Search: “9/11”

New York and New Yorkers have a reputation of being tough.  Whether it stems from dealing with horrendous traffic jams or the constant crush of people everywhere I am not sure, but they do seem a rather resilient lot. This came out clearly today in the wake of yet another terrorist attack.  I was staying […]

Another successful terrorist attack, another inquiry as to why it was not stopped.  This is becoming a common occurrence at least in Western societies where the exigencies of liberal democracies demand accountability. There may very well be post facto reviews in non-democracies like Russia and Saudi Arabia as well but we do not tend to […]

Anyone who has flown on an airline since 9/11 knows it is not fun. Those ads from the 1950s that show the glamour and luxury of international travel are dated curiosities of yesteryear.  Whether it is the increased nickle and diming of ever more services – checked bags (leading to the competition for overhead bin […]

I am fairly certain that I have mentioned on more than one occasion that I really enjoy the humour of Monty Python.  One of the sillier skits – not that it is easy to choose just one – was when John Cleese plays a drill sergeant trying to teach recruits how to defend themselves against […]

Don’t say I didn’t warn you, because I did (here is the blog post in case you did not see it first time). Yet another person is planning to sue the Canadian government for its ‘complicity’ in alleged abuse in connection with a counter terrorism investigation.  An Algerian citizen, Djamel Ameziane, says that Canadian security […]

A few weeks ago I found myself on a panel at a National Judicial Institute conference at the storied Algonquin resort in picturesque St. Andrews, New Brunswick along with Federal Court judge Richard Mosley and retired Ontario Superior Court judge Douglas Rutherford.  The three of us were asked to discuss the challenge of trying terrorism […]

I suppose that in many ways none of this should be unexpected.  Its obviousness does not make it right, however.  There are lots of things that we do not question that are nevertheless the wrong way of looking at things. I am referring here to the belief that we are at ‘war with terrorism’.  The […]

The city of New York, the site of the world-changing events of 9/11, appears to have suffered its worst single attack of terrorism since that fateful date 16 years ago.  A man drove a rented Home Depot truck onto a pedestrian pathway in lower Manhattan, striking cyclists and killing at least eight (six were declared […]

People are funny sometimes.  On the one hand we criticise those we see as responsible when things go wrong – governments, authorities, public officials, etc. – and we are certain that their inability to act, or decision not to act, is at fault.  On the other we criticise these same parties when they do take […]

It is rare that one can look back on something composed years ago and see it as relevant today as it was thought to be back then.  So much changes as new variables enter into play and our own understanding and appreciation for phenomena matures to reflect these new additions.  That is indeed a good […]