Regions

I want to take just a minute to promote my friend Mark Nyandoro's new book on Zimbabwe. Mark is a Zimbabwean currently living in South Africa where he is an academic on a fellowship at the University of the North West. Development and Differentiation: The Case of TILDOR/ARDA Irrigation Activities in Sanyata (Zimbabwe), 1939-2000 is […]

Last week I highlighted (and blogrolled) Global Post, a new website devoted to foreign affairs. Mark Glaser of PBS's MediaShift has an interview with Phil Balboni, the founder of Global Post who also founded the New England Cable News channel.

Bob Herbert's recent column on Zimbabwe in The New York Times brings little new to the table in terms of either evidence or argument but it is always good to have Zimbabwe's troubles given such high-profile attention in the United States. Whether such advocacy will translate to action is another question, but there is merit […]

Another member of the younger generation has generated more heat than light through controversial comments. Young Communist League secretary Buti Manamela published an article last week in the South African Communist Party’'s online journal Umsebenzi in which he teed off on Thabo Mbeki. The YCL, the SACP's functional equivalent of the ANC Youth League, effectively […]

The corruption charges hanging over his head complicate Jacob Zuma's quest for the presidency of South Africa. But assuming he does take what he sees as his rightful place in that office, his legal fight might, according to two observers, be the least of his problems. Their argument is hyperbolic, naturally, but South Africa faces […]

  Nearly a decade ago, the cover of the Atlantic Monthly featured a close-up of a gaunt Russian policeman, or was it a soldier, his eyes obscured by his cap, the words “Russia is finished” emblazoned around his waist. Reading Jeffrey Tayler's unreflective, misguided, naive and offensive tirade at my home country, I felt angry […]

… according to a recent interview with economist Edward Sayre by Brookings scholar Navtej Dhillon. His overview of the Palestinian economy, with a focus on Gaza and its future, sheds some light on just how intractable a problem the “peace process” has become. Really fascinating reading.

The original promoter of soft power, Joseph Nye, comments on the term “smart power” in the Los Angeles Times today. Foreign Affairs hosted two important “soft power” and “smart power” articles; the first,”What New World Order”, was written by Nye in 1992 and the second, “Smart Power“, was written by Suzanne Nossel in 2004. The […]

The latest developments in Zimbabwe fall into the grimly familiar narrative. There are signs of hope that there will finally be a breakthrough — in this case Thabo Mbeki, who still represents the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Zim talks, and South African President Kgalema Motlanthe touch down in Zimbabwe in hopes of kick-starting talks. […]

in an article for World Defense Review (via the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies) J. Peter Pham wonders whether Ghana's elections represent new hopes for Africa. Pham is ordinarily an Afropessimist, so his cautious optimism over the Ghana situation is noteworthy.

So it appears that Ukraine and Russia have finally come to terms on a Gas Transportation deal that will allow the former Soviet state to receive gas and send it on to Western Europe.  This is just the latest in a long line of dramas involving the transport and ownership of energy reserves between the […]

Evidently change and hope don't have quite the same resonance in a war zone. Arab Americans and Mona Eltahawy demonstrate a bit more optimism. Amir Taheri advocates taking a strong – but diplomatic – line immediately, as apparently showing weakness will mean squandering the brief window the now-President has to implement his agenda. Presumably, since […]