Category World Affairs
Falling From The Skies
It was a year ago today that a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet was shot down in the skies over Ukraine, presumably by Russian-backed (and armed) rebels. There will be remembrance ceremonies in many countries today as families and friends continue to mourn. Airline tragedies receive a lot of publicity. When something goes wrong at 35,000 […]
The Road to Duhok
The turn to Mosul is on the left. It is blocked off, only the military are allowed to use it now since ISIS took the city in June 2014. The journey from Erbil to Duhok takes about two-and-a-half hours, depending on the number of checkpoints. This time I think we went through four. There can […]
Waiting For A Plane VIII – Erbil Internaional
I was traveling for a couple of weeks last month. I spent a lot of time in airports. In each one I had time on my hands. As a result I wrote at least one post in each of the airports, which am posting from time to time. Two more airports to go until I […]
The Great Charter
I was too young to really appreciate what the document was. It was 1967 and a copy of the Magna Carta was on display at the British Pavilion at Expo ’67 in Montreal. I know I saw it, but I can’t pretend it made any impact. Fourteen years later I saw another copy (or perhaps […]
Refugees III – We Are One
Theoretically I am back home, though it is tough to say for sure since I am posting this before I leave. With the effects of jet lag expected and no time to write while I was gone, I thought i should have something ready to go, so I held off on posting this song before […]
March For Life I – Parliament Hill
Today they have come from all over Canada. This afternoon they will converge on Parliament Hill in an attempt once again to get federal politicians to listen. Most politicians will avoid them as if they have bubonic plague. Their message is politically toxic. Thousands are taking part today in the annual National March For Life. […]
The Adulterers
I saw the article, a stub in my daily paper, so I went online for more information. South Korea has changed its laws and no longer will adulterers face criminal charges. Those found guilty could have been sentenced to up to two years in prison. I have mixed feelings about the state getting involved in […]
V.E. Day
On the television news all week you have probably seen them. Old men, their chests covered in medals, on the streets of Holland, there to celebrate the anniversary of the Liberation and to visit the graves of their fallen comrades, one last time. Seventy years ago today the guns fell silent in Europe with the […]
Remembering Kent State
Forty-five years later their names are a footnote to history. But I remember them. May 4, 1970, Kent State University. A student protest against American expansion of the Vietnam war into neighboring Cambodia left four people dead, shot by the Ohio National Guard who had been called in to maintain order on the campus, To […]
Refugees II – Dadaab
It was one paragraph on the back page of my newspaper, out of proportion to the human suffering about to take place. I had to look on the internet to find out more. The Kenyan government had ordered the United Nations to close the Dadaab refugee camp, home to almost 400,000 Somalian exiles. You may […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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