Borealis Threat & Risk ConsultingAs long promised, the Canadian government has announced its policy on dealing with Islamic State and other terrorist groups in Syria-Iraq. Recall that while merely an opposition member Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was critical of the offensive mandate chosen by the Conservative government, mockingly referring to it as “whipping out our CF-18s”. If elected, he […]
Do you remember when former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in an interview with the CBC, said that “Islamicism” was the greatest threat to national security? I think we all knew what he meant – Islamist extremism – but his use of “Islamicism” was roundly criticised and led to accusations that the Conservative government viewed […]
The Southern Poverty Law Centre is an oddly named institution that gives little indication of what it does. No, it is not some legal aid agency for poor people. It is one of the most influential and comprehensive bodies that looks at hate and extremism in our southern neighbour, the US. The SPLC looks at […]
This blog is going to get me in a lot of trouble, but I really feel the need to write it. I want to comment on a few recent items in the news that have to do with Israel and its annoying practice of labeling any criticism as antisemitic. Not that this is new but […]
I see that the only person convicted in the 1985 Air India bombing has been let go on strict conditions. The Canadian government had little choice as he had served two-thirds of his sentence and was eligible for statutory release (see story here). On the one hand, all kinds of people are granted statutory release […]
There is a lot of debate here in Canada on what we should do about IS. The Trudeau government made a promise during the 2015 federal election campaign that if elected it would rescind the mission of Canadian CF-18s which are part of the international airstrikes on IS. Mr. Trudeau had dismissively labelled the decision […]
We’ve had a tough time coming up with a name for our fight against terrorism. Leaving aside the ill-considered “crusade” that was used right after 9/11 (who the hell thought that was a good idea?), we have cycled through the Global war on Terror (GWOT) to the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism (GSAVE) – what […]
I just realised that the title of this blog is a little ambiguous. For the purposes of this entry I don’t mean using legislation to deal with the effects of radicalisation (passport seizure, peace bonds, arrests, etc.). No, here I mean using law enforcement personnel to help stop radicalisation before it starts. We know […]
We know that terrorism is an all too common occurrence these days. It seems sometimes that there are attacks everywhere all the time. In the past ten days alone we saw successful plots in Istanbul, Jakarta and Burkina Fasso – in the latter two seven Canadians were killed. In light of all this, what is […]
In the wake of the attacks in San Bernardino the gun debate veered down the usual path. Guns are bad. Guns are good. Obama wants your guns. We need new laws. We need to apply the laws we already have. We should get rid of all laws. Etc. Etc. Etc. As well, calls for better […]