This brief article in The Atlantic makes what to my mind is a curious argument. To wit: In the Central African Republic the most common crime for people to be accused of is witchcraft. Yet for reasons that should be fairly obvious, witchcraft is a rather difficult charge to prove, which does not make convictions […]
A day before here in the United States we honor all of those men and women who have fought for our armed services, I came across this tragic event that occurred in Khost, Afghanistan just yesterday: There was violence as well in the southeastern province of Khost, where a barely completed high school, built with […]
This week’s Sunday New York Times Week in Review section has a fascinating article on censorship in repressive states. At the heart of the article are the experiences of Nobel Prize laureate JM Coetzee during his native South Africa’s apartheid era when “The censors were part of a much broader, more sinister system — the […]
If there was ever any doubt about Pakistan’s ability to survive as a country, the recent attacks in Lahore have once and for all settled the issue – Pakistan is a ticking time bomb with no way to unplug or stop the bomb from exploding. And, even with this tragedy, there are people in Pakistan […]
What’s the old cliche? Victory has a thousand parents and defeat has none? Well, Bafana Bafana is on something of a roll. They have not lost a match in ten outings. Much of their success has been in comfortable home environs, but of course that’s not really a problem inasmuch as the World Cup is […]
This week, Sir. Elton John brought more than sequins, rhinestone-studded sunglasses and 40+ years of music-making to North Africa. He was at the center of a very lively debate on tolerance, modernity and progress in Morocco. The Mawazine Festival is an annual international music festival held in Rabat and has attracted several big names over […]
Forgive the self indulgence, but Impumelelo: The Interdisciplinary Electronic Journal of African Sports (based at my PhD alma mater Ohio University, but with no history department connections) has published an article of mine that you can actually access (still a too-rare thing for scholarly articles), “Stopped at the Try Line? Rugby, Race, and Nationalism in […]
Jamaatul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), the banned terrorist organization intended to recruit new recruits and followers by setting off a series of explosions in Dhaka, reports the Daily Star. “Current JMB chief Maulana Saidur Rahman alias Zafar, who was arrested by law enforcers on Tuesday, told detectives that his detained third wife Naima Akhter, and two other […]
Terrible news for Ghana’s World Cup hopes. Star Midfielder (and Chelsea stalwart) Michael Essien’s knee injury is simply too much to overcome and he is out of the tournament, striking a harsh and perhaps insurmountable blow to the Black Stars.
At this point, it is unlikely that anyone has missed word of Arizona’s new immigration law. SB 1070 was signed by Governor Jan Brewer on April 23 and is the nation’s toughest law on unauthorized immigration. For the month since its passing, the country and the hemisphere have been abuzz debating the controversial nature of […]
South African rugby officials, trying to expand the sport’s appeal and in a gesture of reconciliation, will be holding the Super 14 final in Soweto’s Orlando Stadium this weekend. The game, which is sold out, will see a rare matchup of South African teams when the Bulls and Stormers face off in the finals of […]
The National Bureau of Asian Research has just published a collection of essays on the US-Japan Alliance entitled, A New Stage for the U.S.-Japan Alliance? The roster of contributors is impressive: Troubled Alliance Kenneth B. Pyle Return to Basics: Recalibrating the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance Michael Finnegan Redefining and Reaffirming the U.S.-Japan Alliance Michael J. Green […]
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was constituted in January 2009 as an attached office of the Planning Commission. The UID brand was renamed ‘Aadhaar’ meaning foundation in April 2010. The logo of ‘aadhaar’ (finger print within a rising sun) adopted after a nation wide contest, allegedly represents a new dawn of equal opportunity for […]
Some tentative good news from Zimbabwe (largely because all good news from Zim has to be seen as tentative until we see how reality plays out). The new Zimbabwe Media Commission has announced that four new papers have been granted licenses to begin publishing. Media became a victim of Robert Mugabe’s increasingly draconian crackdown. Hopefully […]
With the World Cup just around the bend expect to see more and more relatively gushing profiles-cum-boosterism such as this one. But I’m ok with that. South Africa’s time in the spotlight is now, and it will be fleeting. There is no shame in a little bit of shameless promotion. We all know South Africa’s […]