Hillary Splainin, Dissing, Patronizin, Criticizng African Leaders: Haughty Neo-Colonialist Attitude

[amborin]

Secretary of State Hillary showing respect toward Africans and Africa (NOT):

Hillary Was Tone-Deaf During Africa Trip

The media in Africa immediately labeled her speeches "lectures."

One day before arrived in Nairobi, her first stop on the seven-nation tour, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga told the United States: "We don't need lectures on how to govern ourselves.

Lecturing us on issues that deal with governance and transparency is in bad taste."

The next day, Clinton went ahead and criticized Kenya's leaders, calling on them to hold those responsible for the post-election violence accountable.

In Nigeria, the ruling party and the Senate President strongly condemned Mrs. Clinton's remarks.

In South Africa, the Southern Times argued in an editorial titled "Do we need these lectures from the West?" that her preaching cast her in the role of a "neo-colonial scold."

snip

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 11-day trip to Africa, which came less than a month after President Barack Obama's visit to Egypt and Ghana in July, was an attempt to emphasize Africa's importance to the United States. Clinton was supposed to reassure African leaders that the Obama administration intends to engage with the continent, despite wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and perennial problems in Israel and the Korean peninsula.

The trip, however, merely reinforced Africa's marginal position in U.S. foreign policy. Clinton did not announce any new initiatives or policy directions. Instead, she said the United States would continue to support Bush administration initiatives on "faith-based" HIV prevention and Millennium Development grants. She also pledged to extend military aid to Somalia and $17 million for victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Clinton's rhetoric during the trip signaled a continuation of the Bush administration's dualism in its policies toward Africa.

This dualism consists of moral condemnation of corruption and human rights abuses while facilitating economic and security ties with mineral-rich and security partners.


During the trip, Secretary of State Clinton appeared as petulant and imperious.

Her self-proclaimed "tough love" speeches sounded patronizing.

She threatened Eritrea with unspecified action for supporting militants in Somalia.

In the DRC, she lost her temper at skeptical questions from students.

In response to a question about the motives for her trip, she replied that the United States was not obliged to aid victims of violence.

]She also took umbrage at another student's query about her husband's views on China's investments in Africa. In Angola, too, she struck an incongruous figure lecturing on good governance, despite the history of U.S. efforts to subvert the democratic process by financing a terrorist militia (UNITA) to destabilize the government.

Clinton insisted on giving unsolicited advice on the connection between democracy and economic growth.

snip

Nesbitt, Francis Njubi. Foreign Policy in Focus. (Aug 21, 2009).

[Todays_Illusion]

1. Pandering is a Clinton specialty, done by Bill and done in triplicate by Hillary. nt

[dchill]

2. Supercillary.

[msanthrope]

3. Do you have any links to support your OP? nt

[amborin]

6. the link is at the bottom of the page

[jeff47]

7. That's the citation. Here's the link

http://fpif.org/clinton_tone-deaf_during_africa_trip/

[amborin]

13. thanks!

[Jitter65]

4. More BS from BS supporters. nt

[jillan]

5. I think it's so adorable how you call Bernie supporters BSers. It reminds me of my kids when

they were little and they'd hear a cuss word & use it. And I would pretend to be mad but inside I was laughing at how they thought they were so cool.

[ljm2002]

11. FPIF has endorsed Bernie?

Cool!

[Scuba]

8. How does one say abuela in Swahili?

[pdsimdars]

10. OMG! What a brilliant reference!

[Spacedog1973]

9. This is not what it seems

Africa has complex political issues that vary from country to country. Africans also have a well reasoned aversion to being paternally lectured by the 'West'. What happens is that African leaders publicly condemn Western lectures to placate their populace and appear 'strong', whilst continuing to engage in deals that enrich themselves personally, whilst stripping the wealth from the country. Its a political game that has been going on since the end of Empire.

Political violence is a real issue on some African countries. This isn't even controversial. Its valid to point this out where it occurs as it is usually used as a means to maintain defacto dictatorships. Her comments are supposed to placate those in the West to moderate our dealings with African leaders who are despots - again, this has been going on since end of Empire.

Both her, and the response to her comments are meant to be publicly digested and are not what they seem. Business continues between African countries and the West and the relationships between them remain solid behind the scenes.

i.e. Every so often, the West has to 'condemn' countries like Saudi Arabia for their barbaric practices - realistically, they don't care as long as the oil keeps coming. But politically, they must make comment. The different being between Saudi Arabia and many African countries is that Saudi Arabia doesn't pretend to be a democratic state and has no reason to play to popularism by making adversarial statements in response.

TL:dr - Africa is the most resource rich continent on the planet. We need those resources and are not going to end our dealings with Africa any time soon. The Problem? Many African leaders have corrupt regimes that don't play well in the West. Solution? Whilst continuing dealing, the West must every so often 'condemn' African leaders and African leaders must 'play strong' in their response. Conclusion? Enables things to continue as usual. Hilary is a politician in a long line of politicians who must 'play this song'.

[amborin]

14. your use of "whilst" suggests you are posting from the UK or one of its former colonies, or this is

from some other source that needs to be cited

[VulgarPoet]

12. Why do I get the feeling they just made her "intervention" list?

The Clintonian penchant for revenge is well documented...