Search: “Islamic State”

Another video, another promise of terrorism. You would think that we’d be getting tired of these by now.  Every wannabe martyr goes online, films himself (or herself) – or gets someone else to film – rants on about how we in the West are the aggressor against Islam and Muslims, and threatens to kill us […]

Today in the small southwestern Ontario town of Strathroy a young man known to police for having terrorist connections was killed by security forces after he appeared to have exploded a device and had another in  his possession.  The victim, Aaron Driver, had been arrested in June 2015 after expressing support for Islamic State (IS) […]

There is no question that terrorism gets a lot of attention these days.  Nary a day goes by without a story of an attack somewhere in the world.  Most – not all, but most – of these attacks are carried out by some individual, some small group or even a large bunch with some tie […]

Media have one important job to do: report the news.  Sometimes they also bring in people to help us understand the news and speculate on what it means.  At times outside experts contribute much needed analysis and insight and at others provide little of value to the issue at hand. In reporting the news there […]

Another attack has hit France – this one is particularly heinous, the murder of an 85-year old priest – and the critics are out in full force, all of whom know what is wrong with France and what the French should do about it.  I certainly would not want to be French President Hollande or […]

In 1996 then First Lady Hillary Clinton published a book It Takes a Village which was essentially a tome on how to raise children.  The main argument centred on the responsibilities that everyone has to contribute to the shaping of productive, well-adjusted citizens and was a bit of a call to an earlier age where this […]

Although most countries cannot agree on what constitutes terrorism, if we judge by the number of definitions that are out there, they do seem to do a better job at determining what a terrorist group is.  There are so-called terrorist listings in the US, the UN, the EU, and the UK among other jurisdictions.  We […]

Another terrorist attack another claim that a – pick one – mentally ill/alienated/uneducated/inherently violent/disenfranchised young  man “self-radicalised” and went on to commit a terrorist act.  The case this time is the axe attack on a train in Germany by an Afghan (or Pakistani – the information on this is not yet clear) immigrant.  German officials […]

The general public has little insight into how intelligence agencies operate.  That is good on one level since these organisations’ success depends in large part on their ability to work in the shadows.  On another level, however, the information vacuum invariably opens the door wide open for anyone – and I do mean anyone, qualified […]

Like a lot of people I enjoy traveling.   I had some amazing opportunities to see the world while I worked in intelligence and I have continued to voyage abroad in retirement.  There is so much that our planet has to offer and it is indeed a privilege to see it close up. When I […]