Is Putin an ANC sugar daddy or is the relationship "complicated"?
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Legal scholar, political analyst and author Professor Richard Calland joined Eusebius McKaiser to debate South Africa's abstention from a United Nations resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Calland argued that much of the public debate about South Africa's foreign policy position lacks nuance, appropriate contextualisation and historicism. He insists, for example, on driving a wedge between political principals within the state who might be crudely supportive of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and seasoned dilpomats within the department of international relations and cooperation who are motivated a genuine commitment to the principle of non-alignment on the global stage.
Calland argued that much of the public debate about South Africa's foreign policy position lacks nuance, appropriate contextualisation and historicism. He insists, for example, on driving a wedge between political principals within the state who might be crudely supportive of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and seasoned dilpomats within the department of international relations and cooperation who are motivated a genuine commitment to the principle of non-alignment on the global stage.