While very little of the analysis has delved into the core issues that Ebrahim Rasool raised in his remarks, the case raises the question about to whom protocol applies in relation to global power balances.

Debate on Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool's expulsion from the US is bound to continue into posterity. Perhaps more like the Jesse Owens moment at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games when he shattered a Hitlerian scheme to showcase Aryan superiority; or Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Games with their fists raised high during the rendering of the US anthem; or Muhammad Ali in rejecting conscription during the Vietnam War: "No Viet Cong ever called me nigger," Ali said.

There are so many dimensions to the events surrounding Ambassador Rasool that it would be difficult to ventilate all of them in a week, a month or even a year. In future diplomatic training manuals far beyond South Africa, this will certainly feature as a useful case study. Besides diplomatic rights and responsibilities, it also raises the question about to whom protocol applies in relation to global power balances.

Praise must be given to the South African media's coverage of the saga, fulfilling the responsibility to inform and entertain. Largely, this has been about what happened, where and how, and talk-show banter about who would be the...

Joel Netshitenzhe is executive director of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra). He writes in his personal capacity.