Category: Perspectives

It should come as a surprise to no one that many Western governments, including Canada’s, are struggling with what to do about their citizens seeking to travel abroad to join terrorist groups such as Islamic State.  Measures to date have included passport revocation, peace bonds, monitoring and, where enough evidence is present, arrest and charges. […]

As the number and lethality of terrorist attacks appear to be on the upswing (whether they are or not in reality is not important since perception seems to trump facts when it comes to terrorism), fear is also rising.  I have already blogged about the decision by an Alberta school board to cancel international trips […]

Whenever a terrorist attack happens we collectively strive both to understand it and to look over what we may have missed.  We do so in order to figure out how we can better identify the signs of violent radicalisation and perhaps act before terrorist events occur. I have long argued that the signs of violent […]

I see that Saudi Arabia and 33 other Islamic nations have created an anti-terrorism coalition with an operational headquarters to be established in the Saudi capital, Riyadh (see story here).  The coalition will reportedly fight terrorists in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan. Three cheers for the Saudis and their allies, right?  On the one hand, […]

Terrorism eats up a lot of our time as citizens and news consumers.  IS.  AQ.  Boko Haram.  Hizballah.  Hindu extremists.  Anti-abortion extremists.  Boy, things have really changed since I was a kid.  Sure there was the odd story about a hijacked airplane and the Troubles in Ireland, but it wasn’t a daily occurrence (maybe it […]

We seem to have this love-hate relationship with religion in the West.  Wait, let me rephrase that, since saying “the West” is too vague.  In some countries (France, Spain, Canada I would argue) we have reached a kind of post-religious society where all religions are tolerated but play very little role in the public sphere. […]

It had to happen eventually. With all the attention on Islamic State – the attacks in Paris and California, the airstrikes, the recruitment of Westerners – it was just a matter of time before this came out: “93 secret ISIS cells in US” Was this an exclusive of the New York Times?  Washington Post?  Wall […]

I have just returned from spending three wonderful days in New York City.  Broadway.  Central Park.  American Museum of Natural History.  Bryant Park.  The city that never sleeps.  And the city that is never far from the attention and aspiration of terrorists. When I used to work in security intelligence it always struck me that […]

I have often said – and written – that there is a lot of misinformation on terrorism out there.  As the field of scholars has expanded – and this is generally a good thing – and the number of attacks has spawned more and more media stories, some of what we read and hear is […]

It seems that whenever a serious act of violence happens in the West the debate on whether such act is terrorism begins.  The Colorado Springs shootings at a Planned Parenthood clinic – terrorism or just a mentally disturbed recluse acting violently?  The San Bernardino attack – terrorism or workplace violence?  The problem with these events […]