"The Kingdom of Dahomey became a major power in the Atlantic slave trade..."

"... with slaves supplied through raids of surrounding areas .  Oyo would sometimes put pressure on Dahomey to decrease their slave tra...

"What do a cake, a runner, a rainbow and a kalashnikov have in common."

"10 Contested African Images of 2012."

"We are against tourism. They foster debauchery."

And soon the ancient buildings will be gone, razed by fanatics who imagine themselves saving the local people from the sin of worshipping id...

"I hope you don't see much of it because I don't want to be in the news."

"In other words, I believe that quiet service is the best kind of service." That's George Bush, helping out in Zambia. He also...

Why would Obama pretend to have been born in Kenya?

I asked this question the other day , when Breitbart broke the news of that literary agent's brochure that said Obama was born in Kenya....

Obama's literary agent used the "born in Kenya" bio from 1991 to 2007.

If it was a mistake, why did it go uncorrected for so long ? You could say: That's how sloppy this literary agency is and how inattentiv...

The 8 ghosts that haunt "Dreams From My Father."

This is the second in a series of posts based on the search for a single word in Barack Obama's memoir "Dreams From My Father....

Osama bin Laden saw opportunity for al Qaeda in the Arab spring.

So he said, in his last private letter, written after the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt had fallen: “The fall of the remaining tyrants in ...

There's a human rights complaint against Earls Albino Rhino beer.

"Ikponwosa (I.K.) Ero of Vancouver has alleged to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal that the name singles out people like her who suffer f...

"Kony 2012" was viral video. That was one hell of a virus.

"Local police say that Jason Russell, the 33-year-old co-founder of Invisible Children, appeared to be under the influence of drugs or ...

"The Kony video was made by people whose intentions seem good, even if their ideology and analysis may be a touch simplistic."

It's some great video-making: First, it has a compelling, simple narrative: Kony is a really bad guy and his capture will end suffering ...

Writing with dashes.

Do you like dashes? I do. There are certain ways of using dashes that I particularly admire. Rather than try to explain what I like so much,...

"[A] muscular escalation of American military efforts to help fight the Lord’s Resistance Army..."

"... which originated as a Ugandan rebel force in the 1980s and morphed into a fearsome cult-like group of fighters. It is led by Josep...

2011 Nobel Peace Prize has "included the Arab Spring... but we have put it in a particular context."

Unless the new governments include women "there will be no democracy." The Nobel Committee characterizes the prize to Yemeni right...

There's a mysterious drop in malaria-carrying mosquitoes in some parts of Africa, and some say maybe it's because of climate change.

Oh, no! Global warming is bad bad bad! Maybe it's causing Hurricane Irene! “Irene’s got a middle name, and it’s Global Warming,” environ...

"It's ironic. There is relative peace in Somalia where I live."

"But we are still fleeing."

"On Saturday, one man held up a sign that said 'Thank You George Bush.'"

Today, there is a new country in the world: South Sudan. Christian groups had been championing the southern Sudanese since the 19th century....

"We were advised to start dressing him like a girl, at the age of six! We didn't know where to start."

Intersexed in Kenya. "Sometimes I feel like committing suicide because it is very difficult when you are rejected by a whole community ...

"A majority of Muslims around the world welcome a significant role for Islam in their countries' political life..."

A new Pew poll: According to the survey, majorities in Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and Nigeria would favor changing current laws to allow stonin...

Malawi yields.

Pardons gay couple.