Modern South Africa was born of communist terrorism and agitation. Or have we forgotten about Winnie Mandela’s “necklaces”?
The Soviets supplied the ANC, the current ruling party in a virtual one party state, with arms and advisors. Thus by embracing the policies of a KGB colonel, the South Africans are merely reverting to form and proving they are still a regime that will slavishly back Russian imperialism at the drop of a hat. Their president’s arguments are preposterous, as are those of the Soviets…er…um…Russians.
But it doesn’t matter that much either way. The South Africans are a fourth rate power about as prepossessing as a hamster. Their counsel or influence means little in the corridors of power.
NATO has always been a defensive alliance and thus Russia has nothing to fear. NATO has never, ever, made an aggressive move against Russia. I served for 2 years with US forces in the NATO alliance. When I was with the Pershing Nuclear Missile Brigade, we could of if ordered, to paraphrase Barry Goldwater, put a bird through the window of the Kremlin men’s room. We did not.
FNC: “South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday blamed NATO for provoking Russia into invading its neighbor Ukraine. Speaking in parliament Thursday, Ramaphosa said the war, now entering its 4th week, could have been avoided if NATO hadn’t expanded eastward.
Ramaphosa said he did not want to take sides because it would hurt his country’s role as a possible mediator. He alluded to South Africa playing a similar role in a conflict between Northern Ireland and former Finish President Marti Ahtisaari. South Africa was one of 35 countries that abstained from voting on the UN resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia was joined in voting against the resolution by Belarus, which is providing staging for Russia’s military, North Korea, Eritrea, and Syria. The United States and 140 other countries voted to adopt the resolution.”
In each case, the approach that I took was informed by the specific circumstances and nature of the position.These considerations will inform the approach that I take with respect to the appointment of the SAPS National Commissioner.
#RamaphosaQandA [1] https://t.co/ngVs9E948j [2]— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) March 17, 2022 [3]
“The war could have been avoided if NATO had heeded warnings from amongst its own leaders and officials over the years that its eastward expansion would lead to greater, not less, instability in the region,” Ramaphosa said. See above. Hogwash.
“There are those who are insisting that we should take a very adversarial stance against Russia. The approach we are going to take (instead) is … insisting there should be dialogue,” he said, adding: “Screaming and shouting is not going to bring an end to this conflict.” No, watching Russian dead pile up high before the gates of Kyiv will bring an end to this conflict.