Kenyans went to the polls yesterday to vote in an election in which the battle is both metaphorical — the election has and is going to continue to be closely fought — and literal, as fears of violence pervaded the day yesterday and will hover over the country until and maybe even after the results are known. Exit polls conflict […]
New America Media has compiled a summary of the top news in Latin America for 2007, ranging from natural disasters and the election of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as President of Argentina, to the failure of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to consolidate his power through an electoral referendum. President Calderon of Mexico also made the […]
Tomorrow Kenyans go to the polls. In what is becoming an increasingly intense campaign (in what has almost certainly been the most open election in Kenya's history) it appears that the opposition, led by 62-year-old Raila Odinga — a businessman and former political prisoner, is pulling ahead of President Mwai Kibaki, who has held office […]
John CK Daly, a really good analyst on Former Soviet states and energy, has written a new article on the duality of Caspian oil negotiations, currently focused on the Kashagan field. One duality is that of environmental concerns over energy extraction. In April, Antoine Blua at RFE/RL reported Caspian seals dying in great numbers from unknown […]
An Oliver Guitta article in the Middle East Times from yesterday analyzes the ascent of Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, particularly Algeria (Here is an earlier post about the Dec 11th Algiers bombings). Basically, the thrust of the article is that al-Qaeda is consolidating its influence in the region, and that “One of its primary goals is to […]
I want to wish each of you peace, prosperity, and joy during this holiday season. Geseende Kersfees! Sinifisela Ukhisimusi Omuhle! Ikresimesi emnandi!
Interesting story on grafitti art on NPR this morning. In Bethlehem, Israel's security wall is being tagged by both international and local artists, in what can be seen as a display of defiance or, alternately, just an outlet for frustrated young people. You can listen to and read the story A British grafitti artist (I […]
South Africa is a sport-mad society and 2007 was a year to fuel the country's passions. The Proteas’ participation in the cricket World Cup and the run-up to South Africa's hosting the 2010 World Cup would ordinarily have been the stories of the year, but by winning the Rugby World Cup the Springboks became the […]
John Carlin, former South Africa correspondent for the London Independent attended the ANC's Polokwane conference for South Africa's Independent Newspapers. In a column in that capacity, Carlin brings up a recent article on Zuma in London's Daily Mail. Carlin properly castigates the Daily Mail's predictably retrograde tone: The Daily Mail is a vibrantly successful London newspaper that makes its money […]
Robert I. Rotberg, director of Harvard's Kennedy School Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution and World Peace Foundation president, has an op-ed piece in today's Boston Globe in which he praises those world leaders who have stood up against Robert Mugabe, most notably Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel Great British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He […]
The Mail & Guardian has issued its annual end-of-year grades for South Africa's Cabinet Ministers. Find Part I here and Part II here.
After months of speculation and prognostication and forecasting about what would transpire at Polokwane, over who would win and what would result, over the state of the ANC, South Africa has now entered a new phase in its political development. Jacob Zuma's decisive victory over Thabo Mbeki, his ascension to the top post of the […]
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