Huffington Post: The Banana Republic of the Blogosphere?

Yesterday I came across an article in leading political megablog, the Huffington Post, on South Africa's increasingly anti-Western foreign policy that seemed very familiar. On closer inspection, I discovered that the article, 'South Africa: The New Banana Republic of the Free World' by Henning André Søgaard, is a less articulate version of James Kirchick's widely published piece 'Going South'. So much so that I believe it would constitute plagiarism.

Here are a few examples of how whole paragraphs were just lifted with no acknowledgement of Kirchick:

• Kirchick wrote: 'Last September, not long after the Israeli-Hezbollah war, South Africa's minister of intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils, praised the Islamist group committed to Israel's destruction. The Iran News Agency, albeit prone to exaggeration, reported that Kasrils "lauded [the] great victories of the Lebanese Hezbollah against the Zionist forces"'
  
  Now Sogaard: 'Last September, not long after the Israeli-Hezbollah war, South Africa's minister of intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils, praised the Islamist group committed to Israel's destruction, reportedly "lauding" the "great victories of the Lebanese Hezbollah against the Zionist forces."'

• Kirchick wrote: 'That South Africa would support Iran is partly a matter of oil politics: Iran supplies almost half the oil South Africa uses... As Pollak observes, "South Africa is now the only state in the democratic world aside from Venezuela, maybe, that is standing behind Iran on everything."'
  
  Now Sogaard: 'That South Africa would support Iran is partly a matter of oil politics: Iran supplies almost half of South Africa's oil supplies. Nonetheless, South Africa is now the only state in the democratic world aside from Venezuela which still supports Mahmoud'.
  
  (The Pollak that Kirchick refers to here is fellow SA blogger Joel Pollak over at Guide to the Perplexed)



• 'Kirchick concluded with: 'Moreover, there is little that America or its allies can do to "punish" South Africa for its waywardness; on the contrary, the United States relies heavily on South Africa to be the continental, never mind regional, hegemon, and isolating Pretoria might imperil America's many other initiatives in Africa. For decades, the international community rightly considered South Africa a pariah state. With the fall of apartheid, South Africa earned the unique right to be a clarion voice for freedom and human rights around the world. What a shame, then, that the ANC pursues policies hearkening back to its country's discredited past.'
  
  And guess what Sogaard's conclusion looks like: 'Unfortunately, there is little America or its allies can do to "punish" South Africa, by far the most politically stable, economically productive and militarily powerful country in sub-Saharan Africa, for its support of rogue states and terrorists. To the contrary, the United States continues to count on its support and isolating Pretoria might jeopardize the Bush-administration's other initiatives on the continent. For decades, the international community rightly considered South Africa a pariah state. With the fall of apartheid, South Africa earned the reputation as a resilient voice for freedom and human rights throughout the world. What a shame, then, that the country is yet again turning into the banana republic it once were.'

I really don't know how Sogaard thought he would get away with this. The Huffington Post is no Mickey Mouse blog. They won the 2006 Webby Award for the Best Political Blog. Arianna Huffington made Times' list of the 100 most influential people for 2006. Let's hope that this does not do the kind of damage to political blogging as the Jayson Blair scandal did to paleo-journalism.

Comments

[Hard Rain]

Media Research Center Special Report: Huffington’s House of Horrors

http://www.mrc.org/SpecialReports/2007/huffington/report0912_p1.asp

[Cnaan]

I wonder if he at least had the decency to use the right mouse button, or whether he just went Ctrl+V.

On the bright side of things, at least you can now congratulate yourself on an excellent catch indeed.