Search: “Al Qaeda”

I am enjoying a relaxing weekend at my brother’s house in London, Ontario, a welcome respite after a number of speaking engagements in a variety of places recently.  This is where I was born, where I grew up, where I went to school – elementary, secondary and university – and where I will always consider […]

One would think that a state has fundamental rights and obligations in the same way that people do.  Any state must, for instance, have a monopoly on the use of force since in the absence of such we would live in anarchy.  I agree that the state exists only – or rather should exist only […]

I am a parent and that means I worry about my kids.  Not that I have any real reason to do so since my three are all grown up, on their own, doing well and appear for all intents and purposes to be well-adjusted, functioning human beings (thanks in no small part to their mother!).  […]

It stands to reason that senior officials, be they civilian leaders or military officers, want to provide the public with good news.  Whether it is to gain votes or to instill pride in a country’s armed forces, these individuals see the benefit of telling the (voting) population that success is at hand or that whatever […]

When I was growing up in London (Ontario) there was a famous quasi-mythical family that lived near the town of Lucan, about a half-hour away, in the 19th  century.  The Donnellys, or the ‘Black Donnellys’ as we were taught about them, were Irish immigrants who were killed by a mob in 1880 in a feud […]

Are we in the West suffering from collective naivete?  Are we ignoring an obvious threat to public safety?  Are we failing to understand that there are citizens among us who can do real harm? I am referring of course to the phenomenon of ‘foreign fighters’, Westerners who left of their own free will to join […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

First and foremost, Canadians and others should be very happy for Joshua Boyle, Caitlin Coleman and their children now that their five-year ordeal is over.  The conditions under which the family was held hostage by the Taliban/Haqqani group were truly horrendous and no one should underestimate or dismiss that.  I for one feel most for […]