Who Is Tony Karon?

I’m a journalist from Cape Town, South Africa, resident in New York since 1993. I’m currently a senior editor at TIME.com (although I do this site on my own time, and am personally entirely responsible for its content, which in no way reflects the views or outlook of anyone else). I’ve worked there since 1997, covering the Middle East, the “war on terror” and international issues ranging from China’s emergence to the Balkans. I also do occasional op-eds for Haaretz and other publications, as well as bits of TV and radio punditry for CNN, MSNBC, and various NPR shows. I did an ever-so-brief stint at Fox News (measured in months, I swear!) and worked at George magazine in its startup year. Having majored in economic history, I cut my analytical teeth in South Africa in the struggle years, where I worked both as an editor in the “alternative” press and as an activist of the banned ANC. And in that context, my obsession with understanding global events took root, as a means of contextualizing the choices and obstacles we faced in the struggle against apartheid.

In 1990/1, I gave up my activist career almost as soon as Nelson Mandela was released, the ANC was unbanned and the regime conceded to a transition to democracy — once we’d achieved a “normality” to politics in South Africa, and it was not a profession that interested me. (If you’d been French under occupation, you might well have joined the resistance, but that didn’t mean you’d remain active in party politics after the Nazis were gone — that was how it was for many of my generation of South African activists.) I went to work in the mainstream media at the Cape Times and the Mail&Guardian Weekly, before leaving for New York in 1993 on what I imagined would be an extended holiday. A brief research gig at Time Out opened my eyes to the possibilities of working here — as well as hooking me up to the first connections of the sort of ever-expanding networks that make life in the city possible (and if this were an Oscar thank you speech, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a huge shout-out to Gerda Marie Kenyon, wherever you are now, who gave me that Time Out gig and started the snowball rolling). What followed was a mad array of freelance gigs ranging from the sublime (television work for Britain’s Channel 4 that involved escapades such as spending three days with the rapper Notorious B.I.G.) to the ridiculous — writing the script for a Geffen Records “rockumentary” on Manowar, an upstate New York heavy metal band, really big in Spain and Greece, whose brief spell in the Guinness Book of records as the world’s loudest band underscored their image of themselves as Norse warriors and Wagner’s true inheritors.

While I relished the professional holiday from the serious themes that had preoccupied me during the 80s, and the opportunity to explore other interests and passions, I seemed to gravitate back to writing about geopolitics despite myself. The optimism surrounding the new paradigms of post-Cold War politics suddenly began to recede, and familiar patterns began to repeat themselves. Reading the New York Times on the subway en route to various day jobs, I found myself drawn back to the big themes. There were things that needed saying, and I had more to offer than commentaries on the marketing strategies of the Wu Tang Clan.

In the aftermath of 9/11, I found many friends and acquaintances asking me to share private observations about the “war on terror” and related subjects. I started mailing those out to a list of friends and colleagues, that just kept growing as they forwarded them to others. And finally, after a substantial hiatus, they’ve evolved into this web site.

176 Responses to Who Is Tony Karon?

  1. Site where you will find tips and the most complete information about household harmony and be more specific about how obat jerawat batu alami

  2. Thanks for you information, this is very interesting post. Visit us, site where you will find tips and the most complete information about how cara memakai jilbab

  3. Mario says:

    Extupendo todo gracias

  4. Hannah Zapf says:

    Dear Mr. Karon,

    my name is Hannah Zapf and I am a 15 year old student from Berlin, Germany.

    I am currently working on a project concerning terrorism and it’s „political effectiveness“. Our approach to answering our lead question “Terrorism- an effective political tool?“ by analizing the attacks of 9/11. We are therefor looking to identify the political goals of bin Laden, the resulting political effects and wether or not his objective failed or not.

    While researching, I came across your article „What were the causes of 9/11“ published in 2006 in which you also reference to Michael Scott Doran’s essay „Somebody else civil war”.

    In 2006 you came to the conclusion that bin Ladens goal, to launch “a global Islamist revolution aimed at ending U.S. influence in Muslim countries, overthrowing regimes there allied with Washington and putting al-Qaeda at the head of a global Islamist insurgency“, was not achieved.

    At this point I would like to remind you that although I have done my best to inform myself about all aspects of this topic, I have so far not been able to comprehend the complex structures behind the conflicts in the middle east. Please apologise my lack of knowledge and the resulting inexpert questioning.

    The reason for me questioning your conclusion are current movements of extreme islamic groups in the middle east. As you have probably guessed at this point, I am referring to ISIS.

    Is there a direct link between the attacks of 9/11, political action that was taken as a result and todays increasing support of the IS? Would you revoke your opinion on bin Ladens success regarding current developments?

    Since you are a leading expert on the Middle East, I decided to contact you in the hope of reaching a conclusion concerning the question mentioned above. I would value your opinion incredibly much and would be honoured to get a reply soon. Since I have been unable to find an E-mail address of yours, I am trying to contact you over your website.

    With kind regards,

    Hannah Zapf

  5. Porn Videos says:

    I was wondering iif you eever considered changing tһe layout оf
    үօur website? Ιtѕ νery weell ᴡritten; Ӏ lpve աɦat youve ցot tо ѕay.
    Ⲃut maybe үοu сould a
    littpe more іn tһе ѡay οf content sⲟ people could connect աith іt better.
    Youve got ɑn awful ⅼot оf text fⲟr оnly Һaving 1 ߋr 2 pictures.
    Μaybe ʏⲟu ϲould space іt օut better?

    Ꭺlso visit mmy һomepage :: Porn Videos

  6. Porn Videos says:

    It’s an remrkable paragraph іn favor оf ɑll tҺᥱ onlione viewers; they willl оbtain benefit from іt І
    аm ѕure.

    Μy blog … Porn Videos

  7. You’ve gotten awesome knowlwdge listed here

  8. Thanks regarding giving many of these superior content

  9. Seriously, such a beneficial online site

  10. Passion the website– really individual pleasant and lots to see!

  11. buy csgo says:

    Great looking website. Think you did a bunch of your very ownyour very own coding

  12. FootballFan1894 says:

    I recently stumbled across an article on the ‘Time’ website titled “No, England Did NOT Invent Football (Soccer) As We Know It” by Tony Karon. The article was so incorrect I felt there were points that needed correcting, however as there appeared to be nowhere on the site where I could leave comments, I found the author had his own website so I decided to leave my comments here.

    Tony Karon is either somebody that knows little about the history of Football or he is so anti-English that he doesn’t let the facts get in the way of a good story. Either way his article is full of incorrect information. He says that Dave Richards’ argument is flawed, maybe Tony should have checked his own response, which is more than just flawed.

    Let’s look at some of the points raised in Tony Karon’s article:-

    1. They called it “football,” not because the ball is played with the feet, but because the game is played on foot rather on horseback. (sic)

    The theory ‘The word football was coined to refer to games that were played on foot (as opposed to on horses.)’ has no historical evidence to prove this. And it is just a theory and nothing else, put about by people who try to justify calling Association Football, ‘soccer’. And it is a fairly recent theory.

    Let’s look at the evidence we do have. The word ‘Football’ has been in use in England since at least 1314, this is when the Lord Mayor of London on behalf of Edward II, issued a writ to prohibit football in England. However as the ruling classes used French as their language the de cree was written in French and not English.

    The oldest known use of the word ‘Football’ in English was in 1409, when Henry IV issued a proclamation forbidding the leving of money for ‘Foteball’.

    Then we come to a book written circa 1660 by Francis Willughby called ‘Book of Plaies’, which describes ‘Football’ as a kicking game.

    In 1780 ‘A General Dictionary of the English Language’ by Thomas Sheridan defines ‘Football’ as “a ball driven by the foot”.

    If that is not enough, in 1801 ‘Sports and Pastimes of the People of England’ by Joseph Strutt, tells us that ‘Football’ “is so called because the ball is driven about with the feet instead of the hands.”

    Now getting back to this theory that football referred to games that were played on foot as opposed to on horses, this as I said before has no evidence. As we know the word ‘Football’ is an English one, so for the horseback theory to be correct then there would have to at least have been a medieval ball game played on horseback as opposed to on foot, played in Britain. Yet the earliest record of such a game played in the British Isles is polo, which was introduced to England in 1834. As we have already seen the word ‘Football’ had already been in the English language for over 400 years by then.

    If the horseback theory was true then games such as cricket, hockey, stoolball, bandy, golf and loads more would have also been known as football. We know through records kept that these games were not known as football, in fact the only games that were known as football were those that involved kicking the ball with the foot, hence the name Football. Funny that!

    2. The idea of moving the ball towards the opponent’s goal by passing it from player to player was invented in Scotland (which, if you know your football geography, is a different country) in the early 20th century.

    This is also incorrect. Passing the ball in football had taken place in Britain for hundreds of years. However in the Football Association’s 1863 Laws of the Game, the offside law (Law VI) read ‘When a player has kicked the ball, any one of the same side who is nearer the opponent’s goal-line is out of play, and may not touch the ball himself, nor in any way whatever prevent any other player from doing so, until the ball has been played; but no player is out of play when the ball is kicked from behind the goal-line.’ This in effect ruled out forward passing. Players would go it alone and try to dribble the ball as far up the field as possible. This was common practice among the public schools. But remember back then many football clubs played to their own set of laws and would have a different offside law to that of the FA’s.

    In 1866, the FA changed Law VI to read ‘When a player has kicked the ball, any one of the same side who is nearer the opponent’s goal-line is out of play, and may not touch the ball himself, nor in any way whatever prevent any other player from doing so, until the ball has been played, unless there are at least three of his opponents between him and their own goal; but no player is out of play when the ball is kicked off from behind the goal-line.’ This change of wording to the offside law in effect made forward passing possible.

    Sheffield, who played to their own rules, had been passing the ball from at least 1865, and the Royal Engineers from at least the late 1860’s. Both these English clubs along with Scottish club Queen’s Park, who had amended the offside law from three to two of his opponents between him and their own goal and who also had been playing a passing game from the late 1860’s, are known as early pioneers of the passing game in Association Football.

    Other early pioneers included Blackburn Olympic and many Lancashire clubs, Cambridge University, Shropshire Wanderers, Corinthians, many schools and many working class clubs. While it was true that some former public school boys would carry on with their dribbling game for a few more years and the Scottish excelled at passing the ball, by the early 20th century, when Tony Karon said it began, most clubs in Britain would have been playing the passing game.

    Interesting to note that Sheffield was pioneers of another important feature of the modern game, that is heading the ball, which they had done so from at least 1866.

    3. Scottish coaches took their style to Central Europe in the 1920s, creating the foundation for the legendary prewar Austrian national team… That same interwar Scottish-influenced game in Central Europe laid the foundation for the “Magnificent Magyars,” the Hungarian national team.

    Many British coaches had took to coaching on the continent. One of the most important football coaches behind both the great Austrian and Hungarian teams was Jimmy Hogan, who worked with the great Hugo Meisi as coach to the great Austrian side of the 1930s. While the Hungarian coach from 1949 to 1957, Gustav Sebes said of him “We played football as Jimmy Hogan taught us. When our football history is told, his name should be written in gold letters.” Sandor Barcs, the president of the Hungarian FA said in 1953, “Jimmy Hogan taught us everything we know about football.” Tony Karon fails to mention Hogan. Why? Because Jimmy was English, and to mention him would not sit well in his anti-English spill.

    4. England invented a game of running around kicking a ball in the mid-19th century (although the Chinese claim to have played a version centuries earlier).

    Actually football had been played in England from at least the 12th century (and very possibly earlier) and organised with rules from at least the 15th century.

    As for China, although many early forms of football existed such as Tsu Chu or Cuju in China, Kemari in Japan, Harpustum played by the Romans, the Greek game, Episkyros (aka Pheninda), or Sepak Raga, played in the Malay states, or in South America, Poktapok which was played by the Mayans. Ullamatzli played by the Aztecs, the Native Americans played ball games using bats and feet. The Aboriginals in Australia played Marn Gook, while the Pacific Island communities of Polynesia and Micronesia had their own kicking games, and in North Africa, they played Koura. However, these and other early forms of football had very little in common with Association Football.

    It’s a pity that Tony Karon couldn’t be bothered to do any real research as if he did his article would have read much different. Too many people try to write articles by surfing the net, they would be better using libraries checking books, newspapers etc. You would expect better from a journalist, or is that too much to ask?

  13. This is a great all round cleaner that is both kind to your wallet and the environment.
    You may need the services of these companies either on a one time basis, like the days you have some party or function in your
    house and you need a helping hand to get the house cleaned, or you may require it once or twice in a week or on a monthly basis.

    It eases the mind from stress that is aggravated with the mere sight of disarray,
    and therefore saves you a lot of energy.

  14. Jim KABLE says:

    Dear Tony

    I have just read the splendid essay you wrote in Forward.Com “Reading Ann Frank…etc”. I wanted to respond – but am uninterested in being on Facebook which appeared to be the only means of doing so – hence finding your site here. As well as which I noted the three scurrilous responses your reasonable essay had drawn forth from ultra-Zionist nasties – which clearly need deleting given the guidelines for responding as set out by Forward. So here is my response:

    Tony KARON speaks for me – born into a fundamentalist US-style Protestantism – in Australia – my first school – brief though it was – a Jewish pre-school (via a Holocaust survivor Hungarian Jewish couple who were looking after my just 21 y.o. widowed mother) later a free-thinker of the Golden Rule and The World is a Mirror and a Carpe Diem kind of connecting to our world philosophical disposition – I became an honorary Shint? Shrine parishioner a decade ago – and was declared Jewish in a little Brooklyn Park ceremony some years back. My family connections so far seem to be with almost all major religions (including a much respected Jesuit theologian – and many LDS cousins in the US and abroad) and with most ethnic groups in our world (Maori and Indigenous Worimi and other “countries” – and certainly via friendships with colleagues and neighbours and students from throughout the world. Why people should want to discriminate against others à la the Trump doctoring “Doctrine” is quite beyond me!

    Thank you Tony for so clearly enunciating your story. I read and taught The Diary of Ann Frank and several times visited her house in Amsterdam – over 40 years ago. Later I worked with a Frank family survivor (she was in a WWII Japanese Internment Camp in what was then the Dutch East Indies) and I read and taught Alan PATON’s Cry, the Beloved Country – later becoming friends with South African writer (all her titles banned during the apartheid years) Daphne ROOKE – who had been, so she said, on cheek-kissing terms with Alan PATON – whose diction, she added, mirrored that of Archbishop Desmond TUTU.

    I am currently caring for the house and cats of travelling friends – in Australia’s capital. On an earlier house-sit visit I had been invited to morning tea with neighbours opposite: “Yes, tell your visitor to join us!” I was told when I mentioned a friend was coming to visit. A friend since 1979 when we taught briefly together in a refugee/high school English-teaching unit in south-west Sydney. He’s from South Africa. Of various ancestries/ethnic backgrounds – his German origins evident in his family name. When my host realised his “mixed” background was from South Africa he immediately and in such a superior fashion betrayed without any trace of respect his racist assumptions. I told him – in the face of usual guest politeness conventions that I could not accept his racist stereotyping, got up and left at once. A very uncomfortable but absolutely important step to have taken. When my travelling friends heard of my confrontation they were immediately at pains to tell me that I had only uncovered the nastiness of the man with which they had had to put up with for a number of years. An immigrant of years ago from the UK – his accent still barely unchanged.

    We take the small steps – we find our moral and ethical compass and we don’t step backwards for fear of hurting the feelings of racists. They have no feelings for difference or seeming otherness – they are the true danger to a world of harmony and respect for others. Tony KARON has found his ethical centre and acts as a beacon for the rest of us against which to measure our own progress! Thank-you, Tony!?

  15. Jim KABLE says:

    Shint? = Shinto Shrine (Shinto is The Way of the Gods – the Indigenous religion of Japan) – a country in which I lived and taught for nearly two decades – and am just back from – a wedding last Saturday to which I was invited to give a speech!

  16. Jim KABLE says:

    Thank-you, Tony!! (Question mark a slip of the finger)

  17. nice to meet you tony karon

  18. nice journalist vivas

  19. Greetings: On July 11 2017, I sent an important document to the US Atty & all the FBI Field Offices that have email contact available to the public. This is SMOKING GUN evidence that can be understood & verified by anyone. When I created this document, I was not just focused on this specific case since if the defendant pleads guilty as expected then I will not have the opportunity to submit the evidence, however, if the defendant refuses to plead guilty OR if he violates the terms of his conditional release upon pleading guilty then there is still the chance the case will move forward and a Federal Judge will have this evidence presented before him in open Federal Court (Next Hearing- October 27 2017)… that being said as I wrote the document I was also focused on putting together a very economical presentation that would be easy to follow and understand…as well as being easy to verify. I have already sent this to the US Atty and over a dozen FBI field Offices…I am sending it to you as well since your contact information was provided on your 911truther website (or an other’s)/or a media contact page and I hoped you would both be interested and willing to spread the word. So, please take the 1/2 hour or so to read the complete document and then help get the word out… if the FBI and government agencies see that we the people will not rest until justice is done then that will really help. Send copies to anyone in the media, local law enforcement, your representatives & senators…your contacts and state & local government officials. The conspirators communicate amongst themselves and we must do the same! TRUTH has a power all it’s own, so every little bit you do is magnified.

    Thanks- If there is anything I can provide to help you and your friends understand this evidence please contact me. I have a mountain of evidence and obviously want to get the word out as much as possible.

    Thanks you for your efforts
    Peace TRUTH Justice…even if the heavens shall fall…

    Liam Cealleigh
    worldwidewaco@hotmail.com

    MAIL TO:
    ATTENTION FOR- LIAM CEALLEIGH
    C/O Fr Bava
    Holy Redeemer Catholic Church
    206 New York Ave., NW Washington, DC 20001
    MESSAGES ONLY: FOR LIAM- 202 347 7510 (usually respond in a week)

  20. sean bozalek says:

    Hi Tony , I remember you from our struggle meetings in Observatory , Cape Town during the 1980s . I really like enjoy reading your blogs on Rootless Cosmopolitan and think of all the high hopes we all held for South Africa future. The era we presently live in is very exciting and events in SA have brought us to the most important crossroads , post Jacob Zuma and into the Cyril Ramphosa era. I really sense a lack of good analysis in the news in most main stream media together with all the fake news stories out there it becomes awfully difficult for the average Joe Soap to really believe in alot of commentary and those inherent biases that are part and parcel of the message. To avoid this people have taken to twitter which is like dumbing down everything from to something simplistic. In fact twitter has claimed several major politicians already eg, Donald Trump and our own Helene Zille. They argue that the spin doctors are filters who change the ultimate message and meaning of what they want to get across. I reckon they have tweeted themselves into a corner and not though about the content and approach which can spell ruination should you not have the discipline and wherewithal to communicate to your audience. Best wishes to you and shine the light on all that helps us to understand better.

  21. Semua proses berjalan secara higeinis, tak berbau, dan tanpa penggunaan bahan KIMIA, murni merupakan proses biologi dan fisika. Melalui pengaturan lingkungan reaktor mesin dan kerja effisien enzim menghasilkan sebuah proses dekomposisi yang optimal. Sampah organik yang bau, menjijikan, mengganggu keindahan dan kesehatan seketika (24 JAM) berubah menjadi pupuk kompos (bahan alam yang sangat berguna dan sangat aman bagi kembali suburnya bumi).

  22. ESY Privat adalah lembaga les privat yang sekretariatnya ada di kota Cimahi. Kami melayani les privat semua jenjang dan semua mata pelajaran, mulai dari jenjang SD, SMP, SMA dan Mahasiswa.

    Les Privat Bandung

  23. konveksi tas says:

    nice to meet you tony

  24. konveksi tas says:

    cool website and contain some useful information

  25. ???????????? says:

    ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
    ???????????? http://www.cxhfwL.com

  26. ???????????? says:

    ??????????????????????????????????????????????
    ???????????? http://www.qy-xws.com

  27. ????? says:

    ??????????????????????????
    ????? http://www.yingxian.org.cn/

  28. ?????? says:

    ???????????????????????????????????……??????????
    ?????? http://www.cqwzjs.com.cn

  29. ??????? says:

    ????????????????????????
    ??????? http://www.Wjwwzjs.cn

  30. ?????? says:

    ?????????????????????????????2012???????????????????????????????????:“?????????????”???????????????????????????
    ?????? http://www.Wcwzjs.cn

  31. jjj says:

    ?????????????????????
    jjj http://www.99s.net.cn

  32. ?????? says:

    MD,????????????1000????????????????
    ?????? http://www.jxwzjs.com.cn

  33. ?????? says:

    ???????????????????????
    ?????? http://www.tzwzjs.com.cn/

  34. ????? says:

    ????????????????????????????????????
    ????? http://www.yuanshinews.cn/

  35. ?????? says:

    ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
    ?????? http://www.cdwzjs.com.cn

  36. ????????????????????????????????????
    ???????????????? http://www.666Loveyou.com

  37. ?????? says:

    ?????????????????????
    ?????? http://www.ggwzjs.com.cn

  38. ?????? says:

    ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
    ?????? http://www.QKwzjs.cn

  39. ?????? says:

    ????????????????????????
    ?????? http://www.nbwzjs.cn

  40. ????? says:

    ????????????????????????????????????????????????
    ????? http://www.luanping.net.cn/

  41. ?????? says:

    ?????????????????????????
    ?????? http://www.wxwzjs.com.cn

  42. ????????????????????
    ???????????????? http://www.innmarry.com

  43. ???? says:

    ????20??????????????????????????????????
    ???? http://www.30ok.net.cn

  44. ?????????3????????????
    ?????????????? http://www.zxhy518.com

  45. ?????? says:

    ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
    ?????? http://www.hnwzjs.com.cn

  46. ?????? says:

    ????????????????????????????
    ?????? http://www.Hkwzjs.cn

  47. ??????? says:

    ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
    ??????? http://www.sjswzjs.cn/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *