The indictment of Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza has triggered a great deal of public moralizing, almost all of it is missing the point. Read More
I had to laugh when I read the article Sherwood Forest Goodwill expanding, mall site may get residential tower (Nov. 23) in which mall owner Lee Greenwood said the rear parking lot is underused. Read More
There is an Afghan proverb: “He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.” It’s a lovely, life-affirming perspective. These days, unfortunately, the operative word in that proverb is “He.” Read More
The consensus assumption is still that U.S. president-elect Donald Trump will force Ukraine to yield to Russia as soon as he takes office on Jan. 20. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself said on Friday once Trump becomes president the war with Russia will “end sooner,” but he didn’t say it will end well. Read More
A lot of people are feeling like they don't have much fight left in them. There is a perceptible turning inward. People are avoiding the news in record numbers. It's understandable; reality seems to be unfolding in a fun house mirror. It feels as though someone put the '60s mantra "turn on, tune in, drop out" in a martini shaker, gave it a good bruising, and poured out the words: Turn off, tune out, and drop back from the ledge! Read More
It’s hard to imagine a less plausible venue for the annual UN-sponsored conference on climate than Azerbaijan. Baku, the capital, has a walled medieval centre that’s worth a day or two, but offshore, the shallow Caspian Sea is littered with a century’s worth of old and new oil wells. Read More
The AAA estimated that animal activist groups will earn about $800 million in the U.S. in 2024 from charitable donations by its members.
The Animal Agriculture Alliance is a pro-livestock industry group established in the United States to counter the ‘rise’ of animal activism in the U.S. Like many US industry groups that dwarf their Canadian equivalent, they try to include Canada in their scope, to be polite. Read More
Made-for-TV romance seems to be having a moment. Long treated like the hayseed cousin of serious cinema, escapism blossomed with new legitimacy during the pandemic. Viewers in isolation embraced small-screen distractions en masse, from the weird spectacle of Tiger King to the heaving bodices of Bridgerton. Read More
The Roman empire survived for four centuries despite having many rulers worse than Donald Trump (e.g. Caligula, Nero and Commodus), so we should not write off the United States just yet. Read More