The landscape of history is littered with the skulls and bones of actors of all type who lacked sufficient understanding of their arena of activism prior to getting involved. That is why in the realm of politics for instance, there are dictators in the mold of Cuba’s Fidel Castro, and those in the mold of Mr. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. In the case of Castro, in spite of all the constraints that he has been faced with from the US ever since he came to power in 1959, he continues to pile one success after another that helps him retain support from a majority of Cubans. Zimbabwe under Mugabe is a contrast. Mugabe’s greatest undoing was his inability to appreciate that the land question in Zimbabwe involves more than possession. There’s also the issue of economics. It is indeed, that issue of economics that makes the difference between possessing the land and tilling it in such ways that would entail productivity.
A close look at the travails of Mr. Paul D. Wolfowitz at the World Bank would reveal that he hardly understood that institution sufficiently when he got there. He may have understood that the Bank is a presidential institution, but his belief that everything else will fall into place there for him on the grounds that he represents the US was completely off mark. It seems like that same assumption has been a crucial aspect of the drag on the Bush administration that he came from in most of its endeavors. The outcome in case after case is impeccably clear. Is it the UN, the War Against Terror, Iraq, Katrina, the termination of the eight (now nine) US attorneys, one can go on and on. Ideology hasn’t been and wouldn’t be sufficient in each of these cases. There has to be a clear and proper understanding of the issues at steak beyond the conviction that it is the might of the US that will make the difference and translate to success.
If he succeeds in retaining his position as president at the Bank, or goes to another arena of human endeavor, Mr. Wolfowitz must realign his style of engagement in a way that makes understanding the first act in his play.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
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