I’ve always been in favour of South Africa adopting a federal system. It’s not an appropriate solution for every country, but it works well in large countries (check) with a large population (check) that holds diverse views on value-laden concepts like “freedom”, “equality”, and so on (triple check). A Federal Republic of South Africa would [...]

Sometimes there are instances of disgusting political behaviour that force one to strange political decisions. In this case the instance is how Tony Yengeni’s prison term is being converted into a four star hotel stay by his ANC buddies as supposed ‘punishment’ for being the real white collar bribe taking criminal he is. The strange [...]

In the field of military history, the 1991 Gulf War is often considered an anomaly. It was the first major war of the post-Cold War era, and the first war since Korea that was prescribed by the UN Security Council. It was unusually one-sided; perhaps the most one-sided conflict since Kitchener defeated the Mahdi at [...]

I thought the BCCSA was bad news, but they’ve got nothing on the British regulator Ofcom. Once again demonstrating the old maxim that policies undertaken “for the sake of the children” tend to be illiberal in effect if not intent, they’re forcing broadcasters to censor scenes in old Tom & Jerry cartoons in which smoking [...]

We would like to reiterate that the government has no intention whatsoever to muzzle the media in any way, and that this position will not change.
— Government spokesman Themba Maseko, speaking after the Cabinet approved the draft Films and Publications Amendment Bill, which would require media organisations to submit all articles to a censorship board [...]

I take a certain amount of delight in the news that Tom Cruise has walked away from been fired by Paramount Pictures. It’s somehow comforting to know that even a “powerful” movie star with hundreds of millions of dollars at his disposal cannot insulate himself from nasty repercussions when he chooses to become a front-man [...]

Today I had the opportunity to attend an address by Manouchehr Mottaki, the Foreign Minister of Iran. Among other things, I was hoping it would provide something interesting to blog about. Unfortunately, Mr. Mottaki was disappointingly dull and – at least compared to his boss – sane. He didn’t once mention “the Great Satan” or [...]

I would love to join the Greek chorus calling for Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to resign, which at last count included the Sunday Times, the City Press, Patricia de Lille (Douglas Gibson must be in a coma or something), the TAC, the Aids Law Project, and more than a few blogs. So I will: Manto should resign. [...]

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your view of me and my writings, it appears that my already sparse contributions will continue to follow the existing trend. Work and my long term career ambitions are somewhat demanding and tonight is set aside as preparation for a Sarbanes-Oxley workshop I have to drive, on top of other [...]

Some thoughts on Lebanon
Sometimes, ending a war is a bad thing. For most of us, raised in societies that teach us nothing is worse than war, this may seen counter-intuitive. But often, a premature cessation of hostilities can, in the long-term, result in more violence and more unnecessary deaths than would have resulted had the [...]

Which means there are now two histrionic dictators with websites to match their delusions of grandeur. Dare we call this a trend? Hugo Chavez, Robert Mugabe, etc. had better do something quick, or they’ll look like the uncool kids stuck on the bottom end of the digital divide.