Word: strongmen
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...point is that Washington and Quito could have worked this out more maturely than the outcome shows. The U.S. could have, and should have, been better tuned in to the fact that Correa, love him or hate him, is not one of the obliging military strongmen or feckless oligarchs that used to run Ecuador, and that his anti-American agenda has been pretty clear since he won the presidency in 2006. He recently decided not to renew the U.S. lease at Ecuador's Manta air base (although, ironically, he said Saturday he would grant U.S. planes limited...
...then there are the strongmen of the former Soviet republics of central Asia, for whom being caught in a battle for influence between Washington and Moscow has clear advantages. Bakiyev made clear that the Manas decision was a financial one - Russia was ponying up cash, and Washington hasn't been paying enough, as far as the Kyrgyz leader is concerned. But he gave the Americans six months to vacate the base, and, well, a lot can happen in six months. U.S. officials say negotiations on the base deal are ongoing. Given Russian indications - and the loopholes left by Bakiyev...
...Indonesia's relatively sluggish performance can be traced to the fall of Suharto - an autocrat who repressed political dissent but who, like other Asian strongmen of his era, was able to guide the country toward prosperity. After he was forced to step down in 1998 amid an economic meltdown, a new government set about erasing his dictatorial imprint; in 1999 an effort began to decentralize the once all-encompassing power of Jakarta, giving provinces and cities more influence over local affairs. Today, Indonesia's political system is more inclusive and remarkably stable. Some 34 political parties will participate in next...
Washington is another question. American administrations have traditionally favored military strongmen over weak civilian governments. President Bush has routinely praised Musharraf in almost effusive terms and maintained complicit silence over his sacking of the judiciary last year. And with renewed anxiety over militancy in the tribal badlands, and disappointment with the civilian leaders' failure to tame it, the Bush administration may wish to hang onto the man it once termed its "most allied ally...
Score one for pressure. Bill Clinton has flexed some muscle in the Caribbean, and Haiti's military regime seems close to crying uncle. Backed into a corner, the strongmen who have ruled Haiti since overthrowing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991 appear to want a face-saving way out of the crisis they themselves sparked. The tale begins last Thursday evening. With visions of Somalia in mind, the staff of Haitian army commander Raoul Cedras drafted a ''letter of reconciliation'' to be presented to the U.S. What was offered, TIME has learned, contravened the key elements of the Governors Island...