Fareed Zakaria

In January, the Globe and Mail appointed longtime editor and correspondent Sylvia Stead its first “public editor”. What say we pause right there, before we go any further? The job of “public editor” is one most closely associated with the New York Times, which has had five different people doing the job since it created a post with that title in 2003—soon after the Jayson Blair fabrication scandal. The function of the public editor at the Times, as the title suggests, is to advocate for journalism ethics, fairness, and proper practice on behalf of the paper’s readership, dealing with concerns and challenges as they arise.

Fareed Zakaria wonders if America would be better off with a parliament.

In light of the U.S. debt crisis, Fareed Zakaria compares the American system to parliamentary governance.

Stephen Harper surprised many people when he told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria last Sunday that the Afghan insurgency would probably not be defeated. He did not say that it was an error to be in Afghanistan, nor that lives were being wasted in combat. He merely stated what most outside experts had already said and what was later repeated in an official government report issued this week. He was not fudging the facts nor conceding defeat. Rather, he was putting things in perspective.

Post, Star, CTV and CBC are all making prominent mention at this hour of the Prime Minister’s comments, broadcast on CNN today, that the Afghan insurgency cannot be defeated.

Fareed Zakaria’s GPS show on CNN: it’s really, really not Crossfire! This week’s edition was about Afghanistan. Guests include Rory Stewart, Steve Coll, occasional faux-Canadian Michael O’Hanlon, a potential challenger for the Afghan presidency, and Elián Gonzalez. Just kidding about that last one!