AEI now has a blog
Iran Behaving Like North Korea
By Danielle Pletka
May 5, 2009, 1:00 pm
Glenn Reynolds noticed the Iranian incursion into Iraq over the weekend, struck that the media was uninterested. The airstrikes were the first since the U.S. toppled Saddam. More interesting still is the fact that the Iranians have taken to behaving like North Korea – putting a bone out there for the Obama administration to sniff, and then snatching it back when Washington shows too much interest. Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist convicted of spying is a case in point. First she was sentenced to eight years, and now the regime is promising to review and possibly reduce her sentence. Ahmadinejad has welcomed "peaceful dialogue", but has failed to respond to American overtures. As Joe Biden said, Obama will be tested. On April 29, Ahmadinejad pronounced the test over: "Today the ill wishers of the Iranian nation are in a weak position." Mahmoud, I think you're right. (NB: Links to more Iranian news stories can be found here.)
Hope for Zimbabwe
By Roger Bate
May 5, 2009, 11:43 am
A BBC report says that neighboring and regional African nations have opened lines of credit to the Zimbabwean government worth $400 million. The country's finance minister, Tendai Biti, said the funds would allow civil service salaries to be paid, which is essential to help rebuild the largely destroyed economy. Biti is a member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which was in opposition until a power sharing deal was made two months ago. As long as the MDC controls the funds they will probably be used as intended. But risks remain because of the entirely untrustworthy ZANU PF party and its autocratic leader Robert Mugabe, who remains president of the wretchedly poor country.
It is good to see the Southern African region attempt to assist Zimbabwe. Regional leaders have announced multibillion dollar aid packages before — including a $5 billion pledge in March — but never followed through. When I read the fine print about the March package, all the cash was supposed to be provided by Western governments and the World Bank.
So the new African funds buy time for the MDC to negotiate with Western governments and establish practices that will protect any aid provided for the use of the population (so it will not be stolen by Mugabe and his thugs). If the MDC does not do this, it won't be long before it becomes part of the problem.
The Enterprise Blog (5 May 2009)
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