First and foremost, Canadians and others should be very happy for Joshua Boyle, Caitlin Coleman and their children now that their five-year ordeal is over. The conditions under which the family was held hostage by the Taliban/Haqqani group were truly horrendous and no one should underestimate or dismiss that. I for one feel most for […]
US authorities are still searching for a motive behind Stephen Paddock’s rampage in Las Vegas last week. A number of ‘theories’ have been put forward, none of which are very helpful. For instance, the fact that Mr.Paddock’s father was a bank robber and once on the FBI’s most wanted list has turned out to be […]
We learned today that a Canadian, Joshua Boyle, has been rescued in Pakistan, together with his American wife and three children born in captivity after having been held for five years by the Taliban. Mr. Boyle and his very pregnant spouse were taken by the terrorist group while ‘backpacking’ through central Asia, including Afghanistan. It […]
It has been a little more than a week and a half since Canada suffered its latest, and thankfully still rare, terrorist attack. A 30-year old Somali refugee named Abdulahi Sharif hit and stabbed an Edmonton police officer before leading authorities on a race through the city’s streets where he struck four pedestrians before he […]
Anyone who has read my work or seen/heard me in the media over the past few years knows that I really, really dislike the term ‘lone wolf’. My objections are threefold: a) it is inaccurate most of the time, b) it get used far too quickly in the absence of any confirming information, and c) […]
If there is one shining light in the aftermath of the Arab Spring it is Tunisia. Not that the competition is very tough. Egypt went from an elected Muslim Brotherhood (MB) government to a military one under General Sisi. Bahrain’s short-lived revolution is no more. And as for Syria, well I really don’t think I […]
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How one boy became a terrorist
Terrorism is very simple and very complicated at the same time. Its simplicity comes from the set of axioms that underlie every terrorist and every terrorist group. We can summarise terrorism in three compact phrases: My people are suffering. I/we know who is responsible for the suffering. I/we need to use violence to stop the […]
I am afraid of heights. Even climbing a ladder scares me. I also don’t like amusement park rides. You could say that both of these things terrify me. I am not ashamed of that. So, if I read a few columns lately by Doug Saunders and Allison Hanes correctly, I should call high places and […]
Years ago I attended an International Studies Association (ISA) conference in New Orleans and found myself in a small room at a hotel listening to a former CIA guy give a talk on something or other under the rubric of the ‘Intelligence Studies Group’ (or something to that effect). I do not remember what his […]
In the immediate aftermath of the incident in Edmonton Saturday evening I quickly found myself caught up in a battle of words on social media (Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn) over my use of the word ‘terrorism’ to discuss what had happened. The truth be told I was in one way merely following the lead of Edmonton […]