Search: “London”

It is natural for like to gravitate to like.  We tend to associate with people that look like us, think like us, have the same fundamental beliefs as us.  We also tend to read news items with which we agree, a phenomenon known as confirmation bias.  There is probably something to do with evolution behind […]

If there is one thing that any serious researcher or professional who has studied radicalisation to violence knows all too well is that the process or path from normalcy to extremism does not happen in a vacuum. And it certainly does not take place on one’s own.  The term “self-radicalisation”, all too frequently uttered by […]

In 1996 then First Lady Hillary Clinton published a book It Takes a Village which was essentially a tome on how to raise children.  The main argument centred on the responsibilities that everyone has to contribute to the shaping of productive, well-adjusted citizens and was a bit of a call to an earlier age where this […]

The state of freedom of speech seems to be a hot topic these days.  The Economist devoted a recent cover story to it.  UK scholar Timothy Garton Ash has just written a critically acclaimed book on the issue.  Every day we read of new assaults on journalists and activists in China, Russia, Egypt (two Al […]

Foreign policy is tough.  I say that not with any hands-on experience as a former foreign affairs officer but as a former intelligence analyst who worked alongside many people at GAC (Global Affairs Canada, formerly DFATD, formerly DFAIT, formerly EAC, formerly…) on international security issues.  I learned that Canada has a very good reputation internationally […]

Having just spent two and a half days with religious leaders, civil society activists, policy makers and bureaucrats from around the world at Wilton Park in Sussex, there were so many topics and perspectives presented that I will likely have to write several blogs to cover the richness of the material and the subsequent thoughts […]

Anyone who has seriously studied violent radicalisation knows that it does not happen in a vacuum. The term “self-radicalised” is inaccurate and unhelpful.  True, it is remotely possible for some individuals to adopt violent ideologies entirely on their own, but it is so rare as to be inconsequential.  Never say never, the old adage goes, […]

Twice in the last week I have read articles about the prevalence of right-wing extremism in Canada.  A study by two Simon Fraser University students claimed that there are 100 such groups “active” in this country (see a story on that report here) while a column in The Hill Times on February 15 says that […]

We live in an age of instant information.  This is largely a good thing.   We can learn about what is happening  around the world almost instantaneously.  What used to take weeks or months to come to our attention now takes minutes.  That is a very good thing when it comes to human tragedy.  Earthquakes, […]

In what seems likes eons ago,  former US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld once provided his take on what the US intelligence community knew about the terrorist threat during a news conference.  It is worth repeating here. “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is […]