The Globe and Mail - Witness The World

A very un-orange "revolution"

mmackinnon — Mon, 4 Dec 2006 06:12 EST

As I strolled through the tent camp in front of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s offices in Beirut the other night, my mind repeatedly flashed back two years in time to another December, another uprising. [amp]nbsp;The parallels between what is happening in Lebanon and the Orange Revolution that - Follow link to read full post

Where Christmas really IS all about the shopping

gyork — Sun, 3 Dec 2006 14:31 EST

BEIJING – It’s one of the biggest and most elaborate nativity scenes I’ve ever seen – complete with a nearly life-size church and a bell tower, along with a manger and six other buildings. But the most bizarre touch is its location: in front of a shopping mall in the capital of - Follow link to read full post

'The world's eye is on Turkey'

dsaunders — Fri, 1 Dec 2006 21:19 EST

What exactly happened in Istanbul on Thursday? Was it a great reconciliation between the supposedly clashing civilizations, or was it an angry shot across the bow of European harmony? This morning, nobody here seems to agree, though there is an enormous sense of relief, across Turkey, that everyone came - Follow link to read full post

Silence in the streets

pkoring — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:43 EST

RIGA,[amp]nbsp;Latvia -- Old town Riga, a beautiful warren of narrow streets, cobbled plazas, and elegant buildings still transforming from Soviet-era disrepair into a trendy urban space infused with history, has morphed into a security czar’s twisted fantasy. Crows and cats and cops in lime-green - Follow link to read full post

No more Mr. Nice Bus

pkoring — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 13:45 EST

RIGA, Latvia -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper had a little Baltic surprise for the media (the Dalits of his entourage). The first hint that Mr. Harper’s handlers were ditching decades of PMO travel tradition came when they didn’t collect passports from the handful of hacks flying with the - Follow link to read full post

First we welcome, then we protest

dsaunders — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:52 EST

ANKARA, Turkey -- In Turkey, few things are as prized as hospitality. They’re famous for it: Even a casual passer-by can become an honoured house guest, and to be rude or unkind to a visitor, in keeping with both Islamic values and Turkish secular traditions, is a very bad thing. So the visit of - Follow link to read full post

Policing human rights history

gyork — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 13:46 EST

BEIJING – This was no ordinary stroll to a museum. To reach this exhibit, I had to walk past a long menacing line of police vans and police cars. (I counted 24 police vehicles parked at the museum entrance, including jeeps and vans, not including the undercover police who were certainly there too - Follow link to read full post

Sunnis, Shias and sahafis: Beirut on the brink

mmackinnon — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 05:32 EST

The atmosphere of tension in this city following the assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel is hard to explain to those who aren’t here right now. The Lebanese talk constantly about how dangerous the situation is, but when they're not staging mass protests in the city centre, they're - Follow link to read full post

Eating with Jesus in Kandahar

gsmith — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 17:08 EST

My Afghan friends are conspiracy theorists. Their country has been a gaming field for spies, a chessboard of intrigues between great powers, for so many centuries that the idea of simple motives seems laughable to them. Is the United States really interested in rebuilding Afghanistan so it can never - Follow link to read full post

Rolling out the red welcome mat

gyork — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 10:29 EST

BEIJING, China[amp]nbsp;– The cabinet minister from Myanmar was a happy man. His repressive military regime is not very welcome in many places around the world – but he was warmly applauded by Chinese mining executives in Beijing this week. The minister, Ohn Myint, praised the “friendliness - Follow link to read full post