Tag Archives: Iraq

What Privacy?

I wrote this post in 2016, but apparently it was never posted. I have no idea why. Canada has some of the highest, perhaps the highest, cell phone rates in the world. Getting a phone is fast and easy, as long as you have money. Getting a cell phone in Iraq is quite another story. […]

A Time To Dance

The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas continues to dominate the headlines. Prospects of peace seem slim to non-existent.Conflict seems to be a way of life in the Middle East – but it doesn’t have to be so. So often it seems peace is humanly impossible, as neither side is willing to make concessions unless […]

The Tomb

As I have mentioned, I’m traveing this month, a combination of business and pleasure. The pleasure part will produce a post or two (as I write this I have 15 partially finished, some travel-related, others not) but those will wait for my return to Canada. In the meantime, some of my favorites from the past, […]

The Ruined Palace

A flashback for this Wednesday, from a trip I took to Iraq in 2015. Somehwere I think I still have a couple of posts written at the time that still haven’t been published. The Peshmerga guards ask if we would like some tea. I don’t drink hot drinks, but I know it would be culturally […]

In The Cave

If you are a regular here you mnay have noticed postings have been sporadic the past week or so. Too many urgent things to do – and the next week probably won’t be much better. I feel a litttle guilty in not posting daily for your entertainment – but only a little. No time to […]

Great View At The Top

Time to end the work week with a flashback, some thoughts forma 2015 trip to a most unlikely tourist destination: Iraq. This post was first published in December 2015. The Peshmerga guards ask if we would like some tea. I don’t drink hot drinks, but I know it would be culturally insensitive to refuse such […]

Time To Dance!

I was at an event at a local church recently when dancing broke out. For those who are shocked at the concept of dancing in a church, I should point out it wasn’t during a worship service. It was at an afternoon café, a drop-in for members of the local refugee community. It is held […]

Did You Know It’s Voting Day?

They go to the polls in northern Iraq today, the area residents call Kurdistan. By the time you read this the results may be known. No matter the outcome it is a political problem, not only for the central government in Baghdad but for the rest of the world. I have been to Iraq a […]

Sharing Tea

This time last year I was in Iraq. I had plans to return this month, but the fighting in the Mosul area made the trip unwise. I wrote the words below last November, and for some reason I don’t seem to have posted them before. With the current fighting expected to produce another half million […]

A Drinking Problem?

At first glance the news story could be seen as weird example of persecution of Christians in the Middle East. The Iraqi Parliament has prohibited the importation, production and sale of alcohol. The booze sellers are all Christians. And with this move the Iraqi government has attacked the livelihoods of a significant number of people. […]