Free Speech: A New Trigger for Global Crisis0

• Analysis
• September 20, 2012

A different version of this essay was published in the Huffington Post, September 19, 2012.

The hate-mongering film produced by an extremist anti-Muslim individual in the U.S. (who is also a convicted criminal) has triggered anti-U.S. violence around the …

Will Lakhdar Brahimi’s Hard-Nosed Mediation Save Syria?0

• Analysis
• September 20, 2012

The arrival of Lakhdar Brahimi in Syria late last week drew little media attention. But his trip, and the larger mission of which it is a part, carry enormous consequences. Brahimi is the envoy appointed jointly by the UN and …

Canada Steps Up Global Competition for ‘Brains’—At What Cost?0

• Analysis
• September 16, 2012

The global competition for talent—the ‘battle for the brains’—is fierce, and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney knows that Canada can no longer assume that it is uniquely attractive as a destination for high-skilled migrants. Along with many other states, we must …

The New Interventionism: Promise and Reality0

• Analysis
• September 5, 2012

First published by 3 Quarks Daily

The news is alarming: whole families killed in the mountain villages near Lebanon and massacres in Damascus; sectarian clashes between Christian, Alawite and Sunni communities risk a descent into full-scale civil war. The French …

Theory and the City0

• Analysis
• September 3, 2012

How many people do International Relations (IR) for a living in Canada’s Capital Region?  To come up with an estimate, we counted full-time faculty who work in this semi-autonomous field of study at four universities in Ottawa and the neighbouring …

The Olympics, and the Rise and Dangers of Private Security0

• Analysis
• July 17, 2012

Today, Nick Buckles, the CEO of the world’s biggest private security company, will be questioned by the UK House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, which is attempting to explain how G4S managed to bungle the Olympic contract quite so …

Kenney’s Reforms Make More Sense than his Rhetoric0

• Analysis
• July 14, 2012

Published in the Ottawa Citizen, July 14, 2012.

If you were throwing an open house party, would you trash-talk the guests to your neighbours? Probably not. It’s strange, then, that even as the Harper government aims to sustain Canada’s …

Is Corruption the Cost of Saving Afghanistan?0

• Analysis
• July 12, 2012

Published in the Globe and Mail, July 11, 2012.

It was fitting that last weekend’s international donors’ conference on Afghanistan took place in Tokyo: The event resembled the city’s famous kabuki theatre, with its ritualized drama of grand gestures …

The Future of Flying: A View from Farnborough0

• Analysis
• July 11, 2012

All eyes are turning to the London Olympics—but for people in the aerospace industry, Britain’s biggest event this summer is the Farnborough International Airshow. At this event (the 48th iteration of the biannual show run by Britain’s defense and aerospace …