The news hanging over the last month or so has been Nelson Mandela’s health. He has been in hospital in Pretoria for several weeks now, with conflicting reports on his condition. It seems that he is critical but stable, he may or may not be on life support, and he may or may not be […]
Perhaps Goethe put it best when he wrote that “the romance of politics is best used to numb and to quell the fears of the uninformed.” Maybe Mr. Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, is a romanticist in light of his recent comments warning of the “instability of war” if his ruling Cambodian People’s Party […]
Obama’s recent visit to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania has some arguing “too little, too late”. They argue that while the U.S. was resting on its laurels, China has stolen a march over the United States with its narrow commercial approach, eschewing the Western goals of social and political development. To back their argument, they […]
I am wrapping up this latest southern Africa trip over the next couple of days. Almost a week in Green Point, Cape Town, followed by a final few days in Melville, Johannesburg, allows me to decompress, see friends, buy books, write and reflect on the cultures of privilege and privation in South Africa today. I’ll […]
A ship drops anchor in the Beaufort Sea, high in the Canadian Arctic. A group of scientists disembark to map the surrounding area and study the ice and flora and fauna. It may sound like 2013, but these events actually took place 100 years ago. In 1913, the Canadian Arctic Expedition (CAE) set off to […]
The 2008 economic crisis showed Americans two truths about immigration that was only openly known by immigrants to the United States. One issue was the fact that even with illegal immigration, there is a strong second generation of the children of immigrants and those who had come to the U.S. when they were very young […]
The PBS Newshour ran a story about the troubled garment industry in Bangladesh last night. However, unlike the mono-narrative run by the majority of news outlets the story laid out wasn’t about how things have gone irremediably wrong in Bangladesh. Instead, the story was about BRAC (formerly the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) the world’s largest […]
“Viva Cristo Rey!” That rallying cry (which translates as “Long live Christ the King!”) was made by the Cristeros (soldiers of Christ) during the conflict in Mexico in the late 1920s. That war started a few years after the Mexican government outlawed religion in the 1917 constitution. The film begins in 1926 when Mexican President Calles […]
Credit: Jewish Telegraphic Agency On Monday, June 24, a new law that would regulate Bedouin settlement in Israel’s Negev region passed its first reading in the Knesset with a slim 43-40 margin. The bill, commonly referred to as the Prawer plan, provides a comprehensive solution to the issue of Bedouin villages in the Negev by […]
The monolithic over-road monument that one drives under going to or coming from the airport in Harare reminds one clearly of the importance of the country’s 1980 independence. Hard won in the bush and at international negotiating tables the victory over Ian Smith’s ruthlessly racist Rhodesian regime represented — still represents — a triumph over […]
Ironic as it may seem, it is a statement of controversy to assert that a genuine national reconciliation is needed in Somalia. To some, that has already happened; to others, there is no need for it since the country has emerged out of the transitional period and the current government is the officially recognized representative […]
I think I have a new slogan for the Zimbabwe tourism board: Zim: It’s not as Horrible as You Think! But, yeah, some aspects of it seem to be pretty wretched. I should provide the standard caveats, of course. Zimbabwe, despite its politicians, is beautiful, its people are warm, its potential vast. And while my […]
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