Countries of the World

The naughty pictures of Edison Chen

Feb 23rd, 2008 | By | Category: Countries of the World

To call Edison Chen a Canadian boy is pushing things somewhat. He admits he was born in Vancouver and lived in that “fairly safe” city until “about nine.” Then he moved to Hong Kong, where he “learned that the dollar bill rules everything.” In his teens he was in New York City. But he was […]



Europe and America 2007 .. no one can escape the global village now?

Nov 15th, 2007 | By | Category: Countries of the World

Viewed up close, the Canadian historian Frank Underhill said long ago, the most striking thing about the USA is its almost dazzling variety. And along with all the US citizens who still worship the Grand Canyon, there are those alluded to in a November 13, 2007 Reuters article: “Many Americans are opting for French foie gras instead […]



Howard`s End .. will Stephen Harper`s hero go down in the election down under .. (yes he did)

Oct 28th, 2007 | By | Category: Countries of the World

[UPDATED NOVEMBER 25]. John Howard admires Stephen Harper, and Stephen Harper admires John Howard. The love-in between the Australian and Canadian prime ministers has been going on for while now. Mr. Howard loaned Mr. Harper some of his key strategists before the 2006 Canadian federal election. And both leaders have bestowed on the other the […]



A Day in Istanbul

Oct 25th, 2007 | By | Category: Countries of the World

[UPDATED MAY 15, 2008.] Istanbul today is the former Constantinople and before that Byzantium, as in W.B. Yeats’s poem: “That is no country for old men, The young / In one another’s arms, birds in the trees.” It is also the jewel of any eastern Mediterranean sea cruise, of the sort too many North Americans may […]



Harper, Bush, Hu Jintao see Wizard of Oz .. and Canada may have election this year too?

Sep 5th, 2007 | By | Category: Countries of the World

OTTAWA, SEPTEMBER 5/8. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is now in Sydney, at the 2007 summit of the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum (APEC). So are  President Bush of the USA and President Hu Jintao of China. And Australian Prime Minister John Howard has just said that this “APEC meeting is undeniably the most important […]



Sunrise at Montobello .. what kind of future is there for what kind of North America?

Aug 22nd, 2007 | By | Category: Countries of the World

The ho-hum quality of the 2007 annual meeting of the leaders of the United States, Mexico, and Canada – held this year “in a massive cedar log chateau” at Montebello, Quebec – was nicely summarized in headlines from the three leading US newspapers of record. According to the New York Times, e.g., there were “No […]



What happened at the Red Mosque in Pakistan .. and what does it mean for us?

Jul 10th, 2007 | By | Category: Countries of the World

“It could end with them all coming out or it could end in a bloodbath,” Stephen Cohen, South Asia expert at the Brookings Institute in Washington, said on Monday, July 9. Then at 4 AM on Tuesday, Pakistan time, Major-General Waheed Arshad announced that Pakistani forces had “launched an operation … to clear militants” from […]



French election shows neo-cons have won a lot .. even as George W. declines and falls

May 7th, 2007 | By | Category: Countries of the World

Even before the definitive result was known, it seemed clear enough from the cable TV news that the right-wing candidate, Nicholas Sarkozy, was going to win the final round of the French presidential election on Sunday, May 6, 2007. If it’s a choice between “Dracula and Mary Poppins,” as the London press proposed, it probably […]



French connections revisited .. surrealistic new tales of Ségolène Royal and Canada and Quebec

Jan 29th, 2007 | By | Category: Countries of the World

Sgolne Royal – the glamorous Socialist candidate in the upcoming French presidential election (round one on April 22) – first made the Canadian news recently when she “sparked a diplomatic row by backing demands for the French-speaking province [of Quebec] to split from Canada.” Now the deepest significance of this event has been clarified by […]



Afghanistan again .. Canada’s new interest in foreign policy bolstered by UK report

Sep 6th, 2006 | By | Category: Countries of the World

Not too long ago, it almost looked as if a tricky vote on the Harper minority government’s softwood lumber deal with the USA today might monopolize the drama when the Parliament of Canada returns to work on Monday, September 18. But it now seems that, here as elsewhere, the Bloc Quebecois will probably keep the […]