We learned today (April 25) that a Canadian citizen, John Ridsdel, was killed by a terrorist group that had been holding him and three others, including another Canadian, a Norwegian and a Filippino, hostage since last September. The extremist organisation, Abu Sayyaf, had made several demands for ransom and appears to have beheaded Mr.Ridsdel when […]
Life is all about making choices, whether this applies at the level of the individual or the state. Presumably both types of decisions are aimed at contributing to the personal or common good, and both are constrained by resources, financial or otherwise. Decisions have consequences since electing one path means rejecting another one or several […]
Ottawa has a gang problem. This should come as a surprise to no one as Ottawa is a relatively large city (more or less a million people) and most big cities are plagued with similar issues. We should note that the size of the gang issue in the nation’s capital is not nearly as serious […]
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Can “soft power” defeat terrorism?
There is a lot of talk these days about what approach is best when dealing with radicalisation to violence. Some advocate harsh state-controlled measures (arrest and incarceration), or even harsher military ones (drone the bastards!) while others tout the intervention model. Still others are somewhere in between. Which leaves us with the question we began […]
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Is there a “war within Islam”?
The famous French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy has penned an op-ed piece in which he asks whether there is a fight within Islam for the soul of the faith. He makes the familiar argument that there are elements within the global Muslim polity that are at a minimum grossly fundamentalist and intolerant and at a maximum […]
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Dreaming of terrorism
As we strive to learn more about why people adopt violent extremist views and, more importantly in my opinion, try to determine which people pose a real threat to society, we often find ourselves in areas we would not have expected. We need to exhaust every avenue, no matter how outside the box, for two […]
The Canadian Council of Imams has announced that it intends to launch a series of deradicalisation clinics in the Greater Toronto Area this summer. Describing the move as “proactive”, Imam Hamid Slimi noted that “nobody wants to see another Brussels or Paris” in Canada. No, we don’t, whether we are Muslim or not. The CCI […]
There is an interesting debate going on with respect to the relationship between radicalisation and violent extremism. The current model, and the one I believe is accurate for the most part, is that radicalisation precedes violent extremism. In other words, an individual who engages with terrorist groups or carries out crimes that we can qualify […]
The questions surrounding how many Muslims support terrorism and hence represent a threat to Western societies never seem to end. It seems that this is an obsession with us. This is not that surprising when “politicians” like Donald Trump tell the world that “Muslims hate us”. Not just the terrorists – all Muslims, which is […]
It continues to surprise – and frustrate – me why the term “self-radicalised” continues to be used in mainstream media, by leading politicians and bureaucrats, and even in academic settings. The term suggests a few things but mainly that people are capable of developing into violent extremists merely through exposure to violent material, usually in […]