South Africa’s UN vote on Syria

While the world was fixated on pointing a shameful finger at China and Russia over their vetoes of the UN resolution urging Bashir al-Assad to step down, South Africa had a very complicated tightrope to walk.

 South Africa voted with the majority in supporting the resolution, but cautioned that the Syrian people should be allowed to determine their own fate including leadership without the intervention of outside foreign powers. They voted for the resolution ultimately because they felt the resolution was not aimed at advocating Syrian regime change.

Developing nations like South Africa, India, and Brazil used the resolution vote to raise concerns about human rights violations in Syria, while expressing misgivings about foreign intervention in the wake of the NATO action in Libya.

These developing powers can hedge their votes in this way because of their positions as non veto holders. In this way, they have advocated the interests of Western Europe and The United States, while heeding the concerns of Russia and China about intervention.

The only question I have is “How long can developing powers play this role”?

States of Union

Presidential addresses like the recently delivered State of the Union address have two audiences: domestic and global.

 Christian Science Monitor did a very interesting article on how the international press reacted to the speech. The full article is available here: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/0125/State-of-the-Union-speech-as-heard-by-China-India-France-Israel. Here are some highlights :
Israel saw President Obama reaffirm the United States commitment to Israel’s security by declaring that negotiation was still possible with the Ahmadinejad government, while refusing to take any option off the table.

India saw President Obama’s tough words against intellectual piracy as a reflection of their own rivalry with China. Both China and India see themselves as the voice of the worlds impoverished, are growing economically, and are seeking a foothold within Africa.

South Africa sees in the United States a similar political dynamic. Two political parties that hardly talk to each other and instead orate to their own constituencies.

The French saw the address as outlining the case for a second Obama term. He wanted to portray the country as growing stronger, with plans to create an economy built to last.This goes to show that while the American media has their own contextual reasons to view the State of the Union , the international community often has its’ own interests when looking at the State of the Union.