Why is it that for the US democracy must not be undermined in Zimbabwe but not in Palestine?

United States educated former Zimbabwean minister Jonathan Moyo has blasted Washington for introducing new visa restrictions on Zimbabwe and has literally called on Harare to cut off diplomatic relations with the US.

Responding to the new visa restrictions on those undermining democracy in Zimbabwe announced by US secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday, Moyo said: “It’s a joke which is not funny that the US still shamelessly considers itself the paragon of democracy, with policing powers around the world, even as it is currently busy aiding and abetting Apartheid Israel to undermine democracy in Palestine and commit atrocities and genocide in occupied Gaza under siege.”

Moyo asked: “Since when has belief become the basis of the foreign policy of a superpower? And just how does a superpower – that is a super state – end up being concerned about individuals, not even state officials but individuals, in a small, land locked peaceful African country like Zimbabwe?

“Clearly, the US has a Zimbabwe problem; a fatal obsession bordering on racism. That is why it has an outrageous law made by its Congress to punish Zimbabwe, called Zdera, which stands for Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, enacted in 2001.”

Moyo was at one time on the US sanctions list but has since been removed.

He went on: “The fact that even with this, 22 years old Zdera, the US government feels it must ransack its Immigration and Nationality Act to find other measures on top of Zdera to punish individuals in Zimbabwe it believes are undermining democracy in the country is enough to show that the US, the fading superpower whose global influence is manifestly waning, is obsessed with Zimbabwe and its fatal obsession is racist.

“And, curiously, the US obsession with Zimbabwe is particularly acute with or among US administrations superintended by malcontents from that country’s Democrats, now poorly if not disastrously led by the clueless Joe Biden.

“Soon or later, Zimbabweans might have to debate and review the kind of relations that Zimbabwe should have with the US, in the national interest. Are diplomatic relations with the US of any use? Is a US visa really anything to write home about?

“The damage by the US to Zimbabwe’s sovereign reputation is untold.

“Enough should be enough. At some point, something must give in the national interest; if it has not, time might come for Zimbabwe to learn to use and speak the language that the US understands.

“And the fact that the issue is not only of concern to Zimbabwe but to other countries in the global south, means that there are opportunities to explore through emerging global blocks, such as the BRICS.

“Surely, a ‘superpower’ that is undermining democracy by supporting Apartheid Israel in Palestine and fuelling its genocide in Gaza has no moral authority to say anything about democracy anywhere, let alone in Zimbabwe.

“Why should anyone believe that the US is serious about democracy in Zimbabwe, and that its targeting of individuals it believes are undermining democracy in Zimbabwe is legitimate, when everyone can see that the same US does not care about democracy in Palestine, and is in fact funding and arming not only individuals but the state of Apartheid Israel itself, which is using atrocities and genocide to undermine democracy in Palestine?

“Why is it that, for the US, ‘democracy’ is important and must not be ‘undermined’ in Zimbabwe, but not in Palestine?”

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