Borealis Threat & Risk ConsultingI read two very interesting articles this Sunday, one in the New York Times and one in the Toronto Star. The NYT article was about preventing and detecting concussions (see it here) and the part that struck me was the fact that renewed interest in this phenomenon, especially in the wake of several high profile […]
Further to my earlier post on when Egypt would learn from its historic mistakes in dealing with terrorism and violence, I now turn my attention to Turkey. According to news sources, the Turkish government may invade along a 70-mile stretch of its border with Syria to establish a 20-mile buffer zone (see article here) Given […]
Tackling terrorism is not easy. There are a lot of tools, some soft and some hard and some in between. Relying on any one in particular is unlikely to work. For the record, I am not soft on terrorism or terrorists. When our government agencies identify individuals who subscribe to a violent ideology and who […]
Religion can be a wonderful thing. It is a source of comfort and meaning for billions and can inspire people to the loftiest heights. And it can be used to impose the worst human impulses. I came across this story in Sunday’s New York Times (see full story here). The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – a […]
Remember John Kerry? He’s the guy who ran against George W. Bush in the 2004 Presidential election. Like most campaigns, this one had its controversies – like Swift Boat – perhaps none greater than when Kerry said that the US had to get to a point where terrorism was not the primary focus of society […]
In some ways Canada is a post-religious nation. This is not to say that religion is not important or that it is not present, but it is certainly not as front and centre as it used to be. The Canadian landscape has also shifted as believers of other faiths (Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, etc.) multiply. As […]
It must appear to most people in Canada that terrorism is a daily scourge. If you take a global snapshot that is undeniably true. Over the last few weeks we have seen attacks in France, Tunisia, Kuwait, Yemen and the inevitable – and sadly too frequent – violence in Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. And […]
Remember the good old days when terrorism was a rare thing? Yes, sometimes people got hurt or even killed, but the more frequent incident was an airplane hijacking or a nuisance bomb. And then the inevitable claim of responsibility would come from the PLO or the ALF or the FLQ in the form of a […]
It is not uncommon for inaccurate information to be held as accepted wisdom where no amount of data will convince people otherwise. Examples of this would include the conviction that crime rates are soaring (they have actually been plummeting for years) or that e-cigarettes are ok (there is no data yet suggesting that they are […]
The multiple attacks today (June 26) have led to a burst of condemnation and outrage – as they should. The vast majority of people – Muslim and non-Muslim – have rightly protested against this barbarity. And we will surely see more demonstrations in the days to come as more and more people are inspired to […]