Category: Opinion

February 19, 2017: Culture of pettiness

Culture of pettiness I was pleased to read your February 16 editorial “Israel’s own Air Force One,” which relates to the culture of pettiness that has engulfed our otherwise proud country. Those of us who were privileged to watch and listen to our prime minister talking at the side of the president of the United States last week could not have been more proud that we have a statesman of international stature whose eloquence, diplomacy and sense of occasion are matched only by those of the legendary master of these same qualities, the late Abba Eban.

LETTERS: Tracking our political leadership

Hooray! Another big step taken toward the rail-relocation goal. Thanks to Todd Stone, B.C.’s transportation and infrastructure minister, for his letter of support to Marc Garneau, federal minister of transportation, for the next step of moving the railway line off our beautiful beaches on this peninsula.

China holds the key

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guides the test-fire of Pukguksong-2 on the spot, in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang February 13, 2017. KCNA/Handout via Reuters ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY.

Feb. 12: Immigration, Catholic school and garbage bags

Reports state on 09 February 2017 that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in San Francisco, California, is considering arguments over lifting a temporary halt to President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban, from seven predominantly Muslim countries, where a decision will be reached this week. EPA/NPS HANDOUT MANDATRY CREDIT: NPS HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES Cleveland: My grandfather Albert Joseph Bialek came to the United States from Poland in 1910.

Russell Wangersky: That shrinking feeling

It’s a numbers game – and not in the way you think. There’s been plenty of talk over the year about declines in this province’s population, legitimate hand-wringing over an aging population that doesn’t have a strong cohort of young people coming up to pay taxes and fill jobs as an ever-larger portion of residents totter into retirement.

Scott Macnab: Who’s left to stand up to Holyrood?

The SNP is poised to seize control of town halls but opposition to diktat from Edinburgh may suffer, writes Scott MacNab The political map of Scotland is poised to alter radically once more in the months ahead. The shifting plates of power which have marked the past decade are again on the move as the council elections loom and the outcome is likely to be another brick in the wall of the SNP’s hegemony of the country’s public life.a Sweeping gains are likely for the Nationalists.

It’s about time someone attacked Australia. Thank you, President Trump.

The president gave Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull a good chewing out this week, telling him a refugee agreement between the two countries was the “worst deal ever,” calling their conversation the “worst call” and abruptly ending the exchange 25 minutes into what was supposed to be an hour-long talk. It was clear from accounts of the talk that Trump thinks Turnbull is almost as much of a basket case as the Mexican guy Trump yelled at the week before.

Seen it all over five decades

MY book, Jejak Seni: Dari Pentas Bangsawan ke Media Prima Berhad, was launched two weeks ago by Tan Sri Dr Rais Yatim. It is about my involvement in the world of culture and the arts in the last five decades.

Editorial: Peace in the heart

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has called off the peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines, National Democratic Front-New People’s Army and we understand his frustration. Having extended a lot to show sincerity, the rebels are insisting that they be given everything even before they agree on anything.

Move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and do it soon

With Donald Trump in the White House, speculation is mounting: Does he intend to act on his pre-election promise, dating back to January 2016 and reaffirmed both before and since his election, that he will transfer the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, in accordance with standard diplomatic practice and the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act? A plethora of pieces have argued against the move. For example, Talia Sasson’s Op-Ed in these pages, “Move the U.S. embassy at Israel’s peril,” argued against moving the embassy on the novel basis, among others, that “Never have the Palestinians given up Jerusalem as their capital.”

Dirty Diary: This week I torment Tinky-Winky, probe Douglas Carswell…

CONSTRUCTION workers at the O2 Arena in London were in the news last week. Not because they scythed through someone’s broadband cable, mistakenly cut off the gas to thousands of homes and hoovered up all the fudge doughnuts and steak bakes in Greggs – they didn’t, so far as I know – but because they unearthed and then smashed to smithereens the Blue Peter Millennium Time Capsule .

Cenda a: Learn protection

The Department of Health conferred with the National Youth Commission in the development of proposal to give students access to condoms in schools. The proposal was first mentioned by DOH Secretary Paulyn Ubial last December 1, 2016 at a World AIDS Day event.

Could Donald Trump cost Bill English the election?

OPINION: Just days into his leadership, and US President Donald Trump is already casting a long shadow over the next New Zealand election. When Prime Minister Bill English announces the election date on Wednesday, there will be a sneaking worry that National’s fourth term will become collateral damage.

There was a time when Barelvis used to assert themselves peacefully

Governor Taseer’s son, Shaan Taseer, has been speaking out on social media against the persecution of non-Muslims in the name of blasphemy. In the first week of 2017, Lahore was paralysed by roadblocks set up by the government to deny entry to mobs opposed to the observance of the day Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was killed in 2011 by his police guard.

2016 Giving Tree program was a real success

The Church and Community Program wants to thank our entire community for the many contributions to the 2016 Giving Tree program. On Dec. 16 and 17, we provided gifts of toys and clothing for 175 families in our regular distribution and helped five more families at Renewal House.

Treat Mexico as a friend, not as our enemy

People protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration next to a fake wall with a dummy representing him in Mexico City last week. If Trump proceeds with plans for a border wall, this will unnecessarily sour relations with a valued ally.

Well done, Tigress! Good luck, ice stars

THEY fought like true tigresses to reach the final, but fell to a better-organised team that was more focused on winning. But even by emerging second best in the second round of the Women’s Hockey World League competition last week, our girls did the country proud.

A Middle East Peace Agenda for 2017

Ongoing conflicts in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen are affecting the rest of the world, by exporting terrorism and refugees. In the coming year, it will be incumbent upon those countries that have managed to avoid armed conflict to preserve their relative stability, so that they can help restore stability to the entire region.

Government didn’t plan well for Afcon

Perhaps that explains why the national broadcaster UBC failed to show the tournament where Uganda took part after so many years of screening Afcon editions where our national team did not participate. After tomorrow, Uganda’s business at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon draws to a close.

Lebanon’s unsung heroes

Lebanese security forces secure the street near the cafe in Hamra street in Beirut where a suicide bomber was arrested minutes before exploding himself on January 22, 2017. / AFP / ANWAR AMRO A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on January 23, 2017, on page 7.