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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

What can be learned by talking to terrorists?

Episode 261 – If you want to understand a violent ideology what better source than those who practice it? Over the past quarter century a lot has been written about terrorism and why people embrace violent ideologies. Much of this literature is academic in nature but some is very practical in nature. Borealis talks to […]

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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

How election monitoring can help national security

Episode 260 – Election observers as protectors of democracy Elections are the bedrock of democracy. Having free, fair, unfettered opportunities to choose one’s leaders is a privilege that not enough people on earth enjoy. There are, however, countries which claim to hold elections which are neither free nor fair. To try to monitor these occasions, […]

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Perspectives

Liberals’ Rules Allowing Foreign Nationals to Vote in Leadership Contest Makes Chinese Interference Too Easy

This piece appeared first in The Epoch Times Canada on January 8, 2025. Well, the inevitable has happened. After months of speculation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau emulated his father, took a walk in the snow (it may not have been actually snowing in Ottawa on Jan. 6 but it was extremely cold!), and announced his […]

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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

Why don’t most ‘radicals’ go on to commit terrorism?

Episode 257 – How to tell non-violent ‘radicals’ from the violent ones The field of ‘radicalisation’ studies has been growing quickly, especially since 9/11. Practitioners and academics have seen this process as a precursor to the actual execution of acts of terrorism. But most of those who radicalise never move on to action? Why not? […]

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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

Can terrorists also be guilty of war crimes?

Episode 255 – Are ISIS terrorists also engaged in what are known as war crimes? War is part of human history alas. Our penchant for killing one another goes back millennia and, as current events demonstrate (Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan…), it shows no signs of ebbing. Terrorism, on the other hand, is a much more recent […]

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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

Does TikTok really pose a ‘national security’ threat?

Episode 254– Would the banning of TikTok enhance Western security? That TikTok is a very popular social media platform is not debatable. There are more than 1 BILLION users worldwide and 170 million in the US alone. However, the fact that TikTok is owned by a Chinese company is raising questions. What happens to your […]

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Perspectives

Protecting National Security Takes More Than Just Adding a Group to the Terrorist List

This piece first appeared in The Epoch Times Canada on December 3, 2024 In the post 9/11 period, a new tool was made available for the Canadian government in the ill-named “war on terrorism.” It is not as if we had not experienced terrorism before that fateful day (the FLQ crisis in 1970 and the […]

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Podcast Quick Hits

2025 has barely begun and we already have what appears to be an ISIS attack…in the US

Episode 257 – What does a vehicular attack in New Orleans tell us about terrorism on a global scale? New Year’s Eve is supposed to be a happy time, ushering out the old year and welcoming the new. For partygoers and revelers in New Orleans it was anything but. A truck rammed into people after […]

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Canadian Intelligence Eh! Podcast

Who is fighting back against the Taliban?

Episode 250 – The Taliban has an opponent: here’s to their success! Ever since the Taliban retook Afghanistan in the fall of 2021 news out of that nation has been solidly negative. Public executions have been reinstated. Women’s rights are as bad now as they were when the Taliban (Taliban 1.0) took power in 2001. […]

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Podcast Quick Hits

The 5 eyes are skewing ‘radicalisation’ data

Episode 254 – Is it helpful to ignore the jihadi elephant in the room? Ever since 9/11, Western nations have devoted a lot of time and money trying to understand ‘radicalisation’, and more narrowly the kind of radicalisation that leads to violence. In essence, this is what causes terrorism (terrorists are made, not born). Our […]