Came the Islamic Revolution
The theocrats who seized power in Iran are still widely misunderstood
Liberalism
A Canadian Consensus on Iran?
During the 2015 election, the Liberals pledged to restore diplomatic relations with Iran, and until last month, the government consistently stuck to that message. However, on June 12, Prime Minis...
Op-eds
Preventing Radicalization at Home
In furtherance of a 2015 campaign promise, the Liberals recently launched the Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence, which “work(s) with youth, communities, acad...
Op-eds
How Canada should respond to the Iranian protests
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians are protesting in cities across the country. At the time of writing, Iranian security forces have killed at least 21 protesters, and hundreds have been arrested....
Op-eds
The Truth About Egypt’s Revolution
The usual account of Egypt’s revolution goes like this: In February 2011, Hosni Mubarak resigned after 18 days...
Op-eds
The real roadblock to better relations is Tehran
The Islamic Republic of Iran must take delight in commentators in the West who advance the regime’s public relations agenda free of charge. Here in Canada, one analyst claims that...
Op-eds
How Canada Can Help Stem The Syrian Refugee Crisis
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing the complexities of implementing his laudable campaign pledge to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of the year. The commitment to gran...
Op-eds
Sanctions Targeting Iranian Human Rights Abusers are Right, Not Radical
On September 23rd, Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson announced that the Conservatives, if re-elected, would amend the Special Economic Measures Act (SEMA) to include gross human r...
Op-eds
New TV Show Highlights Egypt’s Jewish Problem
A new television series is shaking up the lucrative Ramadan viewing season in Egypt. The program – titled “The Jewish Quarter” and set in the late 1940s and early 50s – de...
Op-eds
Uniting Behind Human Rights
Last month, Canada’s Parliament displayed rare unity. Iran Accountability Week, which was co-sponsored by MPs James Bezan (Conservative), Irwin Cotler (Liberal) and Paul Dewar (NDP), sought...
Op-eds
Murder on the Democracy Express
Who killed Egyptian democracy? Elite foreign-policy analysts have been providing strikingly divergent answers. Egypt’s military is, of course, the prime s...
Op-eds
The Costs and Benefits of the NSA
Should Americans fear the possible abuse of the intercept power of the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Maryland? Absolutely. In the midst of the unfolding scandal at the IRS, we understan...
Op-eds
The Last Liberal: The Legacy of Joe Lieberman
In January 2004, the New Republic endorsed Joe Lieberman for president. By this time, recriminations against Democrats who had supported the Iraq War (or, in the parlance of the American...
Op-eds
Jeane Kirkpatrick Goes to Tahrir Square — Two starkly Different Visions of the Arab Spring
Thirty-three years ago, Commentary magazine published an article by Jeane J. Kirkpatrick that stands as one of the most influential essays in the history of American foreign policy....
Op-eds
How the Tragedy of 9/11 Made Canada a Better, More Sensible Country
How much has Canada changed in the last eleven years? Consider this: As the World Trade Center rubble was still smoldering, the then-leader of Canada’s left-wing NDP party, Alexa McDonough,...
Op-eds
Why Did the IOC Refuse to Honor the Munich Victims?
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) flatly...
Op-eds
Read Me If You Can: Censorship Today
You Can’t Read This Book: Censorship in an Age of Freedom Nick Cohen (London: Fourth Estate, 2012) If I complacently accept the idea that...
Op-eds
What Are Ron Paul’s Liberal Fans Thinking?
For anyone moderately familiar with Ron Paul’s record, it shouldn't come as a surprise that a litany of racists, anti-Semites, conspiracy-theorists, and militia members...
Op-eds
Egyptian Liberals Against the Revolution
Free societies mean more than just free elections.
Op-eds
Over There: The Occupiers, Seen from Europe
Viewing the Occupy Wall Street movement from post-Communist Europe, I can’t stop thinking of October 1917. This date, when the Bolsheviks seized power from the Russian Provisional...