The writer John Steinbeck called war “a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal.” Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz characterised it as “the continuation of politics by other means.” The latest version is the triumph of hubris, ego and ignorance of history and culture.… Read the rest
If you find putting the seemingly endless welter of news about suffering and deprivation into perspective daunting, to the point where ignoring it is easier, try looking at it through the prism of a glass of water.… Read the rest
Unless you’re an inveterate news consumer — and increasingly, even if you are — discerning whether the news you’re seeing, hearing and reading is nonsense, or is news because it is nonsense, is becoming a mind-curdling task.… Read the rest
The New York-set movie to which the headline of this post owes a nod, romped its way to a predictable happy ending. The Middle East-based horror show to which the headline refers is relentlessly lurching its way towards unhappiness that shows no sign of ending.… Read the rest
Usually, watching and reading the news, especially statements and claims by those who make it, puts me somewhere between despair and outrage. This week. I tried a new approach, listening for what wasn’t said.… Read the rest
At the risk of seeming to mix the sublime and the ridiculous, a kid’s tee shirt and a 18th century philosopher sum up the latest fiasco — or maybe farce is a better word — of this week in the World of Trump.… Read the rest
Type “stupid” into Roget’s Thesaurus and more than 50 nouns and adjectives pop up. In varying degrees, all of them are applicable to the remorseless list of tragedies that plague the world. The tragedy of that is how acceptable willful and blind stupidity have become.… Read the rest
Polite appearances to the contrary, Canada’s relationship with the U.S. has always had an element that can be summed up in a paraphrase of the opening line of a sonnet by the English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning: “How do you p*** us off. Let us count the ways..” … Read the rest
As a guide for how to deal with the insults, about-turns and wrecking ball style that pass for American foreign policy without resorting to profanity, I suggest channeling Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, with a small tweak: “Appropriate or inappropriate, that is the question.”… Read the rest
Whatever you think of Donald Trump, he’s boldly gone where none of his predecessors went before. Barely into the second month of his term, he’s made his title and name into an oxymoron that matches my all-time favourite, friendly fire.… Read the rest