He’s a reactionary who’s hated as much by conservatives as he is by liberals, which is why the theories of John Lukacs are so edifying to read. Not that the people he writes about actually read him. As a profile of Sarah Palin in the latest issue of Vanity Fair seems to suggest, the politics of proudly unschooled nationalist populism are back in the ascendancy in America. Sound familiar? By KEVIN BLOOM. 

As the ANC indicated it may be willing to listen to representations on the Protection of Information Bill as far as such are deemed “practicable and reasonable”, civic society and the media are organising to defend the public’s increasingly precarious rights to basic and fundamental freedoms. By MANDY DE WAAL.

Cyber-spooks look to super-programs to plug the holes in the intelligence dykes breached by Wiki-Leaks. And it’s not going to be a quick-in-quick-out guerrilla op either.

Where is the SA Communist Party these days? One would think that when bigger members of the alliance start to shout and scream at each other, the smallest and quietest member would start to make some hay. You know, it gets a chance to speak too, to say what it wants to say. And yet, it’s virtually gone underground. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

South Africa’s popular satirical site has shut shop, citing dismal advertising revenues and a fall off in syndication deals. As readers mourn the loss of bitingly brilliant content, pioneering parodists say satire is the hardest commercial sell from which to make a living. By MANDY DE WAAL.

Black people own a minimum of 8% of shares listed on the JSE, but could directly own as much as 36%, and far more than that once you factor in indirect ownership through pension schemes and the like. Where does that leave us? Probably with more listed company shares in black than white hands, but almost certainly more than two-thirds of the way towards government’s 2017 target, after just three years of trying – as long as we aren't talking control. By PHILLIP DE WET.

Using the Oval Office for only the second time in his presidency for a major live televised speech, Barack Obama on Tuesday told Americans, Iraqis and everybody else that US combat duties in Iraq were done and dusted. By BROOKS SPECTOR.

It would’ve made the perfect scenario for a Terry Pratchett science-fantasy novella - if the protagonists were not deadly serious and the potential damages involved not been the fate of our home planet, Earth. But such was the backdrop to the latest court case in the US aimed at halting the biggest and costliest scientific experiment in history.

There are times when nothing illustrates the fights over factions, resources and power better than the SABC. It’s a parastatal, but it’s more public than the others. And that means that what happens behind the scenes becomes clearer than, say, your average Transnet board meeting. By STEPHEN GROOTES

To the 33 Chilean miners still trapped 700m underground, every bit of help is welcome. But this time help is coming from unexpected quarters, as the experience of Nasa astronauts is being used to predict and counter the mental and physical challenges they face.

In the showdown at Big Strike Corral, President Jacob Zuma seems to have taken a body blow and Cosatu – and its sharp-shooter Zwelinzima Vavi – have the upper hand. Again. By STEPHEN GROOTES.

South Africa is swimming in maize. For farmers that means a choice, between commercial suicide on the one hand and reaching for the impossible dream of a production cartel on the other. For government the choice is somewhat easier: Allow a globally competitive, export-orientated sector to flourish, providing food security and a modicum of energy independence to boot – or hobble empowerment efforts in the agricultural sector by doing nothing. By PHILLIP DE WET.

As the US summer holidays draw to a close, November’s midterm elections drift back to centre stage and pundits look to models of what voting trends may tell us about the national mood in the world’s superpower. By J BROOKS SPECTOR.

Barely seven weeks have passed since the end of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and South Africa feels as though it has transferred into the twilight zone. From what was arguably one of the greatest triumphs of sporting capitalism in the world, the country is increasingly being squeezed between groups that either believe Marx, Lenin and Trotsky were right or that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is the world's greatest living man. And being bullied into believing these are only two options on the table. By BRANKO BRKIC.

The Daily Maverick’s SIPHO HLONGWANE spoke to the son of the iconic embodiment of Black Consciousness in South Africa, mostly about the apparent apathy of today’s youth toward political involvement.

Friday evening in Midrand saw Julius Malema consolidate his rule over his organisation, gaining an even stronger foothold to push his agenda within the ANC. And what a brave, remarkable, revolutionary and worrying agenda that is, starting with changing this country's Constitution.

On the last day of the ANC Youth League's national general council conference, it was time for the ruling party’s Number Two to address the Young Lion and his many cubs. And he didn't completely disappoint them.

Every time we see Zwelinzima Vavi, he’s angrier at the ANC than he was the previous time. If the last Cosatu central executive committee ended burning with rage at the ANC, now it’s positively apoplectic. We wonder where he’ll go next, because our thesaurus is running out of words for “pissed off”.

On Friday, the first victim of the ANC Youth League national general council is all but certain to be Malema's deputy, Andile Lungisa, after a flawless move of well-rehearsed smoothness.

The first day of action at the ANC Youth League's gathering brought only merriment and a good time. Good time for Julius Malema and his followers, that is. Everyone else enjoyed the festive atmosphere considerably less.

The world was supposed to bounce back from that little recession and start spending, while South Africa groaned under the burden of rising prices. Except that didn't happen, and now, with inflation going nowhere, Cosatu's economics are looking sensible rather than populist.

As South Africa sinks deeper into the chaos caused by the public servants' strike and pays a terrible price because of the fight between alliance partners, Cosatu's leadership has chosen to turn up the heat a great deal. This time, however, they themselves are most likely to be the greatest casualties.

The ANC Youth League goes into this week's national general council meeting split on one defining issue - Julius Malema. More than any other organisation in the country, it has become not much more than a placeholder for  its leader's oversized personality.

The debris from Cape Town's iconic Athlone cooling towers, which were reduced to 21,600 tonnes of rubble this past weekend, will be recycled, made into bricks and reused for city development, a measure that may warm the hearts of those miffed by the demolition's early detonation.

In the past week, Iranian military and nuclear developments may be pointing towards a nuclear military future for that country – or maybe not. And that’s the problem – neither governments nor experts around the world can agree exactly what’s happening. And uncertainty about Iran’s nuclear intentions is exactly what the Middle East doesn’t need.

Parliament's communications portfolio committee says it was simply trying to give SABC board members an opportunity to really speak their minds. Including on allegations of interference by President Jacob Zuma, perhaps. Editors say secrecy is not in the interests of the public. This time the editors won, though not before the SABC's chairman got to declare war on his board.

Given the current status of the standoff between local media and the ANC – around a “DEFCON 2” if The Party were the US military – it’s probably not a great idea to bait the joint chiefs with a book title that so heinously disrespects their leader. Still, that’s just what publisher Two Dogs and blogger Azad Essa are about to do.  

The latest in the series of media debates cropping up all over the country was at the University of Johannesburg on Monday night, with Baleka Mbete of the ANC, Mondli Makhanya of Avusa and Raymond Louw of SA Press Council on the panel. It turned out to be just another underwhelming night in the battle for the future of South Africa.

Assuming members of the ANC will actually read it, publication of the book 25 Years of the Mail & Guardian couldn’t have happened at a better time. Because here we have, in glorious full-colour, incontrovertible proof of who the newspaper supported in the years when it was kind of dangerous to do so.  

To most South Africans, Fareed Zakaria is largely unknown. Yet he is the West’s most influential Muslim writer and his work has a marked impact on the way America and the world understand Islam.