Search: “Terrorists”

Now that the immediate horror of what happened to John Ridsdel has passed – not that this heinous act will ever be forgotten – many have turned their attention to what the Canadian government could or should have done to save the life of this Canadian citizen.  Debates of this nature are inevitable as everyone […]

We learned today (April 25) that a Canadian citizen, John Ridsdel, was killed by a terrorist group that had been holding him and three others, including another Canadian, a Norwegian and a Filippino, hostage since last September.  The extremist organisation, Abu Sayyaf, had made several demands for ransom and appears to have beheaded Mr.Ridsdel when […]

Life is all about making choices, whether this applies at the level of the individual or the state.  Presumably both types of decisions are aimed at contributing to the personal or common good, and both are constrained by resources, financial or otherwise.  Decisions have consequences since electing one path means rejecting another one or several […]

Ottawa has a gang problem.  This should come as a surprise to no one as Ottawa is a relatively large city (more or less  a million people) and most big cities are plagued with similar issues.  We should note that the size of the gang issue in the nation’s capital is not nearly as serious […]

The Canadian Council of Imams has announced that it intends to launch a series of deradicalisation clinics in the Greater Toronto Area this summer.  Describing the move as “proactive”, Imam Hamid Slimi noted that “nobody wants to see another Brussels or Paris” in Canada.  No, we don’t, whether we are Muslim or not. The CCI […]

There is an interesting debate going on with respect to the relationship between radicalisation and violent extremism.  The current model, and the one I believe is accurate for the most part, is that radicalisation precedes violent extremism.  In other words, an individual who engages with terrorist groups or carries out crimes that we can qualify […]

The questions surrounding how many Muslims support terrorism and hence represent a threat to Western societies never seem to end.  It seems that this is an obsession with us.  This is not that surprising when “politicians” like Donald Trump tell the world that “Muslims hate us”.  Not just the terrorists – all Muslims, which is […]

It continues to surprise – and frustrate – me why the term “self-radicalised” continues to be used in mainstream media, by leading politicians and bureaucrats, and even in academic settings.  The term suggests a few things but mainly that people are capable of developing into violent extremists merely through exposure to violent material, usually in […]

There is no question that we are not getting the “war on terrorism” right.  We have come up with a slapdash set of policies, actions, programmes, theories, conferences, seminars, self-styled expertise, real expertise, etc.  In other words, a real mess.  This is not to say that there have not been some outstanding successes at a […]

I have often said that we here in Canada are living in a post-religious society.  This is not to imply that religion does not exist here or that faith is not very important to many Canadians, but rather that it does not have the profile it once did and does not appear to have a […]