Search: “Islamic State”

It is not hard to see why politicians have a hard time admitting mistakes.  They work hard and  make difficult decisions and are not always open to accepting that these decisions were wrong.  Some may be too arrogant to see the error of their ways.   It is the rare individual who issues a mea […]

I have already blogged about the use of fear by the governing Conservatives in the most recent Canadian federal election.  Voters were showered with warnings that the Islamic State was everywhere (and may be coming to a bedroom near you) and that only by returning Mr, Harper and his crew would Canadians truly be safe. […]

When we study and analyse terrorist groups, we tend to look at them in categories – Islamist, right-wing, nationalist, single issue, etc. – rather than as a whole. True, eminent scholars such as David Rappoport have written magisterial works that examine multiple terrorist strands across time, but the current trend is to put boundaries around […]

In the wake of the stunning Liberal victory on October 19, two stories have caught my eye that have a bearing on terrorism. The first had to do with the surprise surrounding the “miraculous” comeback of the Liberals who, four years ago, had been declared all but dead.  With their measly 34 seats, there were […]

There are a lot of misconceptions out there on how intelligence agencies do what they do.  It is not hard to see why this is: after all, spy services work in the shadows and seldom say anything publicly (“I can neither confirm nor deny…”).  On the contrary, if these organisations were open books then they […]

If there is one thing that terrorist groups like the Islamic State are good at doing, it is getting their message out.  Videos, blogs, tweets, online magazines like Dabiq,  photos and other social media promote the group’s goals, strike fear in the hearts of many and at the same time draw Westerners and others to […]

Canadians have overwhelmingly voted for change.  Mr. Harper is now a former prime minister and Mr. Trudeau is now prime minister elect. The new government will have a lot of challenges before it: the economy and income disparity; the environment; immigration and our role in the refugee crisis; First Nations; and many more. But what […]

As worthy and beneficial as religion can be, it is nevertheless true that religion has also been behind some of the worst forms of violence.  We in the West tend to see religion as a nice thing to have although I think we are increasingly moving towards a post-religious society, at least in Canada.  Whatever […]

Another mass shooting in the US.  Another nation in grief.  Another set of questions on Why?  Another series of calls to prevent future incidents.  Why can’t the (fill in the blank – government/academe/science/police) profile people who engage in mass killings and stop them before they shoot?  What is so hard about all this?  After all, […]

With zombie movies and TV shows all the rage, the “science” and trivia surrounding the undead have gone from a niche cult that started with the George Romero films to almost mainstream pop culture.  Most people know that zombies eat brains, move slowly (except for the ones in World War Z) and are really hard […]