Why Walk to Work Reload Won’t Fly

January 26, 2011

KAMPALA – The recent announcement that Activists for Change is “reloading” the Walk to Work campaign, in which Ugandans are to walk from their residents to their place of employment in a peaceful expression of discontent with the direction of the country, is welcome news to the reform-minded here.

It was Walk to Work I, last April, that challenged the nothing-we-can-do mindset with a yes-we-can refrain, and the timing of Reload is auspicious: bribery scandals are rocking the ruling party, national debt and inflation are soaring. Bank interest rates have neared 30%, electricity subsidies are set to end. Unemployment is at 83%. There’s a lot for ordinary Ugandans to be angry about.

And yet Walk to Work Reload has all the makings of a bad Hollywood sequel.

US Recalibrates its Hard Power

December 14, 2011

At the close of the Bush era, amid the wreckage of Afghanistan, Iraq – set for US withdrawal later this month – and the “unwinnable” asymmetrical war on terror, the world grew dismissive of American military might. Even State Department officials I spoke with were lamenting the thought of another overseas operation.

But amazing how quick reality can change in the world of warcraft.

Yesterday’s Republican Debate

November 23, 2011

Yesterday’s Republican debate covered foreign policy and national security. Obama’s success overseas* has made it hard for Republicans to gain points by directly attacking his record, and most candidates last night chose wisely instead to differentiate themselves from each other. (Indeed the eventual Republican nominee will need to focus more on the President’s domestic record to emerge victorious.)

Full of empty promises that glossed over the complexities of governing the world, the occasion did offer a taste of what kind of world the candidates would usher in.

Here’s a round up: