I knew Dalrymple would have a piece on Nelson Mandela’s passing, and he does. It appears at Taki’s Magazine. I’m only disappointed we are so tardy in posting it. He praises Mandela for helping the country to avoid interracial violence but also downplays Mandela’s impact, arguing that he essentially went along with the rest of the ANC and that he benefited from an event he did not want, the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the end, he was in the right place at the right time and “was a nice old gentleman”.
The can’t-miss part of this piece is Dalrymple’s anecdote about his interview with ANC leader Joe Slovo which deserves its own separate post in good time.