Under the Rhodesian Sun
There is a great tendency to give in to frustration and give up on negotiation, and I admit that in all too many situations I am such a hotspur. But in this case, despite the maddening delays, I agree that the best hope is in continued talks, even if temporarily fruitless: deadlocklink. At least if the M.D.C. and the Z.A.N.U.-P.F. are talking, then Z.A.N.U.-P.F. thugs aren't beating and killing M.D.C. supporters in the streets. The people of Zimbabwe are so close to talking a huge step toward the government they deserve, please let us not lose heart now.

The Cape of Good Hope
Still in southern Africa: resignationlink. I am just about the last person who would stand up and defend Thabo Mbeki, and if he indeed improperly and illegally used his office against his political rival and probable successor Jacob Zuma, then Mr. Mbeki's resignation is the least of the punishments that should await him, yet I spy in this piece something I find troubling. Which is the true government of the Republic of South Africa, the President and the Parliament or the executive of the African National Congress? The A.N.C. is by leaps and bounds the biggest political party in South Africa, but that should not be confused with being itself the governing body of South Africa. I can find no specific fault with the A.N.C.'s actions here, especially if the allegations about President Mbeki's misconduct are borne out, but there is something here that makes me very uneasy.

Perhaps the A.N.C. should change its name from the African National Congress to the African National Colossus?

All the Russias
I remember back to the innocent days of early 2001, when President Bush had won a bitter election over Vice President Gore and appointed Dr. Condoleezza Rice as his National Security Advisor. Some of the snarkier members of the liberally leaning Fourth Estate mocked W. for choosing an expert on Russia and the Soviet Union as his chief foreign policy aid. "Why would anyone need to know anything about Russia in the 21st century?" they scoffed. Wake up and smell the vodka in the coffee, jerkoffs, the double-headed eagle of the Romanovs has come home to roost! Now more than ever, we need public servants well versed in the oblique art-cum-science of Kremlinology. (Now more than ever? you ask. What about the Cold War? The Soviet Union was, for all its opaque complexity, a relatively straightforward, unsubtle adversary. The new Russia, however, is unpredictable, one suspects deliberately so. We need learned scholars to read the tea leaves and divine what the Devil the Russians' game is.)

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Barenaked Ladies, "Upside Down" from Everything to Everyone (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "And I will not turn my whole life upside down."

Also, I am by turns haunted and fascinated by this image, the aesthetics of the word "Mordred," and the very notion of Mordred, a man both able and only too willing to mortally wound the perfect king, the exemplar of all that is good and virtuous. Know the name of Mordred, and despair.





"Let the universe howl in despair, for I have returned."
--Darkseid, Justice League Unlimited

"Let the living room howl in despair, for I have returned."
--The Guy, in reply