Foreign Policy Blogs

Tag Archives: Canada

Arctic Frontiers: A Critical Cartography

Arctic Frontiers: A Critical Cartography

“Maps are ideology,” Christopher Connery, a professor of world literature and cultural studies, once wrote. If that is the case, then the map produced for the 2013 Arctic Frontiers conference by Reibo, an agency in Tromsø, Norway, is certainly an interesting case study. The colorful, stylized, and cartoonish map is not divided into countries, but rather into […]

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Arctic Frontiers: Day One

Arctic Frontiers: Day One

I’m currently in Tromsø, Norway where the Arctic Frontiers conference is taking place all week at the local university. Today’s program featured several high-level politicians, including the foreign minsters of Norway and Sweden, the Canadian Minister of Health and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, the Deputy Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, and the Lieutenant […]

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Bean Counters Battle over Sovereignty

Bean Counters Battle over Sovereignty

This week the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged China-located affiliates of the big five U.S. accounting firms with breaking securities laws by failing to provide documents from their audits of nine U.S.-listed Chinese firms under scrutiny. The SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) are demanding that the accounting companies, BDO […]

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A New State of Statelessness

A New State of Statelessness

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest appearance by Gus Constantinou, a freelance writer at the United Nations (U.N.).  A full sixty-five years after the United Nations celebrated a United Nations vote to split the Mandate of Palestine into two states, thus creating the state of Israel, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stood before the General […]

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Prove China spy allegations or “shut up”

Prove China spy allegations or “shut up”

  In a radio interview airing Nov. 17 on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Zhang Junsai, China’s ambassador to Canada, told radio host Evan Solomon that Chinese firms are not involved in foreign espionage, “I can assure you that our companies working in other countries are strictly doing business according to the local laws.” Zhang blamed the […]

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The Natural and Technological Sublime in the Arctic

The Natural and Technological Sublime in the Arctic

Today, I will explore the linkages between two concepts of the sublime – the natural and the technological – and the Arctic. In the book, “American Technological Sublime,” author David Nye explores how the U.S. has established its national character through the use of the technological sublime. Readers may be familiar with the work of […]

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Iron ore and fiber optics in the works for Nunavut

Iron ore and fiber optics in the works for Nunavut

Nunavut, Canada is home to a wealth of mineral resources, yet it suffers from a dearth of high-speed internet. New developments in both of those areas could bring big changes to the territory. First, after four years of assessment and analysis, the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) approved the Mary River iron mine on Baffin Island, in […]

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Canada’s Inappropriate Iran Policy

Canada’s Inappropriate Iran Policy

by Alireza Ahmadian Editor’s Note: Alireza Ahmadian is an Iranian-Canadian writer living in London. Mr. Ahmadian holds a history BA from the University of British Columbia and is currently completing his postgraduate studies at the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.   Canada’s decision to […]

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Russia to construct world’s largest nuclear icebreaker

Russia to construct world’s largest nuclear icebreaker

Russia oversees the world’s largest fleet of nuclear icebreakers, and it will soon add the largest one yet to its tally. Rosatom, which currently manages Russia’s fleet of new icebreakers through its subsidiary, Atomflot, has just signed a contract with the St.Petersburg-based shipbuilding company Baltisky Zavod to construct a 556-foot long behemoth – about 42 […]

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Irreconcilable Differences: Canada and Iran

Irreconcilable Differences: Canada and Iran

Formal diplomatic relations between Iran and Canada were developed in the late 1950s. As with most relationships, they have experienced their share of ups and downs. While the international community, mainly through the United Nations, mollified many of the pair’s issues over the years, the duo’s fragile relationship reached a breaking point on September 7, […]

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Iranian Embassy Closure: New Opening in a Greater Regional Game?

Iranian Embassy Closure: New Opening in a Greater Regional Game?

Since the announcement of the decision by Canada to sever ties with Iran and expel Iranian diplomats from the country, many Iranian-Canadians have found themselves immersed in heated debates over the issue. While these debates seem nearly fixated on the merits and faults of the decision and the potential it holds for the Iranian diaspora, […]

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Winning an Election in the Americas: Apathy and Corruption Compete for the Best of the Worst

Winning an Election in the Americas: Apathy and Corruption Compete for the Best of the Worst

Student protests this year in the streets of Montreal over a relatively small tuition hike took the Quebec government by storm. In reality, it is likely more than just tuition that fuelled this year’s protests with the Liberal Party of Quebec facing allegations of corruption after nine long years in power. The Parti Quebecois, the […]

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NWT Premier pushes for oil sands pipeline to Arctic

NWT Premier pushes for oil sands pipeline to Arctic

Canada may have the second largest oil reserves in the world, but the vast majority are locked up in Alberta’s oil sands, far from any ocean. That means that pipelines are needed to transport the oil west to ports on Canada’s Pacific Coast or south to markets in the United States. With President Barack Obama […]

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Russian Navy to acquire two new nuclear submarines this year

Russian Navy to acquire two new nuclear submarines this year

As I mentioned in my previous post, Putin’s administration is busy readying the Northern Sea Route for increased maritime traffic. In order to maintain control over the shipping lane, Russia will need a first-class navy and naval bases. Plans are underway to equip the navy with eight new nuclear submarines by 2020. Last month, at […]

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The Global Oil Race: China Seeks a Significant Foothold in the Americas

The Global Oil Race: China Seeks a Significant Foothold in the Americas

  There is much debate in the United States on the dominance of China in the current global economy. These discussions are quite valid as Latin America weathered much of the 2008 economic crisis based upon natural resource exports to China to bolster their booming economy. Canada was also able to rely on natural resources […]

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