State of the nation – Tony Leon bringing some insights into the decisions of the Official Opposition and the Current Government
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWsTm6T3aOs
Can Poland’s PiSed-off voters show SA the way?
Political anoraks certainly, and probably many concerned citizens, will enjoy a new book by seasoned journalists Adriaan Basson and Qaanitah Hunter entitled Who Will Rule South Africa? Who indeed is the topic de jour as recent opinion polls suggest that, for the first time in three decades, ANC hegemony could end or at least be severely dented in [...]
Alignments pose risks: SA foreign policy may incur costs
South African governments have in the past supported the Palestinian people and their struggle for their own homeland, but have managed to balance that with cordial relations with Israel. There has however been a noticeable shift from this policy during the Presidency of Cyril Ramaphosa. President Ramaphosa remained silent on the Hamas attacks and only [...]
ANC’s line on terrorism has changed along with the presidency
Gen David Petraeus, former commander of US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a former CIA director, commented that the slaughter of 1,400 Israelis and kidnapping of 203 hostages by Hamas on October 7 was “far worse than 9/11”. As he explained, the attacks on the Israeli targets, all within the borders of the Israeli [...]
SA tourism is like a Mandela statue: grandeur with a crumbling base
Headline articles in two influential British newspapers encapsulated the contradictions in the SA story: its boundless promise in one and its disastrous profile in another. One of the most popular UK broadsheets (read serious) newspapers, The Daily Telegraph, published its latest travel awards based on the votes of its readers. SA came out tops as [...]
Now, more than ever, SA must reconsider its stance on Russia/Ukraine conflict
There will be a lot on the agenda during this week’s visit to Pretoria of German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock. It is worth noting that last February when Russia launched its disastrous invasion of Ukraine, Bearbock’s boss, German chancellor, Olaf Scholtz, described the event as Zettenwende or “a changing of the times”. And in the 17 intervening [...]
Cyril can’t see the forest for the magic money trees
The genius dark television drama-comedy Succession, concerning the inner angst of super-rich media family the Roys, ended recently . Dynastic founder of the family empire, the monstrous Logan Roy, offered this withering put-down to his four dysfunctional children: “You are not serious people.” That’s a pretty good epitaph for the comedy of errors and worse [...]
It seems ANC chicanery can bring deeply divided US parties together
You have to hand it to the ANC and our spectacularly misnamed department of international relations and co-operation (Dirco). Both have achieved the rarest of rare feats: uniting the bitterly factitious and brutally acrimonious Democrats and Republicans in the US Capitol. The two major parties, which control the three branches of the US government, agree [...]
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‘Nonaligned’, ‘pick up the rand’, ‘president’: when words mean fokol Gallery‘Nonaligned’, ‘pick up the rand’, ‘president’: when words mean fokol
African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance, International Politics, Jacob Zuma, John Steenhuisen, Parliament, Pravin Gordhan, South African Politics, Vladimir Putin, World Politics
‘Nonaligned’, ‘pick up the rand’, ‘president’: when words mean fokol
American dissident and writer James Baldwin once noted you can judge the state of a nation’s educational level by the quality of its political speech. By this metric, and on both measures, SA today scores off the charts. Hot on the heels of the global report (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) revealing that 81% [...]
What ails our gaffe-prone president?
“Senescence” is defined as the condition or process of deteriorating with age. This week’s video announcement by President Joe Biden that he will seek re-election as US president next year sent the commentary class into overdrive on the risks of senility or physical impairment afflicting Biden, who would be 82 at his inauguration. Cognitive decline [...]