EBRAHIM & TRUMP NOT SO STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

Shannon Ebrahim, Group Foreign Editor of Independent Media, is no shrinking violet. (op-ed Cape Times 3/28/17).  Her writings portray her as uncompromising and dogmatic - it is her way or the highway.  

The US has yet to appoint its ambassador to South Africa, and Ebrahim is at wits' end because the word in Washington is that South African born Joel Pollack, editor-at-large for Breitbart News, Trump's go-to extreme right wing news source, is on the shortlist for ambassador to South Africa.  Ebrahim is of the view that Pollack's appointment as ambassador will be a disaster for South Africa. 

It is widely expected US foreign policy under the Trump administration will undergo radical change, driven by Trump's 'America First Foreign Policy' paradigm. 

Ebrahim has been supportive of the ANC government's anti-US sentiment, which makes it easy for the Trump administration to posit that South Africa is no friend of the US, and more so,  because of South Africa's close alignment with China, evidenced, in part, by its support for Beijing's territorial dispute in the South China Sea, as well as on sensitive issues such as the Dalai Lama.  The same can be said for South Africa's cozy political and economic relationship with Russia.  

By all accounts South Africa has made its decision regarding its place in the global hierarchy.  It is no longer a cheerleader for the west, but rather ensconced in China's and Russia's geopolitical corner and spheres of influence.  

From Ebrahim's perspective Pollack's appointment will not be in South Africa's interests.  From Trump's perspective if the appointment furthers US interests through his 'America First Foreign Policy', so be it, and consequences be damned. 

Ebrahim may not relish the prospect of being compared to Trump, but obvious similarities do exist:  both are uncompromising, dogmatic, hubristic and believers in the ultimatum "take it or leave it".  

Shakespeare must have had both of them in mind when he observed that "misery acquaints a man [or a woman] with strange bedfellows".