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Perspectives

Why do terrorists hate the Ahmadis?

Thank God for reporters like Stewart Bell of the National Post.  Now that I am outside the realm of state secrets I have come to rely on people like him to do the investigative legwork that keeps me informed on what is going on in the world of terrorism, both in Canada and abroad.  Just […]

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Perspectives

Where are all the RW terrorism mass casualty attacks?

I have just returned from Oslo where I was thrilled to catch up with one of my favourite terrorist experts, Thomas Hegghammer.  Thomas and his colleagues at the FFI – Norway’s Defence Research Establishment – have published some amazing work over the last decade or so and I have personally learned much from them. When […]

Western Foreign Fighters

What should we do with returning “foreign fighters”? A number of recent terrorist attacks were committed by young men and women who had radicalized, went to train with IS in the Middle East, then returned to their home country to commit acts of violence. In this text, Phil Gurski examines why some people decide to […]

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Perspectives

How not to win the “war on terror”

Soon to be former US President Barack Obama once famously said with respect to foreign policy “don’t do stupid shit (or” stuff” depending on your sensitivity to salty language)”.  That maxim could just have easily been applied to domestic policy.  And it is something that incoming president Donald Trump might want to pay attention to. […]

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What are “Canadian values” and what does this have to do with terrorism?

A very odd thing happened yesterday in Canada.  A poll appeared to show that a majority of my fellow citizens support the screening of potential immigrants by giving them some sort of “values test“, in keeping with a suggestion by a wannabe Conservative leadership candidate, Kellie Leitch.  Canada thus appears to be following in the […]

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Perspectives

A great way to undermine the terrorist narrative

If there is one thing that is true about all Islamist extremist groups is that they are full of hate.  They hate other Muslims.  They hate the Shia.  They hate the Sufis.  They hate non-Muslims.  They hate LGBT.  They hate choice.  They hate everything in their warped world view.  Hate.  Hate.  Hate. One other thing […]

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Perspectives

Terrorism and terminology

I swore to myself I would never argue with anything that comes out of the mouth of aspiring Clown in Chief Donald Trump for fear of lowering myself to whatever abyss he calls home, but here I am doing exactly that.  Thankfully, since I am really only keen to talk about terrorism in this blog, […]

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Perspectives

The search for why after a terrorist attack

Another terrorist attack, another desperate search for meaning.  The bodies were still warm in Orlando when the speculation about the killer and his motive began in earnest.  Not surprisingly, the event dominated world news – as it should – and the usual parade of experts and analysts were asked to explain everything immediately despite the […]

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Perspectives

Is there a Sikh “terror camp” in BC?

The Canadian public were made aware of a serious allegation this week that a Sikh resident in BC was running a “terror camp” near Mission, a town of around 35,000 on the Fraser River east of Vancouver.  The story came from an article in an Indian newspaper and claimed that Hardeep Nijjar was the “operational […]

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Perspectives

The terrorism-mental illness divide

If there is one aspect of terrorism that is poorly understood it is the relationship between mental illness and the execution of a terrorist act. All too often the masses agree in the immediate aftermath of an incident that the perpetrator must have been suffering from an undisclosed – or undiagnosed – mental disease.  We […]