Jerusalem recognition opens door to out-of-the-box solutions
Par David T. Jones le 7 janvier 2018
Washington, DC - After more than a generation of excavation in the Middle East, the US government has finally concluded that the hole it has been digging for the “Two State Solution” has no foreseeable “pot of gold” at the bottom. Nor, to mix metaphors a bit, does the room filled with manure have a pony in it as hypothesized by the little optimist.
So we have stopped digging (and closed the door to the manure pile). It was not that that “the two state solution” has not seemed both tantalizing and seductively attainable. It should have been Political Science 101 simple: a state for Israel. A state for Palestine. Land swaps transferring parts of Israel to Palestine to compensate for the major settlements constructed in the West Bank post-1967. And Jerusalem as the capital for both Israel and Palestine.
A Pope and two Prime Ministers. Interesting times "In our times"...
Par Beryl Wajsman le 2 novembre 2015
"To attack Jews is anti-Semitism, but an outright attack on the State of Israel is also anti-Semitism. There may be political disagreements between governments and on political issues, but the State of Israel has every right to exist in safety and prosperity."
Many have heard or read these words before. But never from someone of the stature who expressed them last week. This quote came from His Holiness Pope Francis himself.
The occasion was an event marking the 50th anniversary of the encyclical "Nostra Aetate" - "In our times" - issued by Pope Paul VI. The work was begun at the Second Vatican Council under Pope John XXIII who entrusted the supervision of the work to Cardinal Augustine Bea.
The Armenian Genocide
Par Harry Dikranian le 26 avril 2015
Last Friday marked the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. Those two words, “Armenian Genocide,” are usually not capitalized, except in the minds and hearts of its survivors. Very few are alive today. But for their descendants around the world, the Armenian Genocide is a rallying cry for more than remembrance.
What happened on April 24, 1915? Ottoman Turkish soldiers carried out a centrally planned executive order to gather the Armenian minority’s elite. Over 250 political, professional, religious and business leaders were brutally marched into exile to the Syrian desert or simply killed.
The Mascia judgment: Justice denied
Par Beryl Wajsman le 3 février 2015
Justice Salvatore Mascia's judgment in the latest challenge to Bill 101 continued the tradition of avoiding the hard truths that would have necessitated condemning the ugly compromise of justice that has been the hallmark of Quebec law since the passage of this notorious legislation. In so doing he failed a generation and blunted hope. Worse still, he denied natural justice.
I do not use the term "natural justice" pejoratively. It is a term of legal art. It refers to those rights inherent to every human being simply by right of birth. And one of those primordial rights is that all people are to be treated - and seen to be treated - equally before the law. The dignity of the individual has been the litmus test of all civilized systems of law. It is a test Quebec fails time and again.
Taxes And Dual Citizenship
Par David T. Jones le 14 septembre 2014
Washington, DC - Everybody despises taxes. The standard lament is “Nothing is inevitable but death and taxes.”
At best taxpayers put a good face on the process, accepting that taxes are a necessary element of civilization. At a minimum, virtually all agree that we require taxes for security from foreign invasion and to protect against home invasion. On a national and local level, security is an accepted use of taxes.
Other than security, however, there is endless argument regarding whether a service or benefit (education, health, postal delivery, water purification, disease eradication, transportation, infrastructure) should be paid by government taxes or private funding.
Salem: Museums, Culinary Trails and...Witches
Par Sharman Yarnell le 16 octobre 2013
A drive into New England’s coastal area for the fall colours and a dose of history is just the thing - a history that is rather relevant when we consider what’s happening here in Quebec with the Marois government. People’s rights being taken from them, finger pointing, religious persecution - their rights of belief, rights of behavior, rights of thought, even - were summarily denounced, illegally declared criminal against all normally accepted laws of humanity and social behavior - and heavily paid for.
Korean NAvy vessels arrive in Montreal
Par Alan Hustak le 15 octobre 2013
Visit Commemorates 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean engagement
A South Korean destroyer and an auxiliary naval vessel arrived in Montreal Sunday as part of ceremonies being held to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean engagement. The Roks Dae Jo Yeong and Roks Hwa Chen will be open to visitors in the Old Port until Wednesday, Oct. 16 The ships are on a round the world cruise and are visiting ports of call in 14 countries which sent troops to the Korean engagement.
La Russie de Poutine alimente la guerre en Syrie- le dilemme israélien
Par Amb. Freddy Eytan le 30 mai 2013
Jerusalem - La derniere rencontre de Benjamin Netanyahou avec Vladimir Poutine n’a pas reussi a dissiper les graves preoccupations israeliennes, et il semble que la Russie soit determinee a poursuivre ses livraisons d’armes sophistiquees a la Syrie et a soutenir, coute que coute, le regime de Bechar el Assad.
Depuis la « Guerre Froide », la politique etrangere du Kremlin n’a pas vraiment evoluee. L’ex-Union sovietique possede l’art de faire monter les encheres et de raviver la tension dans le monde, mais a ce jour, elle n’a pas dispose de moyens operationnels pour mettre un terme aux crises regionales ou faire progresser un processus de paix equitable.
On Grief
Par Kristy-Lyn Kemp le 9 février 2013
It has been said that the grieving process is one of several steps, such as denial, anger, and acceptance. Although there is no prescribed time frame for each given step, this has always seemed far too neat and tidy. One can experience many of these emotions at once, and just because a person is considered to be over a given stage does not mean that feelings of anger or denial cannot come creeping back long after it was thought that such emotions had been conquered. Similarly, to accept the death of someone is not to be healed; it does not mean that the grieving process can be done away with.
Des promesses qu’il valait mieux ne pas tenir, sauf une !
Par Pierre K. Malouf le 19 octobre 2012
Élu le 4 septembre avec 31,9 % des suffrages exprimés (0,7% de plus que les libéraux) et 54 sièges sur 125, le gouvernement dirigé par Mme Marois ne pourra pas tenir la plupart de ses promesses. N’étant pas totalement réduit à l’impuissance, il a quand même pu prendre quelques décisions douteuses découlant de son programme électoral. J’en mentionnerai quelques-unes. Le moratoire complet sur l’exploitation des gaz de schistes annoncé, moins de vingt-quatre après son assermentation, par la nouvelle ministre des Ressources naturelles, Martine Ouellet, est le premier exemple qui me vient à l’esprit.
Dead End! Back to the future with Pauline Marois and the Parti Quebecois
Par Jeremy Richler le 19 août 2012
It was twenty-seven years ago, almost at this exact time of the year, that I went with my family to see what would be the first installment in the Back to the Future trilogy. A ten year old boy, I was so excited; the hype was intense, and I just couldn’t wait. I wasn’t too disappointed in the end, and the unrepentant auf Biff Tannon certainly made me laugh!
Fast forward to 2012, and a new installment of Back to the Future has just been released. This time, it stars Pauline Marois, who, just like Marty McFly, finds herself alongside the mad scientist “Doc.”
Dying is a laughing matter
Par Alidor Aucoin le 25 mars 2012
In the first beat of Morris Panych’s black comedy, Vigil, at the Segal Centre until April 1, an overly theatrical, neurotic character bursts into his dying aunt’s attic bedroom and off the top says “Let’s not talk about anything depressing. Do you want to be cremated?”
It Can Happen Here
Par Rev. John Vaudry le 16 février 2011
American author Sinclair Lewis, in his chilling 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here, imagines the United States becoming a fascist state. Doremus Jessop, a small town Vermont newspaper editor, tries valiantly to warn his compatriots that what is taking place in Europe in the 1930s could occur on this side of the Atlantic, but is met with disbelief—“It can’t happen here.”
Iran: Responsible choices
Par The Hon. David Kilgour le 19 mars 2009
Iran is a country with immense human, cultural and hydrocarbon resources, but its people continue to be severely repressed by a government headed by a clerical Supreme Leader and president, who practise state terrorism, flaunt genocidal rhetoric, and are seeking to build nuclear weapons. Iran is pivotal to regional peace and world stability...
Les Mille Mots
Par . le 27 novembre 2008
Élections pour les nuls
Par Pierre K. Malouf le 27 novembre 2008
Je regarde aller M. Charest, M. Dumont, Mme Marois (voire Mme David et son acolyte), et je me pâme !..
“It’s a matter of dignity”
Par Jessica Murphy le 27 novembre 2008
When Quebec’s 38th legislature was dissolved on Nov. 5, the work by the national assembly’s standing committee on social affairs came to a halt...
Trivializing Hate
Par Beryl Wajsman le 27 novembre 2008
This week Rouba Elmerhebi Fahd, mother of the United Talmud Torah fire bomber, received a sentence of only twelve months probation after having been found guilty in September of being an accessory after the fact in the firebombing. The trial judge qualified the attack on the Jewish school as a terrorist act...
Le discours du PQ : mensonges et idées dépassées
Par Jean-François Rancourt le 27 novembre 2008
L’idéologie du Parti Québécois est basée sur une série de mensonges et d’idées dépassées. Si ce parti a déjà été jeune et dynamique, voire utile au Québec, ce n’est plus le cas depuis longtemps. Par des manœuvres habiles et en martelant sans cesse la même rhétorique, le PQ a réussi à faire croire à plusieurs qu’il serait le seul parti à pouvoir défendre les intérêts des Québécois, comme s’il détenait l’exclusivité des valeurs québécoises, et comme si, par surcroît, il détenait le monopole de la définition de notre identité collective.,,
SAQ coming down on east-end topless landmark
Par P.A. Sévigny le 27 novembre 2008
At 8:30 in the morning, the fast-food restaurant on Hochelaga Street was just as busy as any other fast-food joint in the city — perhaps busier. While Les Princesses served fast-food breakfast meals just like any other of its kind in the city, the well-known restaurant also had a liquor license. For almost 10 years, Gaetan Thomas, its owner, said the restaurant was doing good business before Quebec liquor board authorities recently decided to revoke his liquor license. Now he will probably have to close the business.,,
Opération Mr. Big™ (Made in Canada)
Par Daniel Laprès le 27 novembre 2008
Même si certains médias (dont le journaliste Brian Hutchinson dans le National Post du 18 décembre 2004) en ont parfois fait état, peu de gens au pays savent que la Gendarmerie Royale du Canada (GRC) applique depuis plusieurs années des tactiques policières qui relèvent purement de la fabrication de preuves et dont plusieurs parmi nos concitoyens ont été les innocentes victimes...
To rouse the world from fear
Par Beryl Wajsman le 27 novembre 2008
Saturday was the 45th anniversary of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. That tragedy haunts us still. In many ways and at all times. The writer Mary McGrory said on that day that we shall never smile again. Daniel Patrick Moynihan answered no, we may smile again, but we’ll never be young again. For many it was the day hope died...
L’avocat du « Diable »
Par Alain-Michel Ayache le 27 novembre 2008
Après Maher Arar, c’est au tour de trois autres musulmans… canadiens, Ahmad el-Maati, Muayyed Nureddin et Abdullah Almalki de réclamer des dommages et intérêts au gouvernement du Canada pour des crimes commis contre leurs personnes par des pays dont ils sont originaires, tel la Syrie et l’Égypte. Ce qui est regrettable, c’est que le contribuable canadien se voit désormais obligé de payer la facture à la place des dictatures du Proche et du Moyen-Orient, tout cela à cause d’un précédent créé par l’affaire Arar!..
More Lessons for Republicans
Par David T. Jones le 27 novembre 2008
Journalists are inclined to depict every political bend in the road as a major turning point. Historians know better. And so it is after the 2008 election in which President-elect Obama is being globally greeted with hosannas and depicted as the bearer of solutions to all ills foreign and domestic. ..
Who’s afraid of the big bad debt?
Par Robert Presser le 27 novembre 2008
What a difference two weeks makes; our federal government has moved from calling a budget deficit in fiscal 2009-2010 “irresponsible” to “likely”. Mr. Harper and Mr. Flaherty divulged ever more pessimistic prognostications for our economic future in order to soften up the public for what is likely going to happen whether we plan for it or not: a couple of years of federal deficits...
Healing scars: ‘the girl in the picture’
Par Megan Martin le 27 novembre 2008
To much of the world, she is known simply as ‘the girl in the picture.’ She is a stark representation of the realities of war. But when Kim Phuc spoke to the students at Concordia University , she had only one message: peace.,,
Piperber's World
Par Roy Piperberg le 27 novembre 2008
Le festin lu
Par Louise V. Labrecque le 27 novembre 2008
Le repas est un acte social. Il est le rituel par excellence de la socialisation, soutenu, à partir du dix-neuvième siècle, par un nouveau discours alimentaire, tout à la fois hédoniste et normatif...
Sex: Uncovered
Par Dan Delmar le 27 novembre 2008
For the last two decades, Dr. Laurie Betito has been shining a light into the dark, dirty and sometimes depraved corners of the human psyche. “Better communication, better sex,” is her motto and beginning this week, she will help take readers of The Métropolitain on a journey to new heights of sexual enlightenment.
Intimate Passions
Par Dr. Laurie Betito le 27 novembre 2008
The Thousand Words: A beautiful season
Par Robert J. Galbraith le 2 octobre 2008
