavy Zimbabwe component, and are even more likely to shake up politics than the first revelations a few months ago. The strangely deep interest of the U.S.government in Zimbabwe's politics is again fully on display.

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Can Gideon Gono avoid trouble for himself over latest Wikileaks cables?

That Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono has “considerable ego and ambition” is no secret to anyone. Nor are his love for the limelight and his predilection for depicting himself as the central player in any of the dramas in which he has been involved. Those have been many, in his role a central banker whose closeness to the Mugabes and resulting influence is without precedence in Zimbabwe. Are the new Wikileaks U.S. diplomatic cables revelation going to change everything for Gono?

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How NATO's toppling of Gaddafi will be read in Harare

The African Union has been left looking particularly helpless on Libya. After initially supporting the UN resolution for NATO military action 'to protect civilians' from attacks by Gaddhafi's government, the AU was left embarrassed when it became clear that the real intent was the overthrow of his government. Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe was one of the few to publicly express regret at having supported the UN resolution. How might reports of the western engineered/supported end of Gaddhafi's regime affect the receipt by Mugabe's government of the diplomatic olive branch recently extended by the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe?

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Egypt, Zimbabwe: similar concerns over foreign NGO funding

One of the effects of the diplomatic coolness between Zimbabwe and western countries is that the latter, especially Britain and the U.S., have increasingly engaged with Zimbabweans through support of various NGOs rather than directly with the government. The Mugabe government resents this for many reasons, and the practice has some drawbacks for the donor countries as well. A furore over the role of USAID in Egypt suggests that the tensions this causes are not strictly because of poor relations between particular governments, but go deeper to the legitimate sovereignty concerns.

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Moving out of the rut of poor U.S.-Zimbabwe relations

U.S. ambassador Charles Ray startled many Zimbabweans last week when he made an announcement of his government's official neutrality in the upcoming electoral match between ZANU-PF and the MDC. That is not only the correct position for the representative of a foreign government to take, it needed to be said because that neutrality by the U.S. government was far from obvious to many Zimbabweans, which is also why his statement was surprising. His speech may represent the best opportunity in many years for kick-starting bad relations that are unnecessary, and that serve neither country well.

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