Search: “africa”

The Southern Poverty Law Centre is an oddly named institution that gives little indication of what it does.  No, it is not some legal aid agency for poor people.  It is one of the most influential and comprehensive bodies that looks at hate and extremism in our southern neighbour, the US.  The SPLC looks at […]

There is  a lot of debate here in Canada on what we should do about IS.  The Trudeau government made a promise during the 2015 federal election campaign that if elected it would rescind the mission of Canadian CF-18s which are part of the international airstrikes on IS.  Mr. Trudeau had dismissively labelled the decision […]

Despite all the legal opinions, academic papers and government policies, we still have a hard time deciding what is terrorism and what isn’t.  Was the 1983 bombing of the US Marine barracks a terrorist act? Was the 2015 attack on an African American church in Charleston, South Carolina?  Justin Bourque’s armed rampage in Moncton in […]

“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.”  According to Google, this famous phrase was uttered either by Anglo-Irish statesman Edmund Burke or former Minnesota governor and ex-WWF wrestler Jesse Ventura.  I’ll go with Burke. What is more disconcerting is when we forget our history that happened, say, 4 years ago.  Remember the […]

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 have already blogged about the use of fear by the governing Conservatives in the most recent Canadian federal election.  Voters were showered with warnings that the Islamic State was everywhere (and may be coming to a bedroom near you) and that only by returning Mr, Harper and his crew would Canadians truly be safe. […]

I hate saying I told you so, but… Remember my post on Egypt a month ago (When will Egypt learn?)?  In it I wrote that the Sisi government appears to be making the same mistakes that the Sadat and Mubarak governments before him had committed.  In the face of a very real threat from a […]

When we talk of terrorism we often tiptoe around terminology.  Even the word “terrorism” itself has caused some angst: witness the debate back and forth over what to call the killing of three US Muslims in North Carolina a few months ago by a crazed neighbour and the more recent slaughter of nine African Americans […]

Sometimes you come across a quote that really strikes you as profound.  Here’s one that remains relevant after all these years.  It comes from a 2002 issue of Foreign Affairs and was penned by Paris-based researcher Grenville Buford: “Wars have typically been fought against proper nouns (Germany, say) for the good reason that proper nouns […]

In the wake of the horrific killings at an African American church in South Carolina, the old argument was again raised: was this an act of terrorism?  Many criticised the media and government for hesitating to use the term and some concluded that terrorism only seemed to apply when the perpetrators were Muslim and not white. […]