India—too big to hold accountable?
The world isn’t a fair place. The rule of law doesn’t apply globally. Might is often right. This reality overarches Canada’s accusation that the Indian…
Talking to China
Winston Churchill is credited with saying “It’s better to jaw-jaw than war-war.” It is very much better indeed when two protagonists are armed with nuclear…
The cluster bomb curse
The United States recently took a step towards civilizing war, if war can be in any way termed civilized. Last Friday the US Defence Department…
Africa’s anti-gay madness—the Christian connection
Uganda recently passed an anti-gay law described by United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk as “probably among the worst of its kind in the…
A warrant for the world’s “most brazen mobster”
If there has been a knock on the International Criminal Court (ICC) it’s that it has focussed excessively on developing countries. Of the over 50…
Iran and Saudi Arabia make nice
The Middle East has been an ugly place for some time. It has become humanity’s favourite region for killing each other although Vladimir Putin is…
Putin and Peter—What’s NATO got to do with it?
NATO is frequently brought up in the discussion of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Some pundits suggest it is a cause, even to some a…
Britain stumbles
Britain (and I suppose Canada) will soon celebrate a brand new king. Charles III will bring another new face to eleven centuries of English royalty.…
Davos and me (and some Conservatives)
In 1971, German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab founded the World Economic Forum (WEF). The Forum is funded primarily by its corporate members—typically global corporations—with…
First the U.S., now Israel
2015 was a good year. May brought the “Orange Chinook.” After 44 years of Conservative rule, the longest-serving provincial government in Canadian history, the NDP…
The noble Nobels
The collapse of the Soviet Union, the “Evil Empire,” was perhaps the most welcome event of the latter part of the 20th century. Almost three…
Et tu, AMLO?
I have often despaired at the way in which seemingly progressive leaders in Latin and South America show great initial promise and then drift into…