Episode 264 – Everyone seems to want to be a terrorist, but are they really? Terrorism has been dominated for ages by well-defined groups and ideas ranging from far right, far left and jihadi proponents. These days, it seems, we are seeing more acts carried out by people who seem to adhere very loosely to […]
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Episode 273 – Once an AQ jihadi always an AQ jihadi? The world rightly celebrated the ouster of Bashar al Assad, the brutal Syrian dictator, in December 2024 when a motley crew, including jihadis, took the capital, Damascus. Syrians who had engaged their autocrats in a bid for freedom since the Arab Spring, were finally […]
This piece first appeared in The Epoch Times Canada on April 17, 2025. Normally, when countries seek each other’s assistance on criminal matters, they first seek to establish a bilateral agreement on information exchange. Then, once this is achieved, they identify agencies of like-minded mandates to collaborate with each other. This is how mature nations […]
This piece first appeared in The Epoch Times Canada on April 4, 2025. It is sometimes hard to figure out just what it takes for people to realize a crisis is growing in strength. Like the frog who sits in the pot while the water slowly rises in temperature only to take note after it […]
Episode 263 – If intelligence doesn’t jive with your world view, maybe that view has to change We are inundated with information at levels impossible to process. Much of this is dis- or misinformation and it is a full-time job just trying to distinguish fact from fiction (AI-generated garbage and deep fakes, both of which […]
Episode 271 – Why practitioners can make good writers Yes I am biased – as a 32-year veteran of intelligence – but I do think (ex)-practitioners have a lot to say when it comes to national security and international affairs. Those who were ‘at the coalface’ have a lot to say and have the advantage […]
Episode 270 – Is drone warfare changing how we see armed conflict? If the war in Ukraine is teaching us anything it is that drones – both surveillance ones as well as those that fire missiles at the enemy – are changing the landscape. Their small size, cheapness (i.e. they are not expensive to build […]
Episode 269 – Post October 2023 Hamas attack violence against Jews is growing The Hamas incursion into southern Israel on October 7, 2023 was a horrendous blow to that nation and proportionately bigger than 9/11. And yet, unlike the attack on the US, it was celebrated by many in the West as a legitimate action. […]
Episode 268 – France appears to suffer from a much higher terrorist threat than other Western nations Of all the nations normally associated with the ‘West’, France is the one which seems to dominate the headlines when it comes to terrorism. Bataclan/Stade de France (2015), Nice (2016), Charlie Hebdo, teacher beheadings…the list goes on and […]
Episode 265 – It is best to look a gift Russian mercenary in the mouth Fighting terrorists is hard work. Many countries have sought alliances, both political and military, to pool resources to engage in this struggle. In some cases, allies have been kicked out, only to be replaced by brutal criminal gangs – a.k.a. […]