Eyewitness to Revolution: Egypt’s Secular NGO Movement Leads the Way
Editor’s Note: Our former Ambassador to Egypt (Iran and Jordan), Michel de Salaberry, was an eyewitness to Egypt’s “revolution”. Now working with a modest NGO in Cairo, he long ago sensed the rising frustration of ordinary Egyptians alienated by a succession of…
Des yeux verts comme la mer
Des pages blanches par centaines, titrées chacune d’un seul mot : le nom d’un artiste, d’une ville, d’une fleur, le titre d’un livre. J’entretiens depuis toujours ce répertoire virtuel des ignorances que j’aspire à combler. La page marquée « Alexandrie » est…
“Interesting times”, exciting times
“May you live in interesting times” goes the old Chinese curse, but few diplomats who love their profession would want it otherwise! These are very interesting times, and where they lead is uncertain.
From Nihon to Nasser: Herbert Norman’s Diplomacy During the Suez Crisis
FROM TOKYO TO CAIRO Much has been written about Herbert Norman in the context of his contributions to our understanding of Japanese history and the extended anti-Communist witch hunt in the United States that eventually caused him to take his own life.…
Lessons in War, Politics and Diplomacy?
In early 1967, there was a series of incidents along the border between Israel and Syria, which had escalated to a tank battle and clashes between their air forces, ultimately leading to the shooting-down of six Syrian MIGs in early April. With…
A Tribute to Herbert Norman
Jeremy Kinsman, then Canada’s Ambassador to Italy, spoke at the tribute to Herbert Norman. The text follows:
Cairo in the War — 1939-1945
Artemis Cooper, married to the writer Antony Beevor, is the grand-daughter of Duff and Diana Cooper. Sir Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount of Norwich, was Minister of Information in Churchill’s cabinet from 1940-42 and British Ambassador to France from 1944 to 1947.…
Learning and Living in the Arab World
As my postings have both been in the Arab world (Cairo, 1976-1980, Amman 1984- 86), I am often asked what it is like to work in the Middle East. Two notions which I believe to be misconceptions, frequently come up: First, that…
The Six-Day War — A Cairo Memory
That Monday — June 5, 1967 — started like many others. I awoke to bird song: the bulbuls burbling in their inconclusive fashion in the casuarinas, and the coo-coo-coo-COO of the rock doves from the slender young mango tree close to my…
