Pop Quiz Time:
Citizens of which of the following countries drink the most Guinness?
A) Ireland
B) United States
C) Nigeria
The answer is C) Nigeria.
There is a host of reasons for this, but primary among them is that Ireland’s finest export is believed to contribute to sexual potency. (Insert your own sex & alcohol joke here.)
Nigeria’s affinity for Guinness reminds me of the politics of beer in South Africa. My favorite South African beer is Castle Milk Stout. And yet among many whites in South Africa, Milk Stout (which is far superior to regular Castle Lager, the most popular of South African Breweries’ products – my American readers should imagine the difference between Budweiser and Guinness) is, as I was sadly often told, “kaffir beer,” the K-word being the most noxious slur imaginable in southern Africa. That even beer reflects racial politics in South Africa reveals just how deeply the apartheid past infected the larger society. These beer politics have slowly changed over the last decade or so, as has so much in South Africa, but they have not changed entirely.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
