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.

Satellites and Prison Camps

The U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea has just released a devastating report that includes satellite images of prison camps in which several hundred thousand North Koreans are held. As Anne Applebaum, who’s just published a book ... (Read more)

The Last Emperor

Who is Kim Jong-il? A few months ago my editors at The New York Times Magazine asked me to find out, and the result is the cover story of this weekend’s issue. The story is also posted here.

“The Dear Leader is a workaholic,” it begins. “Kim Jong Il sleeps four hours a ... (Read more)

The Last Emperor: From Defectors and Former Aides, a Portrait of Kim Jong Il Is Emerging

The New York Times Magazine
October 19, 2003

The Dear Leader is a workaholic. Kim Jong Il sleeps four hours a night, or if he works through the night, as he sometimes does, he sleeps four hours a day. His office is a hive of activity; reports cross his desk at all hours. Dressed as always in his signature ... (Read more)

The First Casualty

John Burns is getting a lot of attention for his comments in a new book about media coverage of the war in Iraq. Burns notes that some journalists pulled their punches in Baghdad so that they would not be expelled by Saddam Hussein’s regime. Here’s the money graph:

In one case, a correspondent ... (Read more)

From Baghdad to Beirut

I’d like to promise that this is the last time I’ll mention the musings of Salam Pax, but I can’t be sure of that, because his insights into what’s happening in Iraq are just too damn good. From his blog today: “Maybe we ... (Read more)

Darkness in Baghdad

After the bombing of U.N. headquarters in Iraq, Salam is upset: “I am plunging into a fucking depression, do we have a future? Is this country going to be hijacked by shit extremists who want to prove a point?”

Salam Pax=Iraq’s Weathervane

Salam strikes again and again. The famous blogger of Baghdad (and former interpreter of mine) wants the Americans to succeed in Iraq “because if the occupation forces fail, ... (Read more)

Nuking the Nuke Threat

Before the war in Iraq, the American media generally went along with the White House’s depiction of Saddam Hussein as an imminent threat to world security. Now, with no weapons of mass destruction uncovered in Iraq, the reporting is getting tougher. Today’s Washington ... (Read more)

Silent Havana

If you have been to Havana and have been seduced by it, a new film will send you back, it seems. The film is called “Suite Habana” and is described, by The Guardian, as “stark, beautiful…the ... (Read more)

The Race to Baghdad

A quarter of a million Americans took a trip in March 2003. It was noisy, hot, and violent. Accommodations were poor. Some of them didn't come back.