The Engaged Academic: Why the Old Ivory Tower Won’t Stand
The latest issue of the journal Perspectives on Politics, published by Cambridge University Press, includes an important article by Lisa...
Afghanistan: War Without Victory | Interview on TVO
Panel discussion on TVO The Agenda "Canada stepped into Afghanistan in 2001. Almost 11 years later, what was accomplished, and what are...
Going Along to Get Along? Canada Soft-Pedals Russia’s Role in Syria
Why is Canada giving Russia an easy ride on Syria? Moscow has been running diplomatic interference for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad...
Stronger Diplomatic Action?
In the aftermath of the terrible murder of over 100 people in Houla, Syria, including dozens of children, Canada’s foreign minister John...
Two Priorities for the Canadian Forces
How should we define the priorities of the Canadian Forces? Steve Saideman raises this question in his latest post. In my view, the CF...
Foreign Policy Is Not Just Defence
I welcome the opportunity to kick off this series on the future of the Canadian Forces (CF), not least because the series invites a...
R2P Is Not a License for Military Recklessness
In the New York Times last week, Tufts University’s Alex de Waal penned an op-ed that scathingly criticized the Responsibility to Protect...
The Cockeyed Case for Preemptive War on Iran
I was invited to talk about fragile states at the annual meeting of the Conference of Defence Associations in Ottawa on Thursday. As it...
The New Canada: Fomenting Fear at Home and Abroad
Why base policy on facts and evidence when you can exploit fear instead? It doesn’t take a psychologist to know that fear is a much more...
Talking Tough on Iran
Ottawa Citizen Is Prime Minister Stephen Harper preparing the Canadian public for a possible conflict with Iran? In two recent...
Libya Intervention of 2011: A Victory With Asterisks
This article first appeared in the Winter 2011 issue of the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute Quarterly Review. The...
The Total Surveillance Society Approaches
Ottawa Citizen We will soon reach the point where governments will have the capacity, should they wish it, to monitor, record, and...
Canada-U.S. Perimeter Plan: From Aspiration to Action?
Yesterday, Canada and the United States announced a security and economic cooperation plan similar in style and substance to the 2005...
A Pivotal Moment? U.S. Policy Towards Asia
Is the United States “pivoting” its foreign policy towards the Asia-Pacific region, as prominent Obama administration officials, news...
The 800-Pound Panda in Obama’s Asia Speech
Sometimes, the most interesting part of a political speech isn’t what is said, but what’s not said. On Thursday, President Barack Obama...