Search: “national security”

As I wrote in a blog post yesterday, today marks the 10th anniversary of the arrest of 17 men in the Greater Toronto Area in the culmination of a massive terrorism investigation by Canadian authorities.  In what came to be known as the “Toronto 18” (the last subject was arrested in August 2006) Canadians were […]

When a terrorist cell is disrupted, or an individual is arrested at the airport on his or her way to Turkey to join a group like Islamic State, the media rises to the challenge and splashes the news across all platforms.  The public responds in kind and for a short time the blogosphere and news […]

Canadians are funny people.  I don’t mean funny ha-ha although we do have a pretty good track record of comedians (Jim Carey, Mike Myers, Samantha Bee, John Candy, Catherine O’Hara – I am sure I am missing other great comics).  I mean we want our security and intelligence agencies to stop terrorism but we don’t […]

One of the more interesting promises made by the Canadian Liberal government has been the announcement of the creation of a national Office of Counter Radicalisation to be housed within the Department of Public Safety.  Minister Ralph Goodale made reference to this project again yesterday, noting that the office will work with communities and security […]

Ever since the Edward Snowden allegations the world has been up in arms about what governments, and especially their security and intelligence agencies, do or can do about information gathering.  Snowden’s releases have convinced many that Big Brother is alive and well and that our privacy is gravely threatened.  It is all too easy, say […]

This blog is going to get me in a lot of trouble, but I really feel the need to write it. I want to comment on a few recent items in the news that have to do with Israel and its annoying practice of labeling any criticism as antisemitic.  Not that this is new but […]

We know that terrorism is an all too common occurrence these days.  It seems sometimes that there are attacks everywhere all the time.  In the past ten days alone we saw successful plots in Istanbul, Jakarta and Burkina Fasso – in the latter two seven Canadians were killed. In light of all this, what is […]

One of the West’s key allies in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, is in a way an odd choice for a friend.  On the plus side, the Al Sauds have provided a modicum of stability to the Arabian Peninsula for decades, served as swing producer of oil (is that a good thing?) and bought enough […]

I have stated this on several occasions and I will repeat it here: I am not an expert on the use of military force.  Hell, I’m not even slightly knowledgeable about all things military  So I write this blog carefully and hope I do not sound completely out of my depth by the end. Airstrikes […]

I went to a football game yesterday (Canadian – not American – football – not soccer).  The local professional team, the Ottawa Red Blacks, was playing against the Hamilton Tiger Cats for the honour of going to the Grey Cup, the Canadian Football League championship, in Winnipeg next Sunday.  It was a glorious late fall […]