The People Vs. The "Harare Syndrome".

In response to Morgan Tsvangirai's visit to the U.K, an editorial in The Times newspaper of June 23rd 2009 describes the " Harare Syndrome" with a question: "Is morgan Tsvangirai identifying with his persecutors [Mugabe and his cronies] and turning a pragmatic blind eye to their appalling crimes?"

There is some sense in the thinking in this editorial that giving Zimbabwe the much needed aid requested by Mr Tsvangirai may well serve to continue to perpetuate Robert Mugabe in power..

What the editorial perhaps fails to do is highlight in starker terms, the plight of the ordinary man woman and child on the streets.. a plight made particularly worse by crippling sanctions.

Putting the plight of ordinary Zimbabweans side by side with the anxiety over propping up a dictator and his cronies might well help to proffer best and practical solutions to dealing with the regime without alienating Its people.

Morgan Tsvangirai decided on a power sharing agreement with Robert Mugabe, not to validate Mugabe. He did it for the sake of ordinary Zimbabweans..

The more talk is motivated and driven by conviction, the surer the acceptance..

Reports have it that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dispatched defense minister Ehud Barak to Washington in the hope of reaching a compromise with the Obama administration regarding continued settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

Benjamin Netanyahu was earlier said to have declared the Obama call for total freeze of settlement construction as 'unreasonable'.

At this critical point in the discourse, it is important that the message coming out of Washington remains resolute, unequivocal, unambiguous..

In other words, it is important that Washington's talk continue to be driven by conviction..
..a conviction that a freeze on settlement expansion is in the interest of peace.

As tough as it may be, successfully making painful and difficult compromises serves to foster long term sustained acceptance and followed from that, long term mutual accommodation..