Still with me? Let’s continue #13 and #14 – fantastic (that’s even better than great)! We should have let CSIS and the RCMP off the leash a long time ago. They, more than anyone, know the nature and level of the threat and should be able to tell Canadians about it. #15 – very good, […]
I’m no fan of spaghetti westerns and the 1966 film starring Clint Eastwood among others has nothing to do with terrorism. It’s just that I can think of no better phrase to describe the interim report issued by the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence on countering the terrorist threat in Canada (see the […]
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Stir crazy?
I see that a Canadian arrested a few months ago and awaiting trial on terrorism charges has been beaten up in an Ottawa detention centre. This individual, Carlos Larmond, was allegedly attacked by inmates who were tired of his attempts to recruit “soldiers of Islam” and for threatening non-Muslim prisoners (see story here). It is […]
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Simply not true
I 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 […]
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When will Turkey learn?
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 […]
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When will Egypt learn?
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 […]
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Where’s the beef?
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 […]
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War, what is it good for? – part 2
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 […]
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Fundamentally wrong?
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 […]
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By the numbers
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 […]