July, 2006
Beirut protesters set UN office ablaze
While the United Nations Security Council held emergency talks yesterday after the Israeli bombing of the Lebanese village of Qana, protesters in Beirut took action. They attacked the local UN headquarters, set fire to it and injured three of its staff, shouting "death to America."
Harper's Foreign Policy Hits Home
Foreign policy is merely domestic policy with its hat on. If former prime minister Lester Pearson could be almost sure that was true when he first said it decades ago, Stephen Harper is certain of it today.
Reluctant Harper may yet be drawn into UN Lebanon force
OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been blunt about his lack of enthusiasm for committing Canadian troops to a still undefined international force to secure the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Tilting toward Israel
For good or ill, the crisis in the Middle East is a defining moment for Canadian foreign policy. The new Conservative government is apparently staking out a one-sided position on the Lebanon war and departing from Mideast policies adopted by previous Canadian governments. The consequences could be far-reaching -- and negative.
Interpreting Smoke Signals
The people who run the Montreal Exchange know all about risk. What began life as a market for penny stocks in a mining boom in the 1870s now deals exclusively in derivatives, an asset class known for its volatility.
The New Transnational Actor
The soft power of Canadian diplomacy may include cashing in on celebrity panache.
For Balsillie, patenting a new world vision
WATERLOO, ONT. — Five years ago, Jim Balsillie put down his BlackBerry, stepped back from his e-mail and took a broad look at the world.
Bush's war in Iraq has become a burden for the West
Those in favour of the Iraq war option back in 2003 -- including public intellectuals who provided the moral warrant for the war -- tended to dismiss doubters as wimps.
De gardiens de la paix à combattants
La fin de la guerre froide n'a pas uniquement mis un terme à l'affrontement entre deux grands blocs de pays, elle a aussi amorcé le déclin des opérations traditionnelles de maintien de la paix. Depuis 15 ans, tout a changé. L'ONU et les forces de l'OTAN sont sollicitées comme jamais et les interventions militaires sont maintenant plus complexes, et surtout plus violentes. Au milieu de ces transformations extrêmes des missions de paix, le Canada s'est métamorphosé en pays combattant.