Search: “Islamic State”

The VIA passenger train trial has been a tortuous one.  The two terrorists, Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier were found guilty on eight of nine charges back in March of this year.  The plot was disrupted two years previously: that is how long it takes terrorist cases to come to trial. Actually, this was very […]

When we studied radicalisation to violence at CSIS in the 2000s, we found out that while anyone could engage in violent ideologies, the vast majority were young – ish.  The age range tended to be 18-28.  This is not to say that older, or on rare occasions younger, people did not get involved.  This finding […]

It is comforting and yet humbling to see a news article that conveys information which confirms a lifetime’s work.  I studied radicalisation to violence, as inspired by Al Qaeda (and increasingly nowadays the Islamic State) for 15 years from a privileged position as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS.  I was able to leverage that […]

The photo has already become iconic.  The picture of the little Kurdish boy lying face down in the water has touched the lives of tens of millions around the world.  It ranks up there with the girl running naked after a napalm strike in Vietnam and the vulture stalking a starving Ethiopian boy.  This photo […]

In an earlier blog post I spoke of the dangers of allowing intelligence analysis to be driven by politics (Not Very Intelligent – July 22).  Now the US assessments on its campaign against the Islamic State (IS) may have been subject to the same scourge. In a front-page piece in the New York Times (see […]

Another group of young people disappears and ends up in Syria.  Another set of families devastated.  Another series of criticisms levied against the government for not stopping it.  Another lament of “we didn’t see this coming”. The departure in February of three bright, accomplished young women from Bethnal Green in East London has shocked many […]

Whenever an act of terrorism occurs in the West there is an immediate flurry of questions and panic.  How did this happen?  Who was the perpetrator?  Why did he (or, more infrequently, she) do it?  Where did they get radicalised?  Is this another self-radicalised lone wolf (perhaps the most inaccurate label out there)?  What do […]

I hate saying I told you so, but… Remember my post on Egypt a month ago (When will Egypt learn?)?  In it I wrote that the Sisi government appears to be making the same mistakes that the Sadat and Mubarak governments before him had committed.  In the face of a very real threat from a […]

I see that the American government and its intelligence community are engaged in a debate over which terrorist group poses a greater threat to the US: Al Qaeda (and its affiliates) or the Islamic State (and its sorta affiliates).  There are proponents on both sides of the ledger and good points are being made by […]