The night before this interview, Marco Rubio picked up a weapon Washington has never used against South Africa before: visa restrictions aimed at individual officials, not the country as a whole. Hours later, the US ambassador in Pretoria said it was only the start. Joshua Meservey of the Hudson Institute had spent months arguing publicly for exactly this approach, and told Alec Hogg why the scalpel beats the sledgehammer, why AGOA is not off the table whatever the ambassador implies, and why South Africa's own record with Tehran, Moscow and Hamas made this outcome close to inevitable. He also had a hard question for South Africans weighing in on BEE and land expropriation from here: does it matter that Washington agrees with you, if agreeing with Washington is now politically radioactive..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.