Nevermind U.S. shale, Saudi Arabia’s oil power play targets Iran’s economy
All politics are local, except for oil politics. The Russians think these low oil prices are an American-Saudi conspiracy. American commentators believe that the Saudis have driven down prices to...
View ArticleParis terrorist attacks should trigger soul-searching about assimilation
The terrorist attacks against the media and police in France this week are deplorable and will be analyzed for years to come. They also illustrate significant underlying differences between the...
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Diane Francis: Canada must take matters into its own hands if it wants to...
The Keystone XL pipeline issue has dragged on for six years, a political clash between oil barons and the green movement against the oilsands. In the coming days U.S. President Barack Obama must veto...
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Digital danger lurks at every turn: How to keep your stuff safe from cyber...
Marc Goodman is a one-man Geek Squad who began his law enforcement career as a beat cop in Los Angeles and became the departmental computer expert. With a nose for wrongdoing and digital aptitude, Marc...
View ArticleUber and Airbnb: Make these Silicon Valley darlings accountable
Uber and Airbnb are the darlings of Silicon Valley whose founders describe themselves as technology companies and pioneers of the “sharing economy.” But I don’t buy it. The shared economy — multiple...
View ArticleNo nation is safe in the politics of oil — including Canada
The global community has more unsafe neighborhoods than gated ones and no nation is safe anymore, including Canada. This means that nation-state models are challenged and must recalibrate all the time....
View ArticleReality television at its best: The U.S. Presidential Primary Season — and...
My favorite reality television series — the U.S. Presidential Primary Season — is about to begin with this weekend’s expected announcement of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. This political extravaganza...
View ArticleA gallery of rogues: one trader, one nation and one husband
Stories about a rogue trader, rogue nation-state and rogue husband captured headlines this week and raised more questions than they answered. U.S. prosecutors this week would have the world believe...
View ArticleIn or out? U.K. ‘Shock Election’ served up two demanding separatist blocs
The next major trade deal Stephen Harper will negotiate – in 2016 after he deservedly wins re-election – might just be with the old Mother Country Britain, or what’s left of it. This week’s Shock...
View ArticleIs the sun about to set on the Age of Oil? Solar, battery developments...
In Silicon Valley jargon, disruption is the euphemism for destruction, and the consensus is that Canada as whole, along with big oil producers Saudi Arabia, Russia or Venezuela, will be “disrupted”...
View ArticleDiane Francis: Why the next big banks will actually be tech companies
The bank of the future will be in our pockets or on our wrists, not on street corners or housed in high-rise towers. Mobile banking is going viral and the first adopters are the “millennials” (those...
View ArticleWhy Canada Inc.’s popularity with China could mean long-term pain
The recent flap about an Ontario politician with ties to China is inconsequential unless serious charges are laid. Cozy relationships are commonplace in politics everywhere and China, like Exxon or...
View ArticleIMF holds key to helping Ukraine escape from Russia’s stranglehold
Greece is a deadbeat nation, Puerto Rico is a party that lives beyond its means, but last year war-torn Ukraine made more interest payments to its lenders than it spent trying to defend itself against...
View ArticleTrade deal with Ukraine a vote of confidence in country’s potential
LVIV, Ukraine – It’s hard to believe, while touring this charming medieval city, there’s a war raging in this country against Russia. But the fighting is 25 hours’ drive east, and the psychology is...
View ArticleOntario government’s reckless spending would win gold in race to the bottom
If there was a medal for the race to the bottom, Ontario’s government could easily win a Gold. So it was fitting that during the Pan Am Games, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Ontario’s government,...
View ArticleDiane Francis: Why Stephen Harper’s opponents are critics, not contenders
The Oct. 19 election is Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s to lose. And he won’t for a number of reasons. He’s the only candidate with economic credentials and experience. Canadian Prime Ministers are...
View ArticleIf it were a corporation, the United States would be de-listed
Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and others can spout off as much as they wish about major reforms they would undertake as President, but presidential power in America is a myth. The U.S. federal system is...
View ArticleFences, laws no deterrent to outflows of people, money
The collapse in stock markets and the surge in the number of refugees flooding into Europe captured August’s headlines. There are many underlying causes for each phenomenon, but they are linked....
View ArticleIn the spirit of Donald Trump: 10 politically incorrect challenges facing Canada
In the spring I wrote that my favorite reality television series was the U.S. Presidential Primary Season, but who knew that Donald Trump would play the starring role? His candidacy has exceeded...
View ArticleLip service to money laundering: Failure to apply controls a serious threat...
A recent report by Washington think tank Global Financial Integrity reveals the fatal flaw in the world’s globalized financial architecture: It has not been accompanied by a globalized governance and...
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