Borealis Threat & Risk Consulting
In this podcast, retired Canadian intelligence analyst Phil Gurski discusses the subject of terrorism: what it is (and isn’t), trends, developments and more. Author of six books on terrorism, Phil is not shy to wade into controversial matters and provide his perspective honed from more than three decades in intelligence.
Episode 253 – Another bad year for terrorism in Africa? In its 2024 report The Global Terrorism Index, the Institute for Economics and Peace noted that for the first time an African country, Burkina Faso, took top spot in terrorist attacks. This came as a surprise to many who had become accustomed to nations in […]
Episode 252 – When the soldiers come home from a foreign deployment, what then? After 9/11 Canada was one of the first nations to send its forces to Afghanistan to find Al Qaeda and help Afghanistan oust the Taliban. Thousands of soldiers deployed and over a decade 159 died (in addition to seven civilians). Canada […]
Episode 251 – What good is intelligence if it is not passed on to decision makers? Those who work in intelligence have a tough job. Whether it is HUMINT, SIGINT, IMINT or any other ‘INT’, the data is vast and must be collected, processed, tested for accuracy, corroborated, analysed and put into short product so […]
Episode 250 – The Taliban has an opponent: here’s to their success! Ever since the Taliban retook Afghanistan in the fall of 2021 news out of that nation has been solidly negative. Public executions have been reinstated. Women’s rights are as bad now as they were when the Taliban (Taliban 1.0) took power in 2001. […]
Pakistan’s struggle to contain Baloch insurgencies in the southwest area of the country is causing all kinds of problems
Episode 248 – Is the killing of a US healthcare executive an act of terrorism? As I have noted on far too many occasions no one can agree on what is terrorism and what is not. Not all acts of violence qualify as such and it is often very difficult to determine if the requisite […]
Episode 247 – Is it time to yet to celebrate a new beginning in Syria? Any time a brutal dictator is ousted is a good day for the world as there are far too many still in power in the world. The Assads, father and son, were particularly inhumane, using, among other tools, chemical weapons […]
Episode 246 – The gun that killed Thomas Darcy McGee, father of Canadian Confederation There are undoubtedly many artifacts of historical importance that have gone missing, and the discovery of such is a meaningful event. The fact that the gun believed to have killed a leading Canadian politician shortly after the country’s independence went missing […]
Episode 245 – Is jihad hip and cool? If there is one thing that is consistent it is the tendency of youth to piss off their parents. They engage in activities that make the older generation pull their hair out. Do young people join terrorist groups for similar reasons? Is the Internet a game-changer? Borealis […]
Episode 244 – When French Canadian separatists terrorised Quebec We in Canada brag about being the ‘peaceable kingdom’ (as it turns out the title of my latest book on terrorism!). But not that long ago, a group of Quebecers, seeking independence for the province from Canada, engaged in a bombing campaign for years that culminated […]