Is there a way forward for Fiji?

There is a very easy way for the travel sanctions against Fiji to be lifted, and that is for the interim Fijian Government to keep its word and take credible steps towards democracy. In fact the NZ Government has offered significant help and assistance if the interim Government takes these steps, as former High Commissioner Caroline McDonald reminds us.

Whether or not one approves of the Commodore’s professed aims, his mandate comes from the fact he has lots of guns. That is not a long-term mandate.

So when there is an easy way to get the travel sanctions lifted (keep your word) and a near impossible counter-productive way to get them lifted (threaten the NZ Govt), what does it mean when Fiji chooses the latter?

Either it means the Commodore is not acting on good advice, or it means there is a deliberate strategy to lower expectations that Fiji will even restore democracy.