Saturday, June 28, 2008

And The Conditions For Liberal Democracy Are No Longer Extant In The West, Umm, Britney World Either...


This weekend there will be voices in our Prime Minister's ear suggesting how
in one bound he might cast off his dithering reputation. To help to broker the
toppling of Robert Mugabe (they will whisper) might be just the sort of
history-making that rescued Margaret Thatcher from doldrums at home, before
Galtieri invaded the Falklands. In The Times this week Lord (Paddy) Ashdown of
Norton-sub-Hamdon suggested that intervention may become necessary. Mr Brown
will think hard about this; list the pros; list the cons; dither; and finally
decide it's all too difficult.

Well let's hear it for dithering. Beware the widely held opinion that all we
need is Robert Mugabe's head on a stick. In Iraq we called this the decapitation
strategy, and duly secured the required head - Saddam's - on the right stick.
Then it all went wrong. The ingredients necessary for a liberal democracy were
not, it turned out, there. Why should things be different in Africa?

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