Who are you calling “American People?”

‘The American people’ do not exist, writes Tom Regan, author of F&O’s Seeking Orenda column. “They are as much of a myth as Sasquatch, Area 51, Nigerian yellow cake, and the Tooth Fairy.” An excerpt of his new column, Why the ‘American people

Rabbie Burns, och aye

On January 25, say Scotch drinkers the world over, we are all Scottish. Today’s the birthday of Robert Burns, the Scottish bard and one of the first Romantic poets. ’tis as good an excuse as any to pour a dram of single malt.

Today’s election could change Greece — and Europe

For years the world has watched Greece, the cradle of democracy, implode in protests and economic decline. Indebted Greece has long been ill-served by its political and business leaders, and lately beholden to creditors bent on austerity. And today when the Greek

When will the penny drop at Davos?

  It’s not unusual for environmental risk to come up at the World Economic Forum, held this month in Davos, notes Natural Security columnist Chris Wood. “What appears to be harder for the high-net-worth and high-power-quotient individuals meeting in the Alps to accept, is

Militant workers China’s new nightmare

China’s workers are not convinced by their government’s new stance, that low economic growth is “normal.” It’s a nightmarish scenario for China, warns International Affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe in his new column, Labour unrest surges as China’s economy slows. An excerpt: As China’s economy slows

The Saudi King, Abdullah, is Dead

The death today of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia sets in motion what will be one of the most important successions in that country and the Middle East for many years. It is an involved and complex process involving at least two

Noteworthy: Davos, Ebola, media matters

The World Economic Forum, AKA the “annual summit for the one per cent,” kicks off in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, tomorrow. Subjects range from bicycles for African kids to global trade, Ebola to climate change, “honey laundering” to oil markets. Switzerland’s tourism industry is delighted

New Facts, and some Opinions

A spat of major new global reports on health, climate, and inequality contain warnings that can be met only by  joint action, the kind of community response that has fallen out of favour lately in much of the West.  Today Oxfam released, in

Noteworthy: prescriptions on inequality

Worth reading:  A joint American-British report today prescribed new policies aimed at reducing the growing gulf between haves and have-nots in Western democracies, using case studies from several countries. The middle class has not fared well lately in advanced economies roiled by globalization,

Artists call for ban on fracking near national park

Thirty two well known artists sent an open letter to Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper, and  Newfoundland & Labrador Premier Paul Davis, calling on them to establish a permanent buffer zone free of industrial activity around Gros Morn National Park  and UNESCO

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