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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

Is Canada serious about Arctic security in the face of Chinese and Russian threats?

Episode 258 – Canada needs to step up its far north game We in the Great White North proudly describe ourselves as an “Arctic” nation. In truth, we have a large portion of that part of the globe, which is lightly inhabited, but is increasingly becoming strategic in the face of global warming. Most Canadians, […]

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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

The terrorists’ who’s who in Africa

Episode 256 – Why is Africa rife with jihadi groups? Last year the Global Terrorism Index for the first time put an African nation, Burkina Faso, at the top of its list of terrorist attacks. A phenomenon most associate with the Middle East (and West Asia: think Pakistan and Afghanistan) is now increasingly dominated by […]

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Perspectives

Buddhist terrorism? You’re kidding, right?

There are times when you work in the (counter) terrorism space that you come across a story and say: WTF? This is one of those times. In early January, a Sri Lankan court sentenced a hardline Buddhist monk named Galagodaatte Gnanasara to nine months in prison for insulting Islam and inciting religious hatred. The remarks […]

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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

What’s in store for terrorism in Africa in 2025?

Episode 253 – Another bad year for terrorism in Africa? In its 2024 report The Global Terrorism Index, the Institute for Economics and Peace noted that for the first time an African country, Burkina Faso, took top spot in terrorist attacks. This came as a surprise to many who had become accustomed to nations in […]

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Perspectives

It Would Be a Mistake to Label Syria an Ex-terrorist Haven Just Yet

This piece first appeared in The Epoch Times Canada on December 9, 2024. Assad is gone from Syria. Hip hip hooray. Actually, let’s wait a minute before celebrating. Any time a dictator who has abused his nation’s citizens—jailing them, torturing them, and even using chemical weapons against them—is forced to flee has to be a […]

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Perspectives

At what price freedom of expression?

You do not have to go that far back in human history to have seen people burned at the stake, hung, drawn and quartered and otherwise treated very badly for having ‘blasphemed’ (although my favourite blasphemy scene is still from Monty Python’s Life of Brian where John Cleese plays a rabbi calling for the death […]

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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

What did Canada’s deployment to Afghanistan mean?

Episode 252 – When the soldiers come home from a foreign deployment, what then? After 9/11 Canada was one of the first nations to send its forces to Afghanistan to find Al Qaeda and help Afghanistan oust the Taliban. Thousands of soldiers deployed and over a decade 159 died (in addition to seven civilians). Canada […]

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Podcast Quick Hits

What have we learned from the New Orleans attack?

Episode 258 – While every attack is different there are some familiar characteristics here Another vehicular attack, another round of questions on what happened and why. The families of those killed and injured in an ISIS-inspired incident want answers on why this occurred, what was known, and why it was not stopped. Was there anything […]

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Podcast Quick Hits

What to watch on the terrorism landscape in 2025

Episode 256 – Terrorism is with us to stay unfortunately I would imagine most people are sick of hearing about terrorism. We read and view reports on a daily basis where individuals and groups carry out attacks or, more hopefully, are foiled by law enforcement and security intelligence agencies. Enough is enough, right? Alas, likely […]

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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

How does the intelligence cookie get made?

Episode 251 – What good is intelligence if it is not passed on to decision makers? Those who work in intelligence have a tough job. Whether it is HUMINT, SIGINT, IMINT or any other ‘INT’, the data is vast and must be collected, processed, tested for accuracy, corroborated, analysed and put into short product so […]