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 […]
Category: Perspectives
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 […]
Categories
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 […]
It has now been almost 24 hours since a man in a Chevy Malibu drove up to an Edmonton police officer doing traffic duty outside a CFL game, struck him at some speed, knocking him in the air, and proceeded to stab him several times before fleeing. The suspect later was stopped in what appeared […]
Categories
A week of terrorism in Canada
If you were to ask most people around the world about my country I am pretty sure that few would respond “Canada? Oh it is a hotbed of terrorism!” This is not to say that there have not been any terrorist acts over the years – in fact many forget that the single largest act […]