Several chapters of Crude World delve into oil corruption, and that means I have spent an unhealthy amount of time looking into prosecutions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices ...
Author: Peter Maass
I was born and raised in Los Angeles. In 1983, after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, I went to Brussels as a copy editor for The Wall Street Journal/Europe. I left the Journal in 1985 to write for The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune, covering NATO and the European Union. In 1987 I moved to Seoul, South Korea, where I wrote primarily for The Washington Post. After three years in Asia I moved to Budapest to cover Eastern Europe and the Balkans. I spent most of 1992 and 1993 covering the war in Bosnia for the Post.
Cursed by Oil?
Today’s New York Times offers not one but two stories about oil and power. The first, on the front page, delves into Iran and the ways the Revolutionary Guards have become, as the article says, ...
More on Crude World
I understand the risk of over-saturating this blog with PR for my new book … but I can’t resist. What follows are a few words of praise that will appear on the dust cover of Crude World when ...
My New Book
Just a quick note to mention that my new book, Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil, will be published in September. The early reviews are encouraging. Publishers Weekly says Crude World is “heartfelt and beautifully crafted.” Kirkus describes it as “breathless, ...
Nedret Mujkanovic, 1961-2008
In the summer of 1992 a young Bosnian doctor was infiltrated into Srebrenica, a desperate enclave that was besieged by Serb troops. Nedret Mujkanovic served as Srebrenica’s only surgeon, working in 19th-century conditions because the enclave had little medicine or medical equipment; he often ...
“The Forever War” by Dexter Filkins
If you read the New York Times’ coverage of Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years you would have noticed the remarkable work of Dexter Filkins, one of the best war correspondents of our times. Dexter has written an amazing book about his experiences, “The ...
What “Generation Kill” Gets Right About Iraq
In the debate about Iraq, it has become a convention in hawkish American circles to blame the Bush administration for bad execution of a good idea (i.e. invading a large Middle Eastern nation). “Generation Kill,” a powerful new HBO miniseries, offers a reality-based counter-narrative that ...
Situation Normal
Slate
What “Generation Kill” Gets Right About Iraq
July 18, 2008
http://www.slate.com/id/2195528/
I hate Skittles. I perfected this dislike while covering the invasion of Iraq, because the gummy pills of sugar and fruit were included in the MREs fed to soldiers, Marines, ...
Who’s Africa’s Worst Dictator?
If you’re thinking “Robert Mugabe,” you may be wrong. How about Teodoro Obiang? I wrote a short piece about him for Slate.
Who’s Africa’s Worst Leader?
Slate
Hint: It’s probably not Robert Mugabe
June 24, 2008
A pop quiz: Who is the worst dictator in Africa?
a) Robert Mugabe
b) Robert Mugabe
c) Robert Mugabe
d) None of the above
The answer seems obvious. Thanks to extensive coverage in the news media and abundant criticism by Western governments, ...