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Podcast Quick Hits

Personal reflections on Air India flight 182 – 40 years later

Episode 266 – Why did Canada’s protectors not prevent a terrorist attack by Sikh extremists in June 1985? For those of us who work(ed) in national security the job boils down to one thing and one thing only: stop bad things from happening. So what gives if we screw up and a bomb on an […]

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The Trump wankers descend to using disinformation…against US citizens

Episode 265 – Look out Russia, the US is disinforming its own people! Disinformation is a growing scourge around the world as states and sub-state actors try to get people to believe in certain things. Much coverage has been devoted to what Russia and others are doing to mislead citizens to further the former’s interests. […]

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Are we entering an era of WTF terrorism?

Episode 264 – Everyone seems to want to be a terrorist, but are they really? Terrorism has been dominated for ages by well-defined groups and ideas ranging from far right, far left and jihadi proponents. These days, it seems, we are seeing more acts carried out by people who seem to adhere very loosely to […]

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Don’t shoot the intelligence messenger!

Episode 263 – If intelligence doesn’t jive with your world view, maybe that view has to change We are inundated with information at levels impossible to process. Much of this is dis- or misinformation and it is a full-time job just trying to distinguish fact from fiction (AI-generated garbage and deep fakes, both of which […]

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Want to fight disinformation? Be a spy!

Episode 262 – How the average Canadian can become educated about efforts to undermine our democracy We are drowning in information at a rate unprecedented in human history. That is a good thing, to an extent. Unfortunately, we are also inundated with mis- and disinformation, including efforts by outside powers to influence populations. This nefarious […]

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How much of a threat does the US pivot towards Russia pose to the West?

Episode 261 – Is anyone else weirded out by Trump’s embrace of Russia? The Cold War may seem like a historic artifact to many these days but the threat from Russia, much like the threat from the former Soviet Union and its allies, is growing once again (if it ever really diminished). One would think […]

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Canada must get serious on national security…STAT!

Episode 260 – In the teeth of a crisis it is time for Canada to step up It is only six weeks since the new administration in the US and already Canada has been threatened with annexation (as the ’51st state’), expulsion from the 5 eyes intelligence alliance, and a ‘redrawing’ of the international border […]

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Why is Israel continuing to condone Jewish terrorism?

Episode 259 – Terrorism is terrorism, and that includes Jewish extremism Setting houses on fire. Uprooting olive groves. Attacking schools. Killing civilians. These are things we have become accustomed to when we talk about jihadis but in this case we are talking about Israeli Jewish settlers in the West Bank. And is something the Israeli […]

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What have we learned from the New Orleans attack?

Episode 258 – While every attack is different there are some familiar characteristics here Another vehicular attack, another round of questions on what happened and why. The families of those killed and injured in an ISIS-inspired incident want answers on why this occurred, what was known, and why it was not stopped. Was there anything […]

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2025 has barely begun and we already have what appears to be an ISIS attack…in the US

Episode 257 – What does a vehicular attack in New Orleans tell us about terrorism on a global scale? New Year’s Eve is supposed to be a happy time, ushering out the old year and welcoming the new. For partygoers and revelers in New Orleans it was anything but. A truck rammed into people after […]