When Good People Do Not So Much

Consider: The EU is willing to cut aid to Kenya over the rigging of a election. The United States, to date, is not talking about anything so tough. Obama may be making phone calls and the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs may make some requests for the restoration of freedom. But we're not scaring the Kibaki government at all.

You can see how effective these measures are in three paragraphs. Paragraph five is boilerplate:

The zero-tolerance policy of the Kenyan police is drawing increasing criticism. Western diplomats in Nairobi have urged the government to allow peaceful rallies —currently banned — and to stop using lethal force against unarmed demonstrators.

Paragraph nine is cynical:

It is unclear how much impact this will have because Mr. Kibaki and his tight circle of advisers have insisted that the president won the election fairly and that there will be no rerun.

By paragraph twelve, the Kibaki administration has taken the Big Man's typical "Go suck yourself, international community," and worked into to a nice parrying technique against the West.

Police officials on Friday arrested three foreign journalists, including a filmmaker following Mr. Odinga, on charges of terrorism after accusing them of filming vital installations.

That should keep the polite requesters busy for another week or two.