I’ve been out of commission for a few days with travel and catching up and the ebbs and flows of modern life. Here is a deluge of links to get you (and me) back in the swing of things:
In South Africa there is a new documentary series on the Truth and Reconciliation process, When Truth Hurts, that seems very much worth while. I have done a good deal of work on the TRC and the South African quest for reconciliation generally since 1994 and am always on the lookout for good work in any medium. Hopefully it will appear on dvd in the US at some point.
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) President Mangosutho Buthelezi has criticized “Those renegades who are pursuing a rift in the IFP are hurting our party and hurting the people who voted for us.” As the IFP slides further and further from relevance he probably ought to grow accustomed to his erstwhile followers seeking greener pastures. Hopefully his form of explicitly ethnic nationalism will be consigned to the country’s dustbin before long.
There has been a coup in Niger. Usually coups are cause for alarm. But it does not seem that too many people are especially upset over President Mamadou Tandja’s forcible removal from office.
Kinshasa has signed a cease fire with Darfur’s Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). This is good news, for however long it lasts and for whatever long-range benefit it accrues. But it would be easy to overstate the significance of the agreement as well. The old cliche “a little too little, a little too late” springs to mind.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
