I can't decide if I like the shtick, but props for posting anything about Africa. The entire continent probably gets less mind share than Israel/Palestine.
Great article! Welcome to the club of people who have research interests in giant problems that no one cares about. Now I need to send Matt a pitch for my article on the growth of megacities in the global South and the failure of the big international donors to shift their priorities to urban health infrastructure.
Glad to see some reporting on foreign countries. Slow Boring is a great source of information on topics that aren’t headline news in the US, and foreign affairs in particular really needs more of that kind of coverage, I’m glad to see it here!
This could have left out the “I was previously a senior writer for John Oliver” bit and I would absolutely have still thought “this guy sounds like John Oliver”
Matt: give us a monthly Chad Takes guest column, so we too can be knowledgable about all things Chad
I’m a bit disappointed. I had an email from Matty titled “Challenge accepted, asshole” and I thought “finally! Matt has lost patience with someone to such an extent that he’s gonna go all Greenwald on their ass!” *Sigh*. No such luck.
This is definitely proving the point about the value of a take on Chad. I wonder if there's been more on this in the Francophone press based on their historical relationship with France?
The substance of this article was valuable. But the tone was awful. This is why I try to limit my intake of political news and information to print (including written internet) sources and stay away from TV. The insults. The profanity. The put-on snark. The aggression. For me, it ruins real discourse.
I enjoyed this piece, but Matt, can you put 'GUEST POST' in the title of guest posts? I always read about a paragraph before realizing, and get very confused.
Maybe we leave this one to France? I mean, we aren't the only potential pro-stability and pro-Western political influencer on the world front. Why not take advantage of those Biden-repairing relationships with our allies and let them handle some of the load (which was kind of Trump's obsession anyway)? Especially because France seems to already be ahead of the curve on this one (due to their prior Colonial connections, etc), so rather than being the Drunk Uncle who steps in with a Grand Opinion about Hanging Chads back in 2000, we leave it to Macron and Company to do both the grandstanding and the backchanneling?
Re: brainstorming for the Chad Tourism Board--the Lonely Planet's slogan for Chad isn't *quite* “A Crossroads For Some Of The World’s Deadliest Conflicts," but its old introduction to the country was not too far off:
"Wave goodbye to your comfort zone and say hello to Chad. Put simply, Chad is a place and
an experience that you’ll never forget! If Ghana and Gambia are Africa for beginners, Chad
is Africa for the hardcore.
To say that travel here can be tough is a major understatement. In much of the country
the roads are utterly diabolical, the tourist infrastructure somewhere below zero, the paperwork overwhelming, the corruption wallet draining, the summer heat mind melting, the
costs astronomical and the security situation highly unstable. . . ."
(http://media.lonelyplanet.com/shop/pdfs/africa-12-chad-preview.pdf). It appears they've softened their copy a bit in the most recent versions, though, but not by much ("Chad has always been some place where travellers wave goodbye to their comfort zone and say hello to adventure. . . . [C]ome to a place that promises experiences, good and bad, that happen nowhere else.")
I can't decide if I like the shtick, but props for posting anything about Africa. The entire continent probably gets less mind share than Israel/Palestine.
Foreign policy is a perfect Slow Boring topic. Let’s have more overseas takes that are non-ripped from today’s American headlines
Great article! Welcome to the club of people who have research interests in giant problems that no one cares about. Now I need to send Matt a pitch for my article on the growth of megacities in the global South and the failure of the big international donors to shift their priorities to urban health infrastructure.
Glad to see some reporting on foreign countries. Slow Boring is a great source of information on topics that aren’t headline news in the US, and foreign affairs in particular really needs more of that kind of coverage, I’m glad to see it here!
Also this was a fun read, well done.
This could have left out the “I was previously a senior writer for John Oliver” bit and I would absolutely have still thought “this guy sounds like John Oliver”
Matt: give us a monthly Chad Takes guest column, so we too can be knowledgable about all things Chad
I was expecting an article about arrogant jocks who try to steal your girlfriend.
Oh, come on.
Rank ignorance by the MATTS YGLESIAS of the world.
For Pete’s sake.
I’m a bit disappointed. I had an email from Matty titled “Challenge accepted, asshole” and I thought “finally! Matt has lost patience with someone to such an extent that he’s gonna go all Greenwald on their ass!” *Sigh*. No such luck.
But great piece.
Israel/Palestine population is around 14 million (9.4 m Israel, 2.5 m west bank, 2 m Gaza)
This is definitely proving the point about the value of a take on Chad. I wonder if there's been more on this in the Francophone press based on their historical relationship with France?
The substance of this article was valuable. But the tone was awful. This is why I try to limit my intake of political news and information to print (including written internet) sources and stay away from TV. The insults. The profanity. The put-on snark. The aggression. For me, it ruins real discourse.
I enjoyed this piece, but Matt, can you put 'GUEST POST' in the title of guest posts? I always read about a paragraph before realizing, and get very confused.
Maybe we leave this one to France? I mean, we aren't the only potential pro-stability and pro-Western political influencer on the world front. Why not take advantage of those Biden-repairing relationships with our allies and let them handle some of the load (which was kind of Trump's obsession anyway)? Especially because France seems to already be ahead of the curve on this one (due to their prior Colonial connections, etc), so rather than being the Drunk Uncle who steps in with a Grand Opinion about Hanging Chads back in 2000, we leave it to Macron and Company to do both the grandstanding and the backchanneling?
Re: brainstorming for the Chad Tourism Board--the Lonely Planet's slogan for Chad isn't *quite* “A Crossroads For Some Of The World’s Deadliest Conflicts," but its old introduction to the country was not too far off:
"Wave goodbye to your comfort zone and say hello to Chad. Put simply, Chad is a place and
an experience that you’ll never forget! If Ghana and Gambia are Africa for beginners, Chad
is Africa for the hardcore.
To say that travel here can be tough is a major understatement. In much of the country
the roads are utterly diabolical, the tourist infrastructure somewhere below zero, the paperwork overwhelming, the corruption wallet draining, the summer heat mind melting, the
costs astronomical and the security situation highly unstable. . . ."
(http://media.lonelyplanet.com/shop/pdfs/africa-12-chad-preview.pdf). It appears they've softened their copy a bit in the most recent versions, though, but not by much ("Chad has always been some place where travellers wave goodbye to their comfort zone and say hello to adventure. . . . [C]ome to a place that promises experiences, good and bad, that happen nowhere else.")
Laughter and learning something new to start my day: kudos.
I appreciated learning many new things from this post. But I am totally awed by the Shari Lewis reference.