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United Nations — Descending like some diplomatic denizen on the lands of the poor, forgotten, and the distraught, President Bill Clinton took his road show to Africa, the Middle East, and South America in a marathon bid to spread goodwill, advice, and money. The peripatetic President visited Nigeria, Tanzania, Egypt, and later Columbia in a seven day political spin cycle still searching for the legacy which eludes him. His speech at the United Nations will no doubt connect these themes and others in his usual laundry list oratory which stresses the governance of gentle globalism.
Playing to his persona of "I feel your pain and I'll solve all your problems" rather than the more familiar political fund raiser mode, Bill Clinton first landed in Nigeria bringing his usual benedictions of "let's all celebrate your new democracy." While its certainly important that an American President went to this West African powerhouse, realistically Nigeria itself is the reason and cause to devote a single visit — with a singular focus and aim rather than a way station to the next cause de jour. In other words don't combine Nigeria with a choc-a- bloc of other equally serious policy subjects all in the space of less than a week.
Given Nigeria's own political and ethnic problems--never mind the crippling undertow of corruption — Nigeria has become its own worst enemy. Despite is fabulous oil resources, Nigeria has managed to run up a $30 billion debt. As London's Economist cautioned, "Years of economic mismanagement and self-devouring corruption have not only deprived it of authority in the region, they have deepened the economic, religious and ethnic rifts that threaten the unity of the country." Remember Biafra?
Next stop was the East African land of Tanzania for a photo op at a power sharing deal supposedly settling Burundi's savage civil conflict — ethnic cleansing which would sicken the Serbs. Here too the sprinkling diplomatic fairy dust on the bones of hundreds of thousands who perished in the 1990's did little to solve the problem shadowed by the recent genocide.
Air Force One then descended upon Cairo for a quickie update/coercion/coaxing to President Hosni Mubarak to bring his Palestinian brothers together for a Middle East Peace deal — before the November elections. Again the usual coaxing and private assurances of economic largesse "if the parties take the moral high road to peace." America will underscore the prosperity. Not too much coverage from Cairo as this was just a refueling stop with time to check on the status of an October surprise in the making.
Clinton always addresses the symptoms but never gets to solving the problems. The foray into Cartegaena, Colombia's magnificent Spanish colonial port is a perfect case and point. We know of the drug scourge and the horrible crimes perpetrated by the cartels in Columbia both to their own people, and to America by drug-related violence and abuse. Nonetheless, the war on drugs has droned on for years, and with mixed results; ninety percent of the cocaine reaching the U.S. comes from this South American land.
The Colombians have argued for years and throughout many political regimes in Bogota, that much of the problem rests in not only in supply by their campesinos but in demand in El Norte, namely the USA. Long forgotten "Drug Summits" at the UN over the years have always stressed this obvious connection — just don't blame the producers.
Here Clinton brought his bag of $1.3 billion in goodies for President Andres Pastrana's embattled government, to help fight the narco traffickers to begin solving this problem. In the meantime, the US is inching into what used to be called a counterinsurgency campaign, but today is politically airbrushed as assisting polite policemen. It's the same bird.
If we were truly serious about following through, fine, but this is likely another style over substance stopover which is part of the scandal ridden Clinton/Gore Administration's uniquely shambolic foreign policy.
John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.
