Archive for August, 2006

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Airport Name-Change Goes Ahead

So, it’s official: Johannesburg International Airport is to be renamed OR Tambo International Airport sometime in October. I can’t say I’m surprised, it was clear all along what the decision would be, regardless of objections.

At this point, there really isn’t all that much more to say. I have stated my objections before, they remain unchanged [...]

Filed under: General

South Africa Is Not Israel

If I were to pick the biggest weakness of South African commentary on the Israel-Palestine-Lebanon conflict, it would be the naive faith that the South African template for racial reconciliation can be superimposed on the Middle-East, with scant regard for unique idiosyncrasies of that conflict. This faith finds expression in op-ed columns in newspapers, South [...]

Filed under: General

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

The Enrichment Puzzle

Here’s a question worth pondering: why is the South African government considering a plan to enrich uranium? There are only a few reasons to do this, and none make any sense for this country:

For domestic use: Completely nonsensical as a rationale. Uranium enrichment on a small scale is just an expensive waste of effort; as [...]

Filed under: General

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The Upside of Province-Scrapping

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 [...]

Laurence | 01:18:15 | Permalink | Comments (8)
Filed under: General

Monday, August 28, 2006

The Necessity of a Left Wing Party

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 [...]

Wayne | 18:01:35 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Filed under: General

Some Thoughts on War

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 [...]

Laurence | 02:10:16 | Permalink | Comments (7)
Filed under: General

Friday, August 25, 2006

For the Children

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 [...]

Laurence | 08:43:53 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under: General

The Day’s Most Dubious Statement

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 [...]

Darren | 01:22:53 | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Thursday, August 24, 2006

Schadenfreude

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 [...]

Laurence | 00:38:06 | Permalink | Comments (7)
Filed under: General

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Iran Q&A

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 [...]

Laurence | 00:48:44 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under: General

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Manto & Mbeki’s AIDS Policy

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. [...]

Laurence | 00:38:15 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under: General

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Too Busy

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 [...]

Wayne | 16:29:15 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under: General

Thursday, August 17, 2006

A Temporary Peace

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 [...]

Darren | 00:06:12 | Permalink | Comments (5)
Filed under: General

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Has a Blog

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.

Laurence | 00:46:07 | Permalink | Comments (6)
Filed under: General
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