This weekend's New York Times Sunday Book Review features two of South Africa's literary giants. Novelist Siddhartha Deb reviews Nadine Gordimer's new book, Beethoven Was One Sixteenth Black and Other Stories. A taste, from Deb's conclusion: These stories aren't mere exercises. Even as variations, with a fixed set of characters confronting similar situations, they create […]
Don't miss Mark Gevisser's concise, insightful assessment in The New York Times of the succession struggle and the state of South African politics. But whatever happens, the fissure in the A.N.C. brings a long-overdue logic to South African politics. Since the early 1990s, the left and center have been held together by the skein of […]
In today's Polokwane update, three larger-than-life figures feature prominently: Jacob Zuma is a “pop star to the poor” despite (because of?) the accusations that have been levied against him. Thabo Mbeki is “on a knife's edge” as he faces the very real prospect of losing power. And Winnie Madikizela Mandela, herself both a heroine to the […]
Just an FYI: An Economist correspondent from New Zealand has been posting a daily diary from South Africa this week. He introduces himself: JUST to clear up any misconceptions: I am not, and have never been, The Economist's South Africa correspondent. The extent to which I am not may soon become obvious: still, this point […]
For the first time since the revolution of 1979, a sitting Iranian President has been invited to participate in the hajj. King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia has extended an invitation to the head of his regional rival, a gesture one could think is the triumph of religion over politics, but, in reality, is just the […]
Well, that clanking sound you’re hearing in the background: it's the wheels of commerce in the dark. John Helmer over at Asia Times has written a fascinating article on Tajikistan's aluminum company, Talco and its relationship with Norway's Hydro: At current LME [London Metal Exchange] linked prices, the alumina is worth about $50 million; the metal […]
As if things aren't tough enough for Zimbabwe's opposition. Robert Mugabe is running roughshod over his people and determined to run for (and inevitably win) election again. And now it appears that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), up until recently the only even vaguely viable counter to Mugabe's ZANU-PF, is, “in trouble,” according to an IRIN report. “Already split into feuding […]
Today's Asharq Al-aswat has an interesting and disturbing article about al-Qaeda shifting its base to the Gulf, or, more precisely, Yemen. It quotes an anonymous official saying he “believes that Yemen may replace Afghanistan as the incubator to breed, rally and train [terrorists]. In practice, Yemen could become the new Al Qaeda base- a label […]
Apologies for this blog being Lebanon-centric these last couple of days; however, when the testing ground of Arab ideologies teeters on the brink of its most intense political crisis in 17 years, it calls for many words. And there have been a lot of words regarding the assassination of Francois al-Hajj and its confusing implications. […]
OK, let's do our best to continue to make sense out of the news, noise, and nonsense emanating from all corners in South African politics. While some preach unity others call for insubordination, it is no wonder that so many of South Africa's great political minds worry about the fallout from the fast-approaching ANC meetings. […]
Brig. Gen. François al-Hajj, who was on the track to succeed Michel Suleiman as Army chief of staff whenever he becomes president, was killed in a car bomb in Beirut today. Al-Hajj also led the battle against the Fatah al-Islam militant group in ferocious fighting last summer. Whether this was a revenge killing or somehow tied […]
The Europe-Africa summit has come and gone. Robert Mugabe was the most visible figure at the summit, and he made his share of noise, prattling on about most of the same things about that which he prattles whenever he has cameras on him and with his acquiescent media lapdogs at home lauding him as a […]
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