Search: “Saudi Arabia”

If you want to know what CSIS does and why it does it, a good place to start is the CSIS Act which dates back to the creation of that organisation out of the former RCMP Security Service back in 1984.  The Act has stood up fairly well over its first three decades despite several […]

Another successful terrorist attack, another inquiry as to why it was not stopped.  This is becoming a common occurrence at least in Western societies where the exigencies of liberal democracies demand accountability. There may very well be post facto reviews in non-democracies like Russia and Saudi Arabia as well but we do not tend to […]

This post is a little longer than normal.  It is my contribution to a forthcoming paper to be written collectively and coordinated by a friend of mine in Singapore. With the apparent increasing popularity of deradicalisation programmes for convicted terrorists and (perhaps) those on the pathway to violent extremism in a number of countries what […]

Scientists have made great progress in eradicating diseases that once maimed or killed millions of people.  Think of smallpox.  Or polio, which a few years ago was on the verge of disappearance though state instability and war have allowed it to cling to life.  The reason why these scourges were defeated (apparently there is a […]

When I was in grade 13 – which in my day was the last year of high school in the province of Ontario, which I suppose just underscores how old I really am – I remember taking an exam in functions and relations, one of three mathematics options at the time ((calculus and algebra were […]

My late mother had a lot of great advice for me, much of which I followed and much of which has helped me immensely in life.  One maxim that she shared with me has been ignored however.  That would be the time she said it is a good idea never to engage in conversation on […]

I know that in a world of 24/7 news and intense competition to be first with a breaking story that time is of the essence.  Individuals and news outlets feel that they do not have the luxury to wait to publish for fear that another individual or outlet will scoop them.  In their haste, there […]

Well, if there was any doubt about what a Trump presidency means for the US, and by extension for all of us, over the next four years there is little doubt now.  In the first week alone a flurry of executive orders have been signed on a whole bunch of issues that Mr. Trump promised […]

Lawyers don’t get a good rap most of the time.  After all, wasn’t it Shakespeare who wrote in Henry VI, Part 2 “the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”.  A tad harsh that. I’m not sure what it is exactly that elicits such anger and fury when it comes to lawyers.  Is […]

Luc Opdebeeck is a man with boundless energy.  He is the leader and artistic director of Formaat, a participatory theatre group in Rotterdam, an initiative I have had the honour of working alongside a bit over the past few months.  I attended a typical ‘evening’ last night and witnessed the important and groundbreaking work Formaat […]