Buddy or Bully?

Today President Bush met with South African President Thabo Mbeki. This led The Mail & Guardian to ask: "U.S.: Buddy or Bully?" It is a fascinating piece that ultimately condcludes that the US could be a bully, but that right now, it cannot afford to do so. In the words of Richard Cornwell of the Institute for Security Studies, "When Bush looks for lily pads to hop on to as he negotiates across Africa, he’s not exactly spoiled for choice. South Africa is the only sure thing right now. Angola might prove another, although its joining Opec will not have reassured Washington. Nigeria, moving into election mode, is hardly a stable platform.”

All international relations, even those regarding the United States when we are seen as something of a global bully, do not have to boil down to the strong exercising power against the weak. South Africa is by most measures the most powerful nation in sub-Saharan Africa, maybe even on the continent as a whole. South Africa thus has its own leverage in the relationship with the US while at the same time, South Africa wants and needs US support and investment -- US interest.

South Africans know that they will not have President Bush to deal with forever. But for now, they do. Thabo Mbeki is not about to cut off his nose to spite his face by endangering his relationship with the United States, and there is no reason why President Bush will resort to bullying behavior in a relatively brief meeting with the South African president. The "bully vs. buddy" syllogism was probably too cute for the author and editors not to use, but it does not reflect the realities of the current US-South Africa relationship.