Archive for August, 2020
On the road again
Cabin fever has gripped most of us over the past few months. But, as the pandemic lockdown eases, opportunities for daytrips and even overnighters are opening up. Since staying safe still generally means staying close to home, we’re turning the spotlight on nearby attractions you can reach by car, bike or even foot and where […]
Envoy’s Album – Summer 2020
CORRECTION In the April issue, an editing error caused a mistake in a name. On page 87, photo No. 1 included Arian […]
New Arrivals – Summer 2020
Chang Keung Ryong Ambassador of Korea Ambassador Chang comes to diplomacy from academia — and this is not his first stint in Canada. He studied political science and diplomacy at Kyunghee University in Seoul and then did a master’s in international relations at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey before coming to McGill University in […]
Wine-growing practices being rewritten
The wine grape is as fickle as agricultural products come. Centuries of documentation has helped to determine the ideal soil structures, sun coverage and vine placements on the properly angled hillsides of historic regions, affecting the quality and pricing of wines. With shifting weather patterns, this is increasingly no longer true. Extreme weather events are […]
The tastes of summer
I invite you to experience several of my summer recipes, each of which offers a unique and tempting twist to what one might normally expect. Avocado crêpe rolls include touches of caviar and drops of maple syrup, which contribute discretely to the complexity of flavours. Certain to catch one’s attention are the grilled steaks served […]
On succeeding — and compromising — in Putin’s Russia
Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia By Joshua Yaffa January 2020 Tim Duggan Books, Penguin Random House 368 pages Kindle $17 Hardcover: $36.63 Paperback: $16.55 In 1999, Heda Saratova and her young child huddled, terrified, in their apartment in Grozny, Chechnya, as Russian troops battered the capital of the rebellious republic. […]
Estonia’s e-government revolution
The tiny country of 1.3 million has put itself on the global map with innovative e-government programs, one of which allows foreigners to establish companies there, from afar. After Estonia finally gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, following 51 years of occupation and poverty, then-prime minister Mart Laar was searching for a way […]
Lost UN seat could be a win
Many Canadians were disappointed at Canada’s recent loss in the “Western Europe and other” regional race for a two-year seat on the United Nations Security Council. The late start aside, errors abounded in our campaign. Kaveh Shahrooz, a Harvard-educated lawyer formerly at Global Affairs Canada, criticized it for omitting such issues as Beijing’s mass human […]
COVID-19 hits Africa
Despite a woeful medical infrastructure, widespread disease, food insecurity and crowded urban slums, much of Africa — compared to the Americas and Europe — has largely been spared a wrenching public-health disturbance from this year’s raging coronavirus. So far. At the same time, economies throughout the continent have tanked and Africans have been thrown back […]
Preparing for disaster
Humans are fearful. We grapple with our mortality, unable to imagine the planet without us, but optimistic that we will prevail. Our anxiety has been reflected in popular culture for eons, from the Epic of Gilgamesh, circa 2000 BC, to The Walking Dead. Our fears rise as the century wanes and the new one begins. […]
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