As instruments of foreign policy, the objectives of terror and illegal economic sanctions are the same: terror, which is generally described as a state of fear or an overwhelming sense of imminent danger.

The individuals, institutions and companies in Zimbabwe that have been targeted for sanctions from the powerful Western countries are supposed to be terrorised by a continuing sense of imminent danger.

The same is true for ordinary people who are being made to understand that the illegal economic sanctions would not be lifted as long as Zanu PF and President Mugabe remain in power: they are supposed to fear Zanu PF rule by definition and to see it as a very dangerous thing to have.

As such, it seems to me clear that illegal economic sanctions have been to Zimbabwe what terrorism has been to the United States, Britain and other European countries.

It should not, therefore, surprise anyone that the government of Zimbabwe has responded to the threat of illegal sanctions in the same way that the United States and Britain, for example, have responded to terrorism.

Countries, big or small, respond to terror in the same way, notwithstanding the fact that the response of small, developing countries such as Zimbabwe does not have the same weight and moral justification as that of the big and powerful countries that are in a better position to use overwhelming propaganda to justify their response.