Allan Woods

Paris

Global and National Affairs Reporter at The (Toronto) Star

International news, analysis and feature writer with the Toronto Star newspaper

Articles

Summit ends without U.S. agreement on Ukraine

1 week ago | mykawartha.com | Tonda MacCharles |Ana Pereira |Allan Woods |Alex Ballingall

G7 Day 1 recap: Canada and U.S. set 30-day deadline to strike trade deal; Trump departing summit earlyMark Carney, Donald Trump and other world leaders met today in Kananaskis, Alta., for the 51st G7 summit. This file is no longer updating.
How Trump the dealbreaker helped create the Iran-Israel crisis

1 week ago | therecord.com | Allan Woods

In catching a late-night flight from Kananaskis back to the American capital, Donald Trump did what he does best: stripped away any artifice and laid bare a reality. It is well and good for G7 leaders to have issued a joint statement “urg(ing) a resolution” to the escalating war between Israel and Iran. But any lasting solution to the conflict will fall to the member-in-chief of Trump’s preferred club of nations, the Group of One.
How Trump the dealbreaker helped create the Iran-Israel crisis

1 week ago | thespec.com | Allan Woods

In catching a late-night flight from Kananaskis back to the American capital, Donald Trump did what he does best: stripped away any artifice and laid bare a reality. It is well and good for G7 leaders to have issued a joint statement “urg(ing) a resolution” to the escalating war between Israel and Iran. But any lasting solution to the conflict will fall to the member-in-chief of Trump’s preferred club of nations, the Group of One.
Why the fight with Israel could be the last for Iran’s Supreme Leader

1 week ago | therecord.com | Allan Woods

He has been imprisoned, banished, gone to war and was partially paralyzed in a failed 1981 assassination attempt. But even these tight spots pale in comparison to the predicament in which Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, now finds himself. Since Thursday, his country has been under near-constant bombardment from Israeli missiles. These are not symbolic tit-for-tat strikes like the two countries have traded in the past.
Why the fight with Israel could be the last for Iran’s Supreme Leader

1 week ago | thespec.com | Allan Woods

He has been imprisoned, banished, gone to war and was partially paralyzed in a failed 1981 assassination attempt. But even these tight spots pale in comparison to the predicament in which Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, now finds himself. Since Thursday, his country has been under near-constant bombardment from Israeli missiles. These are not symbolic tit-for-tat strikes like the two countries have traded in the past.
Why some Canadians are alarmed by Mark Carney’s pledge to act with urgency

2 weeks ago | thespec.com | Allan Woods

Canadians elected Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government based on its pledge to act with urgency and fix things — the country’s economy, its security and its standing on the world stage. But with the unveiling of a bill to supercharge the economy and early efforts to improve the country’s adversarial relations with India and China, there’s growing concern that Carney’s plans to boost Canada could involve unsavoury trade offs.
Canada’s costly NATO reminder: membership doesn’t come cheap

3 weeks ago | thespec.com | Allan Woods

Membership has its privileges, as the old American Express advertisement promised. But it also has steep costs. Canada faced a potential multibillion reminder of this as defence ministers gathered Thursday at NATO headquarters in Brussels. They had come to set the stage for annual leaders’ summit in The Hague later this month where talk of defence spending will dominate the agenda.
One leader will be noticeably absent at Canada’s G7 leaders summit

3 weeks ago | thespec.com | Allan Woods

It’s almost time to start the party. The invitations have been sent. But someone will be noticeably absent when G7 leaders gather next week in Alberta. Despite talk of a reset in relations and a recent friendly telephone call between foreign ministers, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi won’t be among those welcomed to the G7 leaders meeting in Kananaskis next week.
Elon Musk is gone and some tariffs may be illegal, but it’s no time to declare Trump defeated

4 weeks ago | thespec.com | Allan Woods

They are two welcome developments, but it’s too soon to celebrate that the most offensive elements of Donald Trump’s presidency are going … going … gone. The U.S. Commander-in-Chief has shown no signs that he is prepared to fall back into a slow-and-steady pace of government that benefits all and favours none. No sign either that he is willing to follow any judge’s orders.
Why Donald Trump’s response to the King’s speech should focus Canadian minds

1 month ago | thespec.com | Allan Woods

Think of it as the real response to King Charles’ Throne Speech, the one that really counts—for the moment, at least. Or call it Donald Trump’s bluff to Prime Minister Mark Carney: I’ll see your king and raise you…a missile defence shield. In veiled terms, that was the message the U.S. president sent to his northern neighbour, bringing the pomp-and-circumstance of Tuesday’s historic Royal visit back to the harsh-and-crude basics of modern-day geopolitics.