Another Tale of Two Cities (Part II)
Following the kidnapped Dryan Tweedie from Japan to Brunei, LDC Liebnitz and Mabel Stanley found that Rialto Sleazewagon and Papa Jack Paridy had decamped with the archivist, and were last seen heading for the remote mountain kingdom of Su Wa Ni, deep…
Les propos d’un «pur coton» : Essai sur le problématique canadienne/The Canadian Condition
Professor Henry Mintzberg of McGill University is internationally renowned for his teaching and writing in the fields of management and organization. He is also titular professor at the Business School INSEAD in Fontainbleu, France.
Desert Queen — The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia
I read this book with a sense of real delight. It is a good solid read. While not academic in the sense it does not get caught up with footnotes and references, the book is based upon the public and private writings…
Shame and Humiliation: Presidential Decision Making on Vietnam
Several years ago, Paul Martin Sr., who spent a lifetime observing Canadian politics as a minister in the cabinets of Mackenzie King, St. Laurent, Pearson and Trudeau, dismissed personality as a substantial influence in political decision-making. What really mattered over the long-term,…
Lord Strathcona. A Biography of Donald Alexander Smith
“Is it not positively amazing what the Scot can grow to imagine, undertake and accomplish?” So said Andrew Carnegie of Donald Smith, Lord Strathcona, in 1906. Of course he might also have said it of himself. Strathcona’s life is the ultimate Horatio…
Far Away and Long Ago
Everyone who has travelled to any extent has favourite places. All mine are difficult of access — that’s part of what makes them special — but one stands out: a group of windswept islands in the South Atlantic that have always been…
Colleen Cupples
On Saturday, September 13th, the Canadian Foreign Service lost one of its pioneering women. Colleen Cupples died at the age of 51, after a short stay at the Great West Memorial Hospital in Perth. As I listened to her friend Sara speak…
Showing the Flag — More or Less
The colourful montage “Showing the Flag” (Summer 1997) brought back memories of several passages-at-arms during 1945 on the subject of a distinctive Canadian flag.
Le Canada, le Québec et la dette de Louis XV
Est-il possible, trente ans après sa visite de 1967, d’exprimer sans passion le sens de la démarche de Charles de Gaulle envers le Canada et le Québec? Cet homme âgé de soixante-dix-sept ans, engagé dans un deuxième et dernier mandat présidentiel, a-t-il…
Wasting Away in Margaritaville
As I write, I am nearing the end of a one year assignment with the Mexican Foreign Ministry. Just last year, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores — México (SRE) agreed to begin an exchange of…
