Look, I’ll tell you straight, there are some debates I avoid. A lot of what goes on in the Middle East is usually on that list. I was an undergraduate writing for my campus newspaper during the First Intifada in the 1980s, and a young reporter soon after at the Montreal Gazette, and both experiences taught me that opinions aren’t easy to budge on these conflicts.
But so what. One thing I’m trying to do with this podcast is usefully illuminate this world of trouble and woe. Not everything I do needs to have a didactic point — we can consider consequences too. And there are people in this country who are just so thoughtful that it’s probably always helpful to hear from them. Janice Stein is one such. She’s the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management at the University of Toronto, and she was the founding director of the Munk School when it launched in 2000. As I often remind people, the Munk School are the main patron of my podcast, and I always enjoy going to Toronto to record a few episodes on consecutive nights at Munk.
