Category World Affairs
The Other Side
Remembrance Day is tomorrow – in Canada anyway. When we moved to Germany I was surprised to discover that Germans don’t remember their war dead on November 11. Germans will take time to remember next Sunday. Growing up as a Canadian I never thought much about the casualties on the other side. Which made […]
An Anniversary Somewhat Forgotten
It ended seventy-nine years ago today, though they probably didn’t know it was the last day. They expected the bombers back to continue the Battle of Britain. As they had every day since July 10, 1940, Nazi Germany’s air force, the Luftwaffe, had bombed British targets. Unprepared for war, the few fighter pilots of the […]
Still Brooding
A flashback for this Monday morning, a post originally published in October 2014. One of the highlights of the Belgian leg of our tour of Europe was the Brooding Soldier at St. Julien. After Vimy Ridge this may be the biggest, best known, Canadian war memorial in Europe. It is a poignant site, a […]
Remembering The Battle
It has been 75 years since D-Day, and the generation that fought that battle is almost gone. This week though, we have been remembering a pivotal moment in world history with a series of posts I write five years ago. When we visited the Juno Beach Centre I came away with a feeling of not […]
Death By Stoning
The outrage seems a little contrived to me. Or maybe it was a slow news day The headline said Brunei, a small southeast Asian nation, was implementing the death penalty for those found guilty of committing homosexual sex or adultery. Those convicted would be stoned to death. My first thought was: “Why is this news? […]
Fighting For Colmar – III
One aspect of the military cemetery in the hills above Colmar and Sigolsheim that I hadn’t considered before was just who fought in the Second World War battles to liberate France. I guess that is a bit of Canadian blindness on my part. Canadian war cemeteries, or at least the ones I have visited, have […]
The Geriatric Vote
There is a certain prestige involved in being the world’s oldest person. The oldest living person on record (Biblical accounts are not considered records in these things) was a Russian woman who died earlier this week, supposedly at age 128. Her age has been disputed – there were no records of her birth, and allegations […]
Reflecting on Brexit
British politicians are only now it seems discovering that actions have consequences. The chaos surrounding the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union is simply because childhood lessons have been ignored by those who should know better. I understand the frustration many people (in many European countries) have with the EU. I agree […]
The Banana Republic
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister was at the United Nations this week, demanding an apology from Canada. He feels Canada has treated his country like a “banana republic.” The dispute has been ongoing for a couple of months now – a textbook example of why Twitter shouldn’t be used for foreign policy. Canada’s foreign minister tweeted […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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