Search: “Islamist extremists”

This piece appeared in The Hill Times on September 10, 2018 “Islam should be banned like we ban pit bulls”.  You read that right.  This was a Twitter post by an erstwhile candidate for the Parti Quebecois in the upcoming Quebec election.  Suffice to say he is no longer on the PQ slate.  But let […]

Is there anything more aggravating than meandering slowly through a security line at an airport?  We’ve all been there and we all hate it.  People have missed flights because they were delayed at checkpoints and we have all suffered insults to our ‘dignity’ because of the need to comply with security demands (Who left liquids […]

Quick!  What is your favourite oxymoron?  Awfully good?  Peacekeeping missile?  Tight slacks?  Jumbo fried shrimp? Military intelligence? How about ‘violent vegans’? I suppose there is a wide variety of opinion on veganism in many societies ranging from admiration for their campaign to get us to eat less meat in order to save the planet to […]

We need to take a realistic approach to all this. No, not all returning women and children pose a danger to our societies and not all are inhuman monsters.

This piece appeared in The Hill Times on July 16, 2018 There are times when you read something that makes your blood boil and demands a response.  One such time occurred to me last week within the pages of this very Hill Times in an op-ed by Ihsaan Gardee, executive director of the National Council […]

A common refrain to many issues is ‘follow the money’.  Whether we are talking about organised crime or campaign irregularities or other social ills it is believed that if you can establish who is paying who you can devise ways to interdict that cash flow and hamper the activities that it is supporting.  If successful, […]

When we turn our attention to terrorism – of the Islamist extremist variety – our focus tends to be concentrated in areas we all know to be frequently beset by attacks.  These regions would include Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Nigeria for most as an initial cut.  Those who watch terrorism more closely would throw in […]

When you try to think of London and terrorism, what comes to mind?  I’d wager the 7/7 attacks in 2005 and any number of similar incidents.  Or that fact that the UK Security Service has identified 23,000 radicalised Britons they worry about.  What I would be surprised at would be if your immediate thoughts turned […]

China is getting a lot of headline attention these days in Canada and elsewhere.  Most of this coverage revolves around Chinese attempts to have its state-owned enterprises (SOEs) buy up Western companies.  Some of these deals have been cancelled by Western authorities over security concerns.  The bottom line seems to be we in the West […]

This piece was published in The Hill Times on April 30, 2018 I consider myself a fairly reasonable and rational person.  I also have had a hankering for science since I was a kid and do everything possible to keep up with developments in a variety of fields. Among those is environmental science and of […]