Nelson Mandela is being rightly eulogized as a great force for peace and freedom. Though a deeply flawed man, his moral growth allowed him to voluntarily relinquish power, much the same as George Washington. This is an example being taken to heart on the African continent, which may now be fitfully entering a more hopeful era, in contrast to the 50-year bloody disaster of post-colonialism. What won't be talked about much is that this was only possible because the West won the Cold War and allowed disillusioned Marxists like Mandela in South Africa (or Gorbachev in the Soviet Union) to move on and become small "d" democrats. This was a startling reversal from the 1970s, when Soviet-backed forces were on the move everywhere in Africa, even fielding a Cuban mercenary army in Angola and elsewhere to conquer their own Communist empire. In Rhodesia, the white government (which never instituted an apartheid system) was able to peacefully transition to a multiracial...(Read Full Post)