Wars — economic and shooting — in a strange time

I try to avoid getting too personal in this column, whose intent is to discuss and analyze matters of news reporting and news making. But this is one of those times when personal activities and events in the news overlap in a curious way.

It starts with a visit to Canada. My wife and I are going there with friends for the holiday weekend. We are visiting Stratford, Ontario, a small town structured around a monthslong Broadway-quality Shakespeare Festival, though the plays performed extend far beyond the bounds of The Bard.

Stratford is situated about 65 miles due west of the tip of what, I am horrified to learn, my Google Maps app now calls Lake America. We have been there many times, though not recently, and it is a charming place. I can’t help wondering, though, how we Americans will be received after so long an absence.

Our two countries are, after all, technically in a kind of war with each other, at least insofar as trade is concerned. Our leaders certainly have been engaged in a war of words. How will we folks at the grass roots get along?

Actually, I suspect we will find nothing more uncomfortable than some good-natured exchanges about the situation and our separate political leaders, along with shrugged shoulders and upraised palms.

But I can’t escape certain disquieting thoughts about the weird state of international politics these days.

We also are in a trade war of sorts with Russia, and yet the leaders of both countries frequently chat almost amiably by phone and in person. Our president has invited Russia’s to attend the economic G20 Summit, in spite of widespread international animosity toward that nation, which is in a real shooting war with a nation many of them consider an ally, Ukraine.

And speaking of real shooting wars, Russia continues to provide aid and support to Iran, the enemy we are attacking periodically with missile strikes, often after giving warning of what is to come, when and even where. We, of course, are likewise providing support and materiel to Ukraine in its war with our economic adversary.

In the midst of such complex relationships, I find myself wondering often if history holds other examples of such a confusion of economic relationships and armed conflicts. There seems to be so much counterintuitive behavior at play.

We are seeing four plays at Stratford — “Othello,” “The Importance of Being Earnest,” “Guys and Dolls” and “The Hobbit.” A tragedy, a comedy, a light musical and a prelude to a fantasy about the struggle between good and evil for world domination. Something about that diverse collection, the setting and the nature of our times seems oddly interconnected. I am curious to see how it turns out.

• Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is managing editor for opinion at the Daily Herald. His book “To Nudge The World: Conversations, community and the role of the local newspaper” is a 2025 Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year and is available at eckhartzpress.com.