International Affairs

Two images of Trump, with one side directed at the BRICS coalition, and the other directed at the 5 West African countries visiting the white house

Again, Trump’s Way or the Highway

A global trading system dominated by the dollar is no longer fit for purpose. Trump doesn’t think so. He believes the US can continue to eat its cake, preferring bullying and unilateralism to dialogue and multilateralism. The BRICS (now BRIC+) has a combined GDP that is two and a half times larger than the EU’s. It would be foolish of BRICS to underestimate its advantage or indulge Trump’s tantrums

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AI-generated image of stylised, landscape-mode political cartoon, depicting President Trump aggressively shouting “WHITE GENOCIDE”—emphasized by bold exclamation marks—contrasted with President Ramaphosa’s more subdued, explanatory posture

Inside the Oval Office, Trump’s new Lair

Trump wanted only one thing. He wasn’t interested in resetting trade talks or bilateral issues. He wasn’t interested in repairing ties between South Africa and the US or hearing firsthand the other view about the so-called genocide against white farmers. He wasn’t interested in conciliation. He was interested in only one thing: having Ramaphosa for lunch

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Image of Rasool and Trump on a backdrop of AU leaders

Rasool’s Expulsion Was Africa’s Missed Opportunity to Tackle the US Bully

During my visit to Israel last December, the talk at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs was that South Africa took a bribe of $2 billion from Iran to mount a case against the Benjamin Netanyahu government at the International Criminal Court (ICC), an allegation that diplomatic sources in Pretoria have denied

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images of Obasanjo, Omar al-Bashir, Patrice Lumumba, Haile Selassie, Mugabe and Zelenskyy

African Lessons Zelenskyy May Use in Ukraine

Africa’s experience teaches a different, nuanced lesson. From the betrayals of Haile Selassie during Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia to the murder of Patrice Lumumba of Congo, the continent learnt the hard way that only fools test the depth of a river with both feet. Unlike his predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych, Zelenskyy was just the fool the West needed

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an image of Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Justin Trudeau and Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo imposed on a background of 'tariffs'

From America First to America Alone: The Lab Meets the Street

When America Alone is mentioned today, it’s not a defence against threats to Western values or civilisation; it’s simply that Trump’s America First has turned the country into a clear and present danger to the values that built and prospered America and the rest of the world. America is losing its way, alone and aloof, in a brazen insularity that evokes pity and surprise in equal measure, even amongst its harshest critics

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