JOHANNESBURG — President Jacob Zuma’s recent appointment of a team of envoys to monitor the unity government in neighboring Zimbabwe could mark a departure from the quiet diplomacy employed by South Africa under former President Thabo Mbeki. Zuma took over the mediation role in the Zimbabwean crisis last month, and appointed a three-person team two weeks ago to oversee the functioning of Zimbabwe’s national unity government. Established on Feb. 15, the coalition government in Harare has been threatened by sharp differences between the country’s two main political rivals, President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU (PF) party and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s principal [...]
Every few months, Israelis undergo an emotionally wrenching experience, with one family in particular experiencing it on a level no other could comprehend. With cruel regularity, the local and international media announce the imminent release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, captured by Palestinian operatives more than three years ago. Once again, there is word that negotiations between the Israeli government and Hamas, the Islamic organization that governs Gaza, are on the verge of bringing an end to Shalit’s captivity. With the help of German and Egyptian intermediaries, the two sides may soon conduct a trade. Israel could free perhaps as many [...]
A series of recent moves indicates that Iran’s fundamentalist Shiite hierarchy is increasingly wary of extremist Sunni beliefs and the militant practitioners bringing them into the Islamic Republic from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and even Iraq. As part of an effort to halt the spread of radicalism, Iranian authorities are denouncing those tenets and deporting non-nationals who ascribe to them, while combating Sunni terrorists at home. Having been a state sponsor of terrorism for many years, the regime in Tehran and Qom has now begun experiencing a measure of the fear they have previously inflicted on others. In a November meeting with [...]
