The Birdman of Kaladar
It was a sultry afternoon. I was at the office window hoping for air. A guy in a plaid suit sauntered by, pausing only to snatch a lollipop from a baby, snap a blind lady’s cane and push a boy scout into…
Christopher M. Brown
Christopher M. Brown passed away on January 5, 2008. An expert in African affairs, Chris worked for CUSO in Lusaka prior to joining CIDA in 1971, later serving in Dar-es-Salaam and Harare. He moved to DFAIT in 1993 and served in a…
Georges-Henri Blouin
Georges-Henri Blouin passed away peacefully in Ottawa on December 27, 2007. A memorial service was held in Ottawa on January 3, attended by a large gathering of colleagues and friends who came to pay their respects to a consummate diplomat and a…
The Woes of Wenamun,
About a century ago a papyrus was found in upper Egypt which preserved a trip report prepared around 1090 BC by an Egyptian priest named Wenamun. Wenamun was a senior cleric, the Elder of the Portal of the Great Temple of Amun-Re…
Six Books on Canada’s Role in Afghanistan
Harper’s Magazine in its monthly index of numbers, recently reported that there had been some 835 books published in the United States about the war in Iraq and some 32 of that number were books for children. I have searched the various…
Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy
In Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy, Pulitzer-prize-winning author Charlie Savage has written an odyssey. His odyssey chronicles Vice-President Dick Cheney, starting with his beginnings as a 28-year-old executive assistant to Donald Rumsfeld, himself then…
At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA
How did the United States get into the Iraqi quagmire so quickly, with so few allies, and with no apparent game plan? That question and its many variations have dominated a huge and growing collection of materials by journalists and academics, to…
The Ambassador’s Word — Hostage Crisis in Peru, 1996–1997
Big and little heroes/heroines of the Canadian Foreign Service are at work every day in or out of Ottawa engaged in the many crises of our global village. Occasionally an event occurs and someone steps up to the plate to become that…
Aventures dans les montagnes de l’Elbourz
Alors où dois-je commencer? L’Iran est si vaste, si multiple, si complexe … De plus c’est un sujet émotif car c’est maintenant devenu en quelque sorte mon deuxième chez-moi : « keshvar-e dovome-man shode ».
Down (Under) and Out in Canberra?
For most of the first half of the 20th century, notwithstanding the images projected during recent fits of harmony, the relationship between Canada and Australia was more often marked by political and diplomatic, as well as geographic, distance. Most notably at Imperial…
