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 332 – With the US/Israel and Iran at war, a party that gets along with everyone is indispensable I am fairly certain that most people have either never heard of Oman or could not find it on a map. This small sultanate does not garner many headlines but is, oddly enough, one of the […]
Episode 331 – Children of terrorists need special attention Adults who choose freely to join terrorist groups such as ISIS have made dumb decisions and these decisions have led to serious consequences. One of those consequences is subsequent arrest and incarceration for what they did and I imagine most people have no issue with treating […]
Episode 330 – Government pronouncements on counter-terrorism success need to be taken with a grain of salt When it comes to terrorism, some groups are simply more successful than others. There are those which skyrocket to fame only to wither and disappear: the FLQ in Canada in the 1960s and early 1970s comes to mind. […]
Episode 329 – How easy is it to create a terrorist group? You would think the world already has enough terrorist groups. While jihadi ones like Al Qaeda and Islamic State – and their affiliates, provinces and wannabes – predominate, there are others out there as well. And in what is an interesting development, new […]
Episode 328 – Violence abroad rarely stays abroad Well, the world is in a state these days, isn’t it? War in Iran. War in Gaza. War in Lebanon. Closure of the Straits of Hormuz. An ongoing civil war in Yemen. And that is just the Middle East! When it comes to terrorism in the West, […]
Episode 327 – Will Ireland see the resurgence of nationalist violence? For decades, the one Western nation that seemed most beset by terrorism was Ireland, as the IRA (Irish Republican Army) was bent on using violence to coerce the six counties of the north to join the Republic. The Troubles, as they were known, stretched […]
Episode 326 – What kind of intelligence does the US President consume and does it make a difference? Imagine you are the one on the hotseat who has to tell the President of the US what is happening in the world – on a daily basis. What do you tell him? Where do you get […]
Episode 325 – Could Afghanistan pose the same terrorist threat it did a quarter century ago? For two decades NATO members, including Canada, were at war in Afghanistan. More than 3,000 allied soldiers died (among whom were 158 Canadians) and when the last US troops left in 2021 Afghanistan went back to the status quo […]
Episode 324 – Even when the public wants immediate answers, police need time to do their jobs If you watch enough crime dramas on Netflix (or the streaming platform of your choice: my wife and I are watching the quirky Annika on PBS now), you are led to believe that solving crimes is a matter […]
Episode 323 – I can tell you and not have to kill you! If there is one profession that is badly misunderstood – or not understood at all – it is espionage. Oh sure, there are spy novels and James Bond films and all that, but these are fictional and do not portray the world […]