A discussion about food in the United States would be incomplete without a long and appreciative nod to James Beard. A cook, author, syndicated newspaper columnist, consultant and teacher, he’s the subject of a forthcoming PBS profile, American Masters — James Beard: America’s First Foodie, which will be broadcast on May 19 at 9 p.m. […]
I understand Robert D. Kaplan’s fascination with Romania. A Balkan nation which experienced the extremes of both fascism and communism within one generation, Romania was forged on the anvils of the Byzantine, Ottoman, Habsburg and Russian empires. Today, it has reverted back to what it was hundreds of years ago — a frontier state of […]
Confusion has arisen over whether a member of the British royal family will pay an official visit to Israel this year, the centenary of the historic Balfour Declaration. An invitation was extended to Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, when Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in London about two […]
U.S.- Russian relations are in free fall today, the worst they’ve been since the bad old days of the Cold War. Seven decades ago, however, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies, locked in mortal combat against a common enemy, Nazi Germany. This theme is explored by Frank Capra in his rousing 1943 […]
Exposed as a forgery by the Times of London 96 years ago, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion has proven to be a remarkably resilient and influential antisemitic text. Outlining a diabolical Jewish plot to achieve global hegemony by means of subversion and manipulation, it validates the wild and unregulated fantasies of antisemites and conspiracy theorists. First […]
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) carved out a niche for himself not only as a composer but also as a conductor and pianist, a feat few of his contemporaries would match. A child protege, he made his debut as a pianist in 1818 and composed his first symphony for full orchestra when he was 15. In 1829, […]
Islamic State, the jihadist organization whose fighters are under currently siege in the Iraqi and Syrian cities of Mosul and Raqqa, has repeatedly broken international norms and conventions since it established a caliphate in 2014. IS has imposed a reign of terror on captive populations, harassed and persecuted Christian and Yazidi minorities and plundered priceless […]
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the White House on May 3 to discuss the prospects of settling the intractable Arab-Israeli conflict, but their talks were little more than a photo op. Abbas arrived in the United States two and a half months after Trump conferred with Israeli Prime Minister […]
I never cease to marvel at the arrival of spring in Toronto. It’s not a sudden, overnight event, but rather a gradual process that unfolds over several weeks, teasing and tempting us about warmer, sunnier days that lie tantalizingly ahead. Although March 20 is the first official day of spring, the calendar is really playing […]
On May 1, Hamas — the Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist group that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 — released a new document of principles aimed at softening its extremist image and presenting itself as a pragmatic organization grounded in realism. It was a step in the right direction, but it was only a baby […]