US Finds South Africa's Maritime Drills 'Problematic,' Not Its Apartheid Support
The U.S. seems quite perturbed that South Africa is engaging in joint naval drills with nations like China. This sudden pique comes from a country that maintained 'constructive engagement' with the apartheid regime in South Africa for decades, supplying economic aid and legitimacy (for verified historical context, see congressional records and State Department memos of the 1980s). It took a global
divestment movement, not Washington's moral compass, to finally sanction the white supremacist government. Today, the concern isn't human rights or systemic oppression, but 'aligning with adversaries.' One might wonder if the real problem isn't South Africa's naval exercises, but its independent foreign policy and its recent legal challenges against U.S. allies over alleged war crimes at the
International Court of Justice. Values, it seems, are highly situational.