Fruits of the Look East policy rile USA

Mukachana Hanyani
THE United States of America should be more concerned with the war in Syria and Iraq where the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters, which the USA created and armed are terrorising innocent people and also beheading USA citizens than working daily to destroy the economic revival of Zimbabwe which she has destroyed through uncalled for illegal sanctions which she imposed more than a decade ago.

As the remaining super power since the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in the early 1990s, the USA is supposed to let the developing nations, where Zimbabwe is included, to determine what they want their economies to be. It is not the duty of the USA to direct other countries to do things against their will. It is quite naïve for the USA to be concerned with bullying other countries and also meddling in their internal affairs.
Zimbabwe is an independent country which should not be terrorised by any country just because of her policies.

Any country in the international community including the USA should treat Zimbabwe as a country with her own destiny. It is not proper for countries with economic muscles to impose their will on developing countries like Zimbabwe.

The USA, in conjunction with the European Union (EU), imposed sanctions on the country because Zimbabwe came up with the land reform programme. Now the same USA is trying to further damage the economy of Zimbabwe by destroying the Zim-Russia economic deals which were signed recently. The USA thinks that all those countries in the world going against her will should be punished and Zimbabwe happens to be among those countries unwilling to be told what to do by the USA.

The big brother mentality which the USA uses is destroying economies of some developing countries as it uses economic sanctions against countries that are perceived to be against what the Americans want. After Zimbabwe got punished through sanctions by the USA, Zimbabwe came up with the Look East Policy where it sought to get economic assistance from countries in the east, particularly the Asian economic giants led by China.

Now that the Look East Policy by Zimbabwe has recently brought in investment deals signed between Zimbabwe and China as well as other economic deals signed between Russia and Zimbabwe, the USA is now targeting to destroy Russia and Zimbabwe economically.

The USA is jealous over such new deals signed by Zimbabwe with those two economic giants; hence, she wants to destroy the economic revival of this country by making sure that Zimbabwe and Russia sever ties.

In an article titled: “US seeks to undo Zim-Russia platinum deal,” published in The Sunday Mail on October 5, 2014, the USA is reportedly telling Zimbabwe that the country should sever ties with Russia in order to stop Zimbabwe from being put under increased sanctions by the same. The story further says that since Russia is under sanctions from the USA and the EU over her alleged support of the insurgents fighting the Ukraine government, Zimbabwe should not have economic relations with Russia.

This threat of more illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe by the USA is just a threat which Zimbabwe should not take seriously as the same has the current regime of sanctions already in existence in the country.

The USA should not forget that Zimbabwe has been under the USA sanctions for more than a decade, not because the country had ties with Russia. The USA was hoodwinked by the UK into imposing sanctions on the country as a reaction against the country`s land reform program which sought to correct the land imbalances that were created by her former colonial power, Britain.

The bilateral disagreement between Zimbabwe and the UK on the land reform programme was internationalised by the UK leading into most of the western countries joining the UK into imposing sanctions against Zimbabwe. The country has been under sanctions for more than a decade and for the USA to advise Zimbabwe to drop ties with Russia in order to avoid more sanctions is cheap politicking. This move shows that the USA is jealous of Zimbabwe and wants to see Zimbabweans continue to suffer.

The USA knows quite well that when she imposed sanctions on the country it was an issue which had nothing to do with her foreign policy, but she did that to please the UK. So the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the USA had nothing to do with Zim-Russian relationships. As such there is no reason for the same to proffer threats to the effect that Zimbabwe should cut ties with Russia as a way of avoiding sanctions when the country is already under illegal sanctions imposed by the USA and her allies.

It does not make economic sense for Zimbabwe to take the USA`s threat seriously as the country has been under the unsolicited sanctions for nearly two decades and the country has done nothing wrong against the USA that deserves such treatment. In 2000, the USA came up with an African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) which excluded Zimbabwe from trading with her but with other African states, as the USA said that Zimbabwe was not observing human rights. That Act came into effect during the height of the land reform program in the country and as such, Zimbabwe was not prepared to stop the program of redistributing land equally to deserving people in the country.

As if AGOA was not enough, in 2003, the USA government came up with the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) which sought to criminalize all American companies which were going to do business with Zimbabwean companies thereby creating a barrier between business associates in the two countries.

So Zimbabwe should not take seriously the directive from the USA to cut ties with Russia.

As such, the USA is not qualified to lecture Zimbabwe on what it should do with its foreign policy; instead Zimbabwe should make sure that more investments come from those countries which matter most in terms of friendship.

It is clear that the USA is now jealous of the developments which are taking place in the country and she has now realized that the regime change agenda has failed, prompting her to appear to be a chief advisor of Zimbabwe yet she is full of crocodile tears.

So Zimbabwe should keep on with its Look East Policy to make it possible for further investment deals to be signed so that the economy is revived.

Mukachana Hanyani is a Harare-based political analyst.