Conflicting geopolitical realities: The new world order currently still coexists alongside the old world order As a child in the early 1960s, I recall being instructed by my public school teacher on how to assume the “turtle position” under my desk in case of an incoming nuclear missile. The Cuban missile crisis had brought the…
Global Affairs minister was in New Delhi this week for another session in the decade-long Canada-India Strategic Dialogue Devising a strategy for closer engagement with India is a beguiling task that has been assigned to many Canadian diplomats over the years. When I was Director-General for Asia at Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade,…
Far from it. But the diplomacy of peace is in need of emergency resuscitation As a junior delegate to the Stockholm Conference on Confidence- and Security-building Measures and Disarmament in Europe in 1984-85, I had adopted the prevailing view that, with nuclear weapons in play, war in Europe was outmoded. That Stockholm dialogue was a…
While the government deserves applause, there are some gaps in the plan Several years in the making, Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy has finally been released. It’s a welcome fresh take on a time-worn tradition of trying to engage more substantially across the Pacific. In one of many previous attempts, the Asia-Pacific Foundation was created in 1985…
Isolating China could lead to a series of unintended consequences Canadian Global Affairs Minister Melanie Joly delivered a speech in Toronto today foreshadowing Canada’s long-awaited Indo-Pacific Strategy, promised within a month. She highlighted the geopolitical risks of doing business with China and the desire to strengthen ties with India and South-East Asia. The hardline China…
But it could turn out to be the wisest approach to follow
Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable Dwight Eisenhower I was recently invited to present my views on Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy in discussion with Asian ambassadors in Ottawa. I noted that it’s better not to hold one’s breath waiting for a government policy document. That’s why Canada’s preferred foreign policy approach in normal times is…
We have to decide if we want to have opinions or influence
There’s an old saying in the government: “There’s a book inside all retired senior officials and Ambassadors.” With some modesty, I might have a few chapters and articles, and occasionally one percolates to the surface and is published. The invitation I received to testify recently before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade caused…