The Egyptian National soccer team has won the Africa Cup of Nations, beating Cameroon 1-0 in the finals in Ghana. Cameroon captured the continent during its stirring 2004 World Cup run (your humble writer watched the game in a bar in Tanzania, and the crowd was going nuts), but now Egypt has won. It is […]
The Council on Foreign Relations has a useful primer on American policies toward the five countries President Bush is visiting this week. I am going to make a controversial assertion: Although President Bush has, by just about any measure, been a pretty bad president, he ranks among the upper echelons in terms of policy toward […]
Imad Mugnieh, mastermind of the 1983 attacks on American soldiers in Beirut, as well as a host of other Hezbollah atrocities, died when his car exploded last week- surely the closest he has ever had the chance to see one of his own hallmarks. The immediate suspects were, of course, Israel and the US. I […]
Periodically you’ll hear the whispering: FIFA is displeased with South Africa's progress in preparing to host the World Cup in 2010. Every sign of “political instability” (which is a patronizing way of referring to political division, which every vibrant democracy has) or possible internal conflicts in the organizing effort sends the FIFA overlords and Afro-pessimists […]
The pause in troops that has been touted by General Petraeus and Secretary Gates as necessary to judge and consolidate security gains from the surge has been universally panned by Democrats. The reasoning behind the ‘pause’ (Pause: it's pop culture's new 'surge’, I can just feel it) is that “We have momentum, and we must […]
The Economist this past week had a correspondent keeping a diary based on experiences in Kenya. The week's entries are, by definition, episodic, but provide some context for daily life amidst the political and social chaos that has emerged.
The European Union , 27 Member States, 492 million consumers, a single market and the greatest free trading zone in the world, with open borders in 18 of its Member States. Only 53 years after the end of one of the most atrocious wars in history, the European Union has not only created tenable peace […]
There is lots going on these days across the continent, so without further palaver, I’ll point you in the right directions to catch up. Your first stop should probably be the latest Pambazuka News, which has useful articles on Chad, Zimbabwe, lots on Kenya, and other important issues. From there you can go to the […]
The sun will rise, the sun will set, and South African sport will exist in a perpetual case of turmoil. Or so it seems. Winning the Rugby World Cup last year does not seem to have provided a balm to SARU's (usually self-inflicted) wounds and in many ways seems to have rubbed them raw. Even […]
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox spoke at the New York Democracy Forum last week, giving a candid presentation that outlined his anger at the wall being constructed along the U.S.-Mexico border, his support for revamping NAFTA and the creation of a temporary guest worker program for Mexican migrants. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-8813317554481503136″ width=”400″ height=”326″ wmode=”transparent” /]
My initial response to this article asserting that Simba Makoni has quite a challenge ahead of him was to wonder what sort of moron might argue anything to the contrary. Fortunately, though, the reporter goes deeper than the “no tea party” argument: Makoni's real challenge is to show he has the clout to attract enough […]
Kofi Annan seems optimistic that he can broker agreements in Kenya that will allow for that country to begin to heal. One of the key elements to any solution appears to be the establishment of a coalition government that will sit until the country can hold new elections, which would probably not take place until […]
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