RSSFrom Tony's Archive
A Playground Lesson for Bush
How a spontaneous alliance of jocks, do-gooders and lesser bullies against the biggest bully at the school changed the balance of power at Milnerton Primary
The Rebel Grace of Patti Smith
This op-ed from Patti Smith, on the eve of her induction into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, brought tears to my eyes, for its humility and grace, and for the revolutionary fire that still burns so bright inside her. Extracts:
Today I will join R.E.M., the Ronettes, Van Halen and Grandmaster Flash and the [...]
Osama: A Preemptive Obit
The revolution is just a T-shirt away…
Before leaving for a vacation in South Africa in December of 2001, my editors asked me to prepare an obituary for Osama bin Laden on the assumption that he might well be killed in Afghanistan while I was on the beach in Cape Town. Five years later, I dug [...]
Hamba Kahle, Ace Ntsoelengoe
If you were a white boy in the suburbs of Cape Town during the heyday of apartheid in the early 1970s, you didn’t know any black people. Not only socially, but even as public figures. That was the whole idea: Apartheid laws meant your school was all white, your suburb was all white (and any [...]
Ten Reasons Why Oslo Failed
I recently found this piece I wrote for TIME.com in October of 2000, trying to come to grips with the reasons for the failure of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. This was two months after Camp David, just as the Israelis were cranking up the spin machine to pump out the line that it failed [...]
Bite-Size Prophecies on CNN
Appropos recent developments on the Palestinian front, I dug up this transcript of June 2002 interview I did on CNN before a Sharon-Bush summit. Extract:
LIN: But Tony, do you see agreement between President Bush and Yasser Arafat that both parties are making an aggressive attempt to minimize Yasser Arafat?
KARON: It has been suggested that [...]
Bush does Brecht
As the U.S. comes to terms with its 2000th combat casualty in Iraq and counting, I was reminded of one of the last postings I sent out to my email list on the war’s eve, on January 10, 2003. The idea of tens of thousands of Americans from modest or poorer families, a disproportionate [...]
Abu Ghraib as America
New allegations of prisoner abuse in Iraq not only give the lie to the administration’s claims that the Abu Ghraib torture was just the work of “bad apples” like Lindie England, it also reminded me of a column I wrote back then for TIME.com about how these abuses are not at all out of [...]
Of CLR James and Sammy Sosa
Written as a column for my home town morning daily, the Cape Times, in September 1998
The essential choice before America, as summer turns to fall and political scandal suddenly seems like last year’s news, is simple: McGwire or Sosa. By last week both sluggers had taken major league baseball’s record for home runs scored in [...]
Laxman Flays the Aussies
As the entire cricket-playing world watches with glee as the Australian juggernaut is humbled by, of all nations, England, I was reminded of a piece I wrote a few years ago for TIME.com on India’s famous come-from-behind victory over the same arrogant Aussies in Calcutta. I was stirred to goosebumps by the heroics of V.V.S. [...]
The Latest
The Whole World's Africa
Congo's Not Africa's WWI, It's Worse Than That
If there is a European analogy to be applied in the Congo, it would be the brutal Thirty Year War in Germany that ended in 164899c Blogging
U.S. Getting Real on Hamas?
Hamas leader claims indirect contact from Washington. About time, too!Featured Analysis
Iraq: Why the End is in Sight
The war in Iraq is drawing to a close -- and hardly on the terms of those who initiated it. It's end is being hastened by Iraqi democracy, and by the retrenchment of U.S. power globally, accelerated by the sharp economic downturnShameless Cronyism
Embedded with the Jihadis
My crazy friend Nir Rosen goes on embed with the Taliban, and finds out just why the U.S. can't win in AfghanistanRebellion Into Money
Why Joe Strummer Was a Socialist
Hint: It had nothing to do with bailing out banksGlancing Headers
The Liverpool-Iraq Connection
Both Liverpool FC and Iraq were acquired with borrowed moneyGuest Columns
Israel Gets Real on Iran
Trita Parsi: In public, Israeli leaders have spoken in apocalyptic terms of Iran's nuclear program, but among themselves, they know better.A Skeptical Read
All the Hysteria That's Fit to Print, Take II
Now the New York Times wants you to take seriously the idea that the prime issue for the American voter is the danger of al-Qaeda acquiring nuclear weapons. Oh, grow up!Could Die Laughing
Whatever Became of that Nice Mr. Blair...
The problem with a global conversation between Muslims and Christians refereed by Tony Blair? Two words: Tony Blair.Hear! Hear!
Bush's 'Peace' Effort Imperils Peace
Daniel Levy explains why the farcical negotiations between Olmert and Abbas actually undermine the prospects for Mideast peaceA Wondering Jew
Israel is 60, Zionism is Dead, What Now?
Israel at 60 is an intractable historical fact. It has one of the world's strongest armies, without peer in the Middle East, and its 200 or so nuclear warheads give it the last word in any military showdown with any of its neighbors. Palestinian militants may be able to make life in certain parts...The 51st State
A Teachable Moment in Basra
It should come as no surprise that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's disastrous offensive against the Mahdi Army of Moqtada Sadr in Basra has had the exact opposite effect of that intended -- strengthening rather than weakening Sadr, and making clear that he, and the Iranians, have far greater in...Futures Market
Will Russia Partition Kosovo?
Why my tea-leaf reading suggests that Moscow has a nasty surprise in store for Washington in the BalkansCuisine
Yummy yummy Umami
Why a leftover lamb bone turned a bean stew into an ecstatic eventHousekeeping
'Lost' Entries on Rootless Cosmopolitan
Previous entries that now register as "not available" are ones that got left behind in a server migration. We're working on retrieving themUnholy War
U.S. Pours Gasoline on Gaza Fires
Once upon a time, Israelis and Palestinians looked to the U.S. to intervene at moments of heightened confrontation to mediate between the two sides and contain the damage. The Bush Administration, however, has proved entirely incapable of playing this role, because its own interventions are hidebou...Annals of Globalization
Honey, I Shrank the Superpower
In a snide reference to Bill Clinton's 1992 promise to "build a bridge into the 21st century," Barack Obama recently quipped that what Hillary Clinton really offers is a bridge back into the 20th century. Yet, a bridge back into the last century may be what all the major candidates are offering when...New York Moments
The Debka Made ‘Em Do ItFrom Tony's Archive
A Playground Lesson for Bush
How a spontaneous alliance of jocks, do-gooders and lesser bullies against the biggest bully at the school changed the balance of power at Milnerton Primary
