Diplomatica
Abenomics: Revitalizating Japan’s economy
Following last December’s general election in Japan, a coalition government was formed by the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito Party. LDP leader Shinzo Abe was elected as Japan’s prime minister to lead the coalition government. In his policy speech at the Diet (Japan’s national legislature) Jan. 28, 2013, he identified three major tasks […]
Helping Afghan women find their place in civil society
She was a small woman in an exquisitely embroidered Afghan jacket — but her message was powerful. When physician and activist Sima Samar came to Ottawa in 2010 to speak at the annual general meeting of the Canadian Federation of University Women, she made a lasting impression. The chairwoman of the Afghan Independent Humans Rights […]
Celebrating an epic journey, 400 years later
If you know more about Samuel de Champlain come September, you can thank the French Embassy. The embassy has been a key player in developing programs commemorating the 400th anniversary of the journey French explorer Samuel de Champlain undertook up the Ottawa River. The embassy wanted to breathe new life into this moment in history […]
Kyoto: ‘The silliest of high-minded gestures’
December 15, 2012 marked the end of what has been a less-than-stellar chapter in Canadian diplomatic history. No, I am not referring to the fact that Canada has pulled out of one of the silliest of the many high-minded gestures that increasingly characterize United Nations diplomacy. Rather, I am taking some satisfaction in Canada’s decision […]
China, the awakened giant
“China? There lies a sleeping giant. Let him sleep! For when he wakes he will move the world.” Although Napoleon Bonaparte made his prophecy about the eventual rise of China two centuries ago, it turns out he intuitively understood that one day China would, in fact, become a major force to be reckoned with on […]
It’s fear that causes war. Ask Thucydides
By Fen Osler Hampson and Len Edwards It is now a matter of official government policy that Canada sees itself as a nation of the Asia-Pacific in what many are now calling “the Pacific century”— a century that will be increasingly dominated by China and many of the emerging economies of the Asia-Pacific region such […]
A world awash in crime
At a time when the global economy is foundering, there is one sector that isn’t. It’s called transnational organized crime and it’s become a highly lucrative business. Software piracy, internet fraud and trafficking in drugs, humans, wildlife, counterfeit goods and currency, human organs, small arms, diamonds and coloured gemstones, oil, timber, fish, art, cultural property […]
Syria’s fallout on Jordan, Lebanon and the Kurds
What happens to Syria’s Kurds may have broader implications for Kurdish populations in Turkey, Iran and Iraq — and regional instability. By Harry Sterling “Revolutions have never lightened the burden of tyranny: they have only shifted it to another shoulder.” When author George Bernard Shaw uttered that pessimistic, certainly cynical, view more than a century ago […]
Canadian lawyers go to court for human rights
Many Canadians cling to Canada’s past international reputation as a broker of peace, as an important middle power and as a protector of human rights. These sentiments stem from as far back as the 1950s, when then foreign minister Lester Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize for defusing the Suez Crisis. Yet we also have […]
Fostering global friendship through music
The Canadian Music Competition (CMC) was the beneficiary of two unique fundraisers in the fall, both hosted by diplomats. In October, outgoing British High Commissioner Andrew Pocock and his wife, Julie, hosted a cocktail reception at Earnscliffe for music fans who get to enjoy a diplomat’s hospitality and appreciate hearing young people perform beautiful music. […]
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