Nepal: trouble at the top of the world

January 19, 2010
The romance and myth of Shangri-La resonate deeply, a magic kingdom hidden in the highest mountains, a place of untold beauty, happiness and fascination, whose people are handsome, wise, and immortal.

Remy Beauregard

January 13, 2010
Remy Beauregard's untimely death at the early age of 66 deprives Canada of a fine public servant and committed fighter for freedom and democracy.

Canadians must remain vigilant in defence of religious freedom and diversity

January 5, 2010
The news out of Hamilton yesterday that a molotov cocktail was found in a burned out garbage can next to the largest mosque in the city, and that rocks were thrown through the windows of the same building is an important reminder that hatred and prejudice have to be firmly resisted.

Act Now to Stop the Carp Invasion

January 4, 2010
The Asian carp, a huge bottom feeder alien to North American waters, has already devastated to Mississippi River system, and is coming close to the Great Lakes. 

Christmas and the Holidays

December 23, 2009
I made it home from the Middle East in time to smell the latkes cooking for thelast night of Chanukah.  It was great, the whole family there.  OurDecember rituals started with my mum's 95th birthday, a huge celebration! Andthen comes the gathering of the clans for Chanukah and Christmas.  Thisyear was special as I made an early morning visit to the Church of the HolySepulchre in Jerusalem on my middle eastern trip, and stood in the back for amass being celebrated by a group of American pilgrims.  Wonderful.

Kenya's Challenges

December 22, 2009
When Kenya came close to a flat out civil war in the winter of 2008, it came as a surprise those who had not been watching. The Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950's had of course aroused world attention: it became a kind of stereotypical image of wanton violence, a "slaughter of the innocent".  We now understand it as a brutal uprising of the landless and the jobless, orchestrated by leaders who themselves were either executed or jailed for their commitment to violence.  Frequently forgotten are the estimated 20,000 killed by the British troops in their efforts to quell the rebellion.

Israel/Palestine competing dreams still clash

December 22, 2009
The drive from Amman to Jerusalem has to be one of the most evocative in the world.  From the heights of the hills above the Jordan Valley the "promised land" stretches below, a quick drive down takes one to the trickle that is the Jordan River and the numerous check points that mark the border between Jordan and Israel.  The Allenby Bridge is crossed by a separate car or bus after much stamping of passports and paying of various fees.  In the middle of the day in the summer the wait is long.  Once through and across to the West Bank the drive to Jerusalem is fast, on dedicated four lane roads that have been carefully designed for security reasons to link up the key centres - including some Israeli settlements- until the car starts climbing to Jerusalem, the city of competing dreams whose beauty on an afternoon sunset still takes the breathe away.

Canadian leadership, diplomacy missing in action in Copenhagen

December 19, 2009
The Harper mantra is that Canada's entire approach to climate change is to follow America's lead.  There is, in short, no Canadian position, except to do a little less than the US Congress will eventually authorize.

Kenney let the cat out of the bag and it's a nasty tabby indeed

December 19, 2009
Jason Kenney, the Minister of Immigration who operates as a kind of would be Foreign Minister, Tory ambassador to the various communities deemed worthy of being courted, and tough political hatchet guy, used the occasion of a conference on anti-semitism in Jerusalem to explain that an international human rights charity -Kairos -representing the Catholic Bishops, the Anglican Church and a broad range of protestant denominations from the United Church to the Mennonites, had its funding cut not, as had previously been expressed by Bev Oda because it no longer matched Conservative priorities, but because it was "anti-Semitic".

Liberals release policy statement on current situation in Sri Lanka

December 18, 2009
OTTAWA - The Hon. Bob Rae, Foreign Affairs Critic for the Liberal Party of Canada released a policy statement today on the current situation in Sri Lanka.

Liberal MPs pass motion to mark August 23rd as Black Ribbon Day

December 1, 2009
OTTAWA - Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic, the Hon. Bob Rae, passed a unanimous

Rae Deplores Arson at Buddhist Temple in Scarborough

December 1, 2009
The second fire in a few months at a Sinhalese Buddhist Temple in Scarborough

Why The Cover-Up?

October 15, 2009
Richard Colvin is a hardworking Canadian diplomat who was simply doing his

Missing In Action

September 25, 2009
The decision by Prime Minister Harper to miss any appearance at the United Nations the same week as the presence of senior leaders around the world, including President Barack Obama was a typical triumph of his personal spite over long term Canadian interests.  We were left with the lame excuse that he could not get a speaking time that fit into his schedule (as if that couldn't be worked out), and so issued his entirely welcome denunciation of President Ahmadinejad not from the podium at the General Assembly but from a Tim Horton's in Oakville.  His powerful words about anti-Semitism would have had far more effect, as would Canada's sensible decision to walk out of Ahmadinejad's speech. if Mr Harper had done it all at the General Assembly in New York.

Remembering Ted Kennedy

August 27, 2009
Edward Kennedy was a great friend of Canada.  He came here often, spoke

Molotov Ribbentrop Pact A Dark Moment In Human History

August 21, 2009
August 23, 1939 was a dark moment in human history.  On that day the foreign

The Public Character of an "Amigo"

August 14, 2009
I know nothing of the private character of Stephen Harper. He has a sullen

Harpercrats vs Diplomats

August 6, 2009
What was a poorly kept secret is now leaking all over Ottawa.

Thinking About Health Care

August 4, 2009
Watching the debate in the US about health care has been a fascinating, if

We Are Witnesses to Great Courage

June 24, 2009
I am in Vancouver to attend a memorial service for my dear friend Jim Fulton,