It's been 45 years since Nelson Mandela was sent to prison for more than two decades and 14 years since his election as president of South Africa heralded the end of apartheid. Few have endured and accomplished what he has. Now, to commemorate his 90th birthday, Time is picking his brain to find out the tools that make a great leader.

Perhaps they should send a copy to Robert Mugabe?

Also check out the magazine's photo essay of Mandela's life.

So, how'd we get here, 90 years later?

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South Africa – along with China and Russia – recently vetoed the US-introduced resolution to place an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and enact travel and financial restrictions on the nation's president, Robert Mugabe, who recently reclaimed his office by killing his opponents. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman is very, very angry about this:

But when it comes to pure, rancid moral corruption, no one can top South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki, and his stooge at the U.N., Dumisani Kumalo. They have done everything they can to prevent any meaningful U.N. pressure on the Mugabe dictatorship.

As The Times reported, America’s U.N. ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, “accused South Africa of protecting the ‘horrible regime in Zimbabwe,’ ” calling this particularly disturbing given that it was precisely international economic sanctions that brought down South Africa’s apartheid government, which had long oppressed that country’s blacks.

So let us now coin the Mbeki Rule: When whites persecute blacks, no amount of U.N. sanctions is too much. And when blacks persecute blacks, any amount of U.N. sanctions is too much.

(emphasis ours)

Real talk!

• Kanye West was probably so calm at the BET Awards last night because he had already gotten all of his aggression out on his blog. [KWBlog]

• In South Africa, the Chinese are now black. [Racialicious]

• Ruben Studdard has a lot of friends. [People]

• Eva Pigford got a job! It still won't inspire me to start calling her Eva Marcille. [BV]

• Wearing sagging pants can be dangerous… when you live in a Florida apartment complex with an angry, armed crackhead. [TSG]

APARTHEID ENDURES "Whites in South Africa earn five times more than their black counterparts on average, according to a new study, illustrating the enduring legacy of apartheid 14 years after its abolition. A study done for the UASA union made waves in the Rainbow Nation last week when it showed that whites bring home 450 percent more than blacks on average and 400 percent more than their mixed race peers. In line with the global trend, education is the single biggest determinant of earning power, it concluded, but in a country with South Africa's history the issue has a powerful racial dimension. 'That blacks weren't allowed on to certain beaches (during the apartheid era of whites-only rule) can be changed overnight but education has a long-lasting legacy,' said the author of the research …"

APARTHEID AFTERSHOCKS Hampered by conflicts of interest, the U.S. Supreme Court had no choice but rule to allow a multibillion-dollar federal lawsuit from South African blacks and others against U.S. and foriegn companies to proceed. The plaintiffs say that the companies should be held liable for assisting South Africa's former apartheid government. Since Justices John Roberts, Stephen Breyer, and Samuel Alito held stock in some of the companies named in the suit, and Justice Anthony Kennedy's son is a top manager at Credit Suisse, the four of them had to recluse themselves from the hearing. Without a quorum, they let a lower-court ruling allowing the suit to go forward stand. [CNN]

PARIS HILTON WANTS TO KNOW HOW MUCH SOUTH AFRICA COSTS The bane of the United States' existence recently tagged along with her boyfriend, Benji Madden, on a trip to South Africa, where she, according to sources is Cape Town, was extremely interested in the local wares.

"Every time Paris saw something she liked, like a woman's dress, she would ask how much it was. That included a cheetah she saw at an animal park. She asked how much it was and said, 'If I bought a cheetah, would it run away from me or could I keep it?'"

Someone should have encouraged her to buy it just to see what would happen.

MALAWI-WOWIE The celeb-philanthropists of the world are always trying to keep up with Oprah Winfrey, aren't they? Madonna recently told Elle that she has purchased land in Malawi, the country-of-origin of her son, David, and is now in the process of getting permission to build a girl's school there. "The women will play a big role in the future and rebirth of Malawi," she said. Apparently, Ricki Lake of all people is also helping to build a school there with her Malawian nanny. As long as they're all very vigilant about not hiring child molesters to work at their schools, it should be all good.

New disaster in "the dark continent"! Scandalous woman of means Paris Hilton toured a school in South Africa yesterday, just as she warned everyone she would. The Great White Dope touched black toddlers, let them touch her and handed out autographed photos of herself in a bikini. Charity? Not at all; this is a private school and all these kids are rich, rich, rich. Hilton's there to fish for compliments and give the older girls eating disorders. She's really great, isn't she?

Click through for more photos and a look at a younger Paris being much less kind to black people.

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• The first black member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis is looking to bridge the race-religion gap. And succeeding, it looks like. [NYT]

• Notorious, the film about Biggie's life, begins shooting in Brooklyn next week. Too bad it still has an open ending. [NYT]

• Aww, isn't Finland sweet. [YLE]

• Now chancellors at South African colleges are having a hard time admitting that racism exists on campus. Umm… [Times]

• A rapping monk preaches peace. Swoon. [APP]

• 14 years after apartheid fell, how's the racism in South Africa? [Guardian]

• "Can a black police officer be racist against black people?" [NYT]

• Obama's got the upper hand in PA, but can he keep it? [AP]

• One of the world's foremost arms dealers, whose weapons were used in atrocities throughout Africa, has been caught. [Time]

• Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday is coming up. What to get the man who had something, then was imprisoned and had nothing and now has everything? [AA]

• How 'bout something we don't know: "Biased system packs prisons with young black men" [PB]

• Police are searching for anyone with information about the "improvised explosive device" that ripped through a Times Square military recruiting station early this morning. [CR]

• "Lesson of Defeat: Obama Comes Out Punching" [NYT]

• Bill Cosby keeps the pressure on in Ohio. [WTOL]