Dispatches
John Baird: warm manner, blunt talk
The Conservative government champions religious freedom as a “bedrock” freedom: “Societies that protect religious freedom are more likely to protect all other fundamental freedoms,” Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says. “They are typically more stable and more prosperous societies.” In the small ante-room to John Baird’s parliamentary office, you have to consciously avoid knocking over the official […]
‘Robert Mugabe is revered as a hero’
By Florence Chideya Your unfair criticism of President Robert Mugabe as a worst dictator is based on disrespect for democratic choices made by Zimbabweans and Africans, and ignorance of the political situation on the ground. President Mugabe enjoys a majority of total support from Zimbabweans as the 2008 elections show, and this victory is the […]
In defence of Paul Kagame
In response to an article that appeared in your summer edition, permit me to indicate where Rwanda stands today and where we are heading under the leadership of President Paul Kagame. While your readers know the agony Rwanda and its people went through during the 1994 genocide, and how it shattered our political and […]
China: More progress, more ‘opening up’
October 1 marked the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In those years, and especially over the past 33 years since its reform and opening up, China has awed the world with stunning development. China’s development has attracted increasing international attention. How do we view China’s development? In the past […]
King Abdullah: ‘Reformer, peacemaker’
In a nebulous environment where culture and tradition are intertwined with Islamic religious beliefs on one hand and modernity flooding through an era of globalization on the other, The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, has made a clear mark by balancing continuity of traditional values, upholding the noble teachings […]
Oil-rich America set to ‘drill-baby-drill’
Richard Nixon was the first U.S. president to vow and fail to wean the United States off its dependency on Middle Eastern oil. Barack Obama will be the last. The United States today has the wherewithal to become independent in energy. Once Obama goes, it will also have the will. Obama and previous presidents failed […]
Shale gas, shale oil: Peaking upward
At the beginning of the last decade, many energy market forecasters and analysts foresaw a transformation of natural gas markets into something akin to the world crude oil market. Basically, the world’s three main regional natural gas markets (Asia, Europe and North America) which, to date, had evolved mostly independently, would become much more integrated […]
Gas and oil galore
“Control energy and you control the nations.” This thesis, as advocated by Henry Kissinger, might not be the most original theory that advances our understanding of politics, particularly in the arena of international relations. Determinism of this sort unduly diminishes the role of other, non-materialistic factors in the fortunes of nations, for if it were […]
Assessing Canada’s vulnerability
In war and peace, the support and confidence of allies can be decisive for a country’s survival and prosperity. Canada’s profound reliance on its trade, defence and other ties to the United States means that Canadians have a crucial interest in keeping borders and diplomatic, military and intelligence channels open with their neighbour. This access […]
A billion people still go hungry
Globe-trotting journalist Don Cayo explains why millions of impoverished people are doing better — and why millions more are doing worse There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread. — Mahatma Gandhi When men and women feel compelled to bind their midsections […]
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