Vignettes
In December, 1965 John Holmes spoke to the Toronto Board of Trade about Diplomacy — Canadian Style. Some 23 years have not aged these comments.
John Wendell Holmes
John Wendell Holmes died August 13 in London, Ontario after a full and rewarding life devoted to international understanding. He never aspired to high office and was embarrassed by compliments. Yet during his 78 years he managed to combine three brilliant careers…
Controlling the Crisis Climate
One always wishes for greater age, wisdom, insight or argumentative powers in crises cases, but what is really needed is a formal crisis management plan. Such a plan need not anticipate the actual cause of the crisis, but it should contain policy…
Impressions of Perestroika, Vietnamese Style
From April 27 to May 12 a delegation of 12 Canadian academics visited Vietnam to examine conditions and prospects with a view to compiling a book on Vietnam in the 1990’s: Canadian Perspectives. They also had talks in Bangkok, Thailand before and…
The One-Man Post: A Growing Phenomenon
In this era of stretched resources, one of the devices the Department has resorted to in order to improve program delivery in the most cost-effective manner – in this case delivery of the trade program — has been the creation of a…
1945: Reflections from Canada House
One of Canada’s most distinguished commentators and scholars in the area of foreign policy and external affairs, John Holmes died on August 13, 1988. In this article, originally a lecture delivered at Carleton University, he explored some of the foreign policy conundrums…
Waldheim Fooled Canada Too
Amid all the brouhaha over the World War II activities of Kurt Waldheim, President of Austria and former two-term Secretary General of the United Nations, it seems to have been forgotten that Canada was the first country to which Austria appointed him…
Paradise Under Seige: Notes From a Trip to Uganda in 1976
The explosive bang ricocheted around the inside of the white Peugot station wagon. We hit the floor; the driver hit the gas pedal and the car raced down the disintegrating highway, ignoring potholes and sunbathing monkies alike. This was Idi Amin’s Uganda…
Russian and Russians are No Enigma When You Know Both
The question of how it is that the Soviet Union fields so many English-speaking officials while our side fields so few came out in stark relief last June when the Soviet authorities pulled their service staff out of our Moscow embassy in…
I’ve Seen the Enemy and the Enemy is US
by Ed Whitcomb
