BY ABDUREZAK MOHAMMED
ADDIS ABABA – Moscow–based American political analyst stated that the recent stance change of the U.S. towards Ethiopia emanates from a soft power victory for the latter.
In his recent article, political analyst, Andrew Korybko said the recent phone conversation between the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) and the U.S. President Joe Biden is indisputably a soft power victory for Abiy personally and that of all of Ethiopians at a larger scale despite tangible benefits out of it have not yet expressly revealed. “This is actually an incipient U-turn on America’s part and by no means on the part of the Prime Minister Abiy.”
The U.S. is actually presently in the process of exploring a policy recalibration towards Russia that may or may not succeed, he said adding that however, Abiy consistently pursues his nation’s interests and runs activities in the ways enable him to best adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. After all, Abiy was never anti-American or anti-Western, he was just always against being coerced by the U.S. to take its side against China in the new cold war, as to the analyst.
He further explained that Abiy’s strategic vision of multi-aligning between those superpowers in pursuit of Ethiopia’s national interests has remained consistent whereas the U.S. is now the one being compelled by changing circumstances into experimenting with the recalibration of its policy towards the Horn that may or may not succeed.
According to him, the hybrid war on Ethiopia was waged by the U.S. via its TPLF proxies due to Abiy’s principled position of multi-aligning between that country and China in the ongoing new cold war between those two superpowers. He also indicated that the former Trump Administration began to impose zero-sum choices on America’s partners halfway through his one-term presidency, which Ethiopia resisted. “As punishment sending a strong signal to the rest of Africa, which is expected to be the primary theater of this competition, the U.S. began meddling in Ethiopia’s internal affairs.”
He opined that US squandered all of its prior regional soft power by tacitly supporting terrorist forces against the Horn’s largest country whose stability is integral for all of its neighbors. Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) advance against completely reversed the prior military dynamics and caused a panic in Washington, the analyst said.
The TPLF’s crushing defeat on the battlefield coupled with China’s regional diplomatic advances seem to have prompted an urgent recalibration of US policy towards Ethiopia, or at least a very visible attempt to explore this possibility some more, he added.
The January 14/2022
