Search: “assassination”

This piece appeared in The Hill Times on March 26 I do not really want to flog the Jagmeet Singh/Sikh extremism story ad nauseum – many others  have done that – but there is one thing that the leader of the NDP does that concerns me and needs to be addressed.  In truth he has […]

Sometimes small things point to large changes. During my short visit last week to Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, I had the opportunity to sit down with one of that country’s leading political scientists to talk about terrorism and PVE – i.e. Preventing Violent Extremism, the newest iteration of CVE – Countering Violent Extremism.  We […]

Now that the recommendations of the Iacobucci Commission in Canada have finally been implemented and three Canadians who claim to have been tortured in Syria with the alleged complicity of the Canadian government and CSIS have settled their case, it is time for a comment.  A few weeks have passed and I for one can […]

It has been yet another difficult day on the terrorism front.  A truck plowed into a crowd of Christmas shoppers in Berlin, killing at least nine.  The Russian Ambassador to Turkey was killed by an off-duty police officer at an art gallery in Ankara.  And three people were shot outside an Islamic Centre in the Swiss […]

The use of language to describe acts of mass violence is again under the microscope.  In the wake of the Orlando massacre, which was immediately called an act of terrorism by just about everyone, we now have a much smaller incident – the murder of British MP Jo Cox in her  West Yorkshire constituency.  Unlike […]

I have just finished reading an incredible book on Sri Lanka – This Divided Island by Samanth Subramanian (St Martin’s Press 2014).  The author spent months talking to people on the island as well as in the Sri Lankan diaspora in Canada and the UK about the various conflicts that have taken place over the […]

I have often said that it is important not to leap to conclusions in the immediate aftermath of tragic events.  I have often condemned “instant analysis”, the scourge that we have allowed to spread whereby we need to understand everything right away, with no time for sober consideration or reflection.  And I have no intention […]

Last week I was asked to speak at the Canadian Military Intelligence Association annual conference in Ottawa. The speakers’ list included the Canadian National Security Advisor (and former Director of CSIS) Richard Fadden and Chief of Defence Staff General Vance. The day was well attended by members of the Canadian intelligence community. On the tables […]

I’m sure you’ve had times where you remark “do you remember…?”.  It could be about someone you went to high school with.  Or that ice cream place your parents would always stop at on the way back from the cottage.  Or maybe a song that was always on the radio way back when.  Yep, these […]

Tackling terrorism is not easy.  There are a lot of tools, some soft and some hard and some in between.  Relying on any one in particular is unlikely to work. For the record, I am not soft on terrorism or terrorists.  When our government agencies identify individuals who subscribe to a violent ideology and who […]