Islamic world slowly, surely changing
but like Western liberties we now take for granted, they won’t come overnight.
Islamic world slowly, surely changing Read More »
East-West relations
The view from 50,000 feet
SALZBURG, AUSTRIA ✦ I love my daughter, all 15 months of her, for many reasons. One is that she’s more like her mother than me. Especially while flying.
My wife Jean and I continue to be aid workers in the Middle East and Africa, so this is often. In fact, diaper-clad Elizabeth Katherine has already been on more than dozen flights and four continents.
The Squirt knows one word. Just one. It’s “hello.”
But words can be powerful things.
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Ottawa impotent in Kazemi case
A handful of lessons are buried in the sorry state of Iran’s recent investigation and trial involving the death of Canadian photo- journalist Zahra Kazemi. They’re buried in the pile of lies and nonsense that’s often engrained in the not-so-free world, where, in my experience, up is certainly down if the right person says it’s so.
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Beautiful dreamers
(The Hamilton Spectator – June 12, 2004)
HAMILTON, CANADA ✦ Back in Hamilton from our most recent work stint in Yemen, I see a litre of Coke is now cheaper than a litre of unleaded.
In fact, since Jean likes to shop around for gas prices she can live with, sometimes on empty, I’m worried I might soon have to push the car.
It seems that Saudi Arabia, old and shaky as the kingdom is, has us all by the family jewels. It knows that North Americans are addicted to their oil like a drunk to his bottle. Yes, the oil gods have granted two-thirds of the world’s proven reserves to Saudi and a few neighbours. Hardly seems fair.
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Ideas live on after the man
Call me a dreamer, but ever wonder how things would look if John F. Kennedy was involved in today’s so-called war of civilizations?
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Don’t expect Arab uprising soon
“We’re going to err on the side of caution and stay in the house for a few days,” is what I told a friend during a phone chat yesterday morning. Our self-imposed house arrest would mean Jean and I would miss a friend’s birthday party and a weekly gathering of friends. Not much of a sacrifice, considering a few hours later four Yemeni protesters, including an 11-year-old boy, lay dead on the streets of this capital city. They were killed by Yemeni police guarding the American embassy.
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From here, our system is not so pure
Life in Yemen is different. Still, a colleague surprised me not long ago when I invited some boys from the office for an afternoon getaway at a local recreation centre.
From here, our system is not so pure Read More »
Hamilton doctor battles deaths during childbirth
Folks who lined up to throw pies at the prime minister for his candid suggestion that 9/11 was linked with growing global disparities and Western greed may want to stop reading this. The rest of you may meet my wife, Jean, a woman I thank God for every day.
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