Hong Kong has a history of being a refuge for exiled political leaders. Sun Yat-sen attended school there made it a base from which to agitate for the eventual fall of the Qing dynasty. Filipino independence leader Emilio Aguinaldo was sent to Hong Kong by Spain in the late 1800s before returning to fight against colonial rule. Now there are inklings the city could host another political leader and anticolonial hero, albeit one whose country has plunged into poverty and misrule. My colleague Ishaan Tharoor writes today about reports that Charles Mugabe of Zimbabwe has purchased a home in Hong Kong which could be a refuge should the dire conditions in the nation he leads turn worse. His wife was spotted in Hong Kong recently, and her bodyguard allegedly attacked a photographer who was pursuing her in a shopping mall. Mugabe’s daughter is also reportedly attending university in Hong Kong. If the old strongman himself ends up in Hong Kong, I’m guessing that unlike Sun, he won’t be honored with plaques and a museum.
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Obama’s Afghanistan Problem: Neither Karzai Nor the Taliban Like the ‘Reconciliation’ Script
President Barack Obama huddled with President Hamid Karzai in Chicago on Sunday, urging Afghanistan’s leader to accelerate negotiations with the Taliban over a political solution to the longest war in America’s history. But the prospect for Karzai negotiating successfully with the insurgents is clouded by a question raised by Josef Stalin, on the eve of World War II, in response to the suggestion that he offer concessions to the Pope: “How many divisions does he have?” The Taliban now ask the same question about Karzai. And should the Afghan leader also ask himself the question, he might reach a similarly dispiriting conclusion. Karzai’s independent power base is minimal, as is his ability to influence the outcome of his country’s civil war absent direct U.S. involvement. And that gives neither Karzai nor the Taliban much incentive to cut a deal with the other.
Must-Reads from Around the World, May 21, 2012
Spillover - Lebanon’s Daily Star reports on escalating violence inside the country after soldiers shot dead a prominent anti-Bashar al-Assad Muslim preacher Sunday. “The gravity of the incident… prompted leaders on both sides of the political divide to call for calm and restraint to prevent the country from sliding into sectarian strife as a result of a spillover of the 15-month-old uprising in neighboring Syria,” it says.
A Royal Party: Britain Celebrates 60 Years of Queen Elizabeth II
From parades to concerts, and even tea with commoners, 86 year-old Queen Elizabeth II is traversing the United Kingdom to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee.
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