Foreign-sponsored regime-change in Libya; effects on Zimbabwe

Deposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is not in Zimbabwe and is unlikely to seek refuge there, but his months-long, carefully foreign-orchestrated, funded and armed fall is inevitably reverberating through Zimbabwe's politics.

READ MORE - Foreign-sponsored regime-change in Libya; effects on Zimbabwe

The awkwardness of 'enemies' who feed and educate you

There have been heated recent calls for 'security sector reform' in Zimbabwe, meaning trying to institute a military that is non-political and non-partisan. The key beneficiary of such a partisan military, the incumbent ruler, has dismissed the calls as being ''from an enemy who wishes to weaken us. We are not in the habit of taking advice from our enemies." But that same 'enemy' is feeding a big chunk of your population because you can't.

READ MORE - The awkwardness of 'enemies' who feed and educate you

Will the Chinese-built defence college be a national security threat for Zimbabwe?

How smart  and safe is it for a country to let another country build it a key defence installation? The main controversy over the new 'defence college' built by a Chinese company on Harare's outskirts has been on the unusual terms and methods of payment. Zimbabwean workers have also complained of being ill-treated by their Chinese bosses at the construction site. But perhaps the real danger to Zimbabwean interests is the possible long-term security threat.

READ MORE - Will the Chinese-built defence college be a national security threat for Zimbabwe?

Implications for Zimbabwe of a military successor to Mugabe

With President Robert Mugabe at 87 and said to be in failing health, things look set to come to a political head in Zimbabwe fairly soon. He and his party have feverishly insisted on an election soon, appearing to believe they currently are well positioned to win. But his opponents say all the factors that made the last election in 2008 so violent and controversial still exist, and that no election can be held until the electoral conditions are conducive to a free and fair poll, which they in turn believe they would win handily. While this debate about the next election is going on in the usual acrimonious Zimbabwean way, the possibility of a military successor to Mugabe has recently gained increasing currency.

READ MORE - Implications for Zimbabwe of a military successor to Mugabe

The thin story about Zimbabwe militarily supporting Libya's Gaddhafi

During the brief civil war in Ivory Coast at the beginning of the year, there were some reports that Zimbabwe's government was supporting Laurent Gbagbo, the then-Ivorian president who would not leave power after losing an election. There have also been scattered reports of Zimbabwean support for Libya's embattled Ghaddafi.

READ MORE - The thin story about Zimbabwe militarily supporting Libya's Gaddhafi

As West becomes more interventionist in Africa, Zimbabwe moves militarily closer to China

The Mugabe government has long feared that Britain and its Western allies were working to topple it from power. Opposition parties are often accused of 'working for the imperialists.' There is indeed evidence that Western governments have been supporting some opposition parties with funds and other kinds of support. President Mugabe has been vocal in insisting on the country's 'sovereignty' and right to chart its on course without foreign interference, and has often accused Western countries of wishing to engineer 'regime change' against his government.

READ MORE - As West becomes more interventionist in Africa, Zimbabwe moves militarily closer to China

How African rulers open the door to foreign interference

He may have little interest in the details of managing his country's economy for success, but Zimbabwe's ruler is in his element when pontificating about broad ideological issues of the African reality. This is why he is widely panned as a practical manager at home, but often widely celebrated as a fearless advocate for Africa abroad.

But strong-arm rulers like him often unwittingly drive their legitimate opposition movements into the arms of foreign 'regime change' agents.

READ MORE - How African rulers open the door to foreign interference