January 18, 2013 PARIS – Confused over the surging violence in Mali and now Algeria? Trying to find Mali on the map? War, as the great Roman historian Tacitus wrote, teaches geography. This week’s new lesson is West and North Africa, not so long ago colonial possessions of France. […]
December 21, 2012 Marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the frightful Algerian Independence War, French President Francois Hollande did the right thing last Thursday by recognizing the “suffering” France had inflicted on its former colony. It was not the outright apology that many Algerians had demanded, but it […]
November 24, 2012 A year ago, I was mixing with demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square calling for an end to Mubarak’s dictatorship and democracy for Egypt’s 84 million people. Being a natural-born firebrand, I find most revolutions intoxicating – if almost inevitably disappointing or even ghastly. What a difference a […]
