Editor’s Notebook

© by John Arkelian

The best of writing, photography, art, and argument – on everything from film to foreign policy.

“Ever dreamed of subscribing to a cultural magazine that doesn’t seem to be eating out of the hand of half a dozen media magnates? Something pluricultural and unassuming but nonetheless covering everything worth seeing, reading, doing or listening to for a season? Well, it exists, and in Canada to boot!”

“There is no on-line version or web site, which either makes John a dinosaur or a man of character. (I opt for the second, since the editorial team occasionally has a kind word for me.)”

John Howe — Canadian artist and co-conceptual designer on all three “The Lord of the Rings” motion pictures.

* Editor’s Note: The age of the dinosaurs has at last come to an end — with the arrival of this website!

Worth Repeating

On September 7, 2018

As citizens of free and democratic West – each of whose member nations, in its own way, is an aspirational Republic of Virtue – here are words we ought to take to heart. JA

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“When the government says something, you only have one question: ‘Is it true?’”

From the film […]

An Alarming Inability to Distinguish America’s Friends from its Mortal Foes

On July 8, 2018

© By John Arkelian

Vladimir Putin has ruled Russia since 1999, brazenly circumventing

“Donald Trump’s Axis of Evil” editorial cartoon © 2018 by Michael de Adder.

term limits by serving variously as prime minister and as president – and making sure that key executive powers moved with him to […]

A Tale of Two Terrible Presidents

On July 8, 2018

© By John Arkelian

On Trump

Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the vital interests of the United States. As a private citizen, he could be happily ignored as the petulant, grandstanding egotist that he is; but, as the nation’s chief executive, he poses a very real threat […]

Bumpkin of the Week

On May 29, 2018

A political ‘platform’ in ten words or less, from the bumpkin of the week (in the current Ontario election campaign): “You know me, folks. I’m for the little guy.” Moral of the story: If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, then ‘getting tough on crime’ takes second place in […]

The Lamentable President

On February 28, 2018

© By John Arkelian

In an interview with Larry King prior to the November 2017

“This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine.” (So saith President Trump in February 2017; but, he didn’t specify what kind of machine he had in mind.) Illustration © 2017 by Linda Arkelian.

presidential […]

On Arms and the Man: Distorted Notions about the Right to Bear Arms in America

On February 27, 2018

© By John Arkelian

Should teenagers be allowed to have machine guns? Yes or no? It’s really as simple as that. The carnage wrought recently at a Florida school was perpetrated by a disturbed teen in legal possession of what amounted to a machine gun. In a sensible world, those words, […]