http://tonykaron.com Analysis and commentary by Tony Karon Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:07:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Guest Post: Breyten Breytenbach For South Africans of my generation, Breyten Breytenbach epitomizes the poet as revolutionary humanist, who invites all and sundry to imagine themselves outside of their received identities and celebrate their common humanity -- an epically subversive enterprise. Breytenbach was a scion of the Afrikaans establishment in South ... http://tonykaron.com/2008/08/12/honoring-mahmoud-darwish/ You'd think the once-gray lady would have learned from the Edward Luttwak debacle earlier this year, when its public editor was forced to apologize for the paper publishing an op-ed premised on utter nonsense. But no. Instead, the paper asks us to take seriously a manic rant from Israeli historian-turned-hysterian ... http://tonykaron.com/2008/07/21/all-the-hysteria-thats-fit-to-print/ Armageddon Man is unhappy with his President Guest Column: Dr. Gary Sick of Columbia, a preeminent U.S. scholar on Iran, is a must-read analyst given his wide experience engaging with the leadership in Tehran and in U.S. government service (he honed his expertise on the National Security Council). Having spent ... http://tonykaron.com/2008/07/16/why-john-bolton-is-right-on-iran/ This from my new op ed in the National: The Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s rocketeers – helped by its Photoshop mujahideen – managed last week to set off a wave of hysteria by test-firing four medium-range missiles to underscore its capacity to retaliate against any US-Israeli air strikes. (Well, three actually, ... http://tonykaron.com/2008/07/12/behind-the-phony-war-on-iran/ I know it's a summer news doldrum, despite the morbid antics of the presidential candidates, but all this "war on Iran" speculation seems to be missing some key points. Despite Sy Hersch's recent revelations of stepped up proxy warfare by the Bush Administration against Iran -- which mostly reprised previous ... http://tonykaron.com/2008/07/09/asking-the-wrong-questions-on-iran-again/ About 13 years ago, while working on a British TV magazine program, I found myself spending a couple of days with Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls/the Notorious B.I.G. (I swear, I still have the tape, but it's analog.) This extended interview took place at the time when Tupac Shakur was ... http://tonykaron.com/2008/06/29/israel-to-bomb-iran-dont-believe-the-hype/ The Taliban hanged Najibullah, the last Soviet-backed Afghan president, in the streets of Kabul in 1996 This from my op ed in The National earlier this week: Back in April, Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, dodged a bullet. A fusillade of them, actually, plus a few rocket-propelled grenades, when a ceremony he was ... http://tonykaron.com/2008/06/24/losing-afghanistan-it-cant-be-won/ Turkey's Aurelio disposses Portugal's Nani The glorious football spectacle of Euro 2008 has coincided with South Africa's national team, Bafana Bafana, reminding us of the humiliation that lies in store for the host nation of World Cup 2010. Our squad of second-rate bumblers couldn't even beat Sierra Leone, and now looks ... http://tonykaron.com/2008/06/24/waxing-brazilian-on-euro-2008/ All this talk in the U.S. media about al-Qaeda being defeated is to be welcomed, since it reflects a realization, belated as it may be, that Bin Laden's movement is not particularly strategically significant. This has always been the case, of course, even when the U.S. was going to war ... http://tonykaron.com/2008/06/16/al-qaeda-is-like-trotsky-irrelevant/ Extract from a piece I did in the National this week on the floundering effort to negotiate a U.S.-Iraq security deal to replace the current UN Resolution that expires in December: The problem, for the US and for those Iraqi political factions most dependent on its presence, is that the vast ... http://tonykaron.com/2008/06/11/iraq-to-bush-nobody-likes-you-beavis/