Search: “Terrorists”

We seem to have this love-hate relationship with religion in the West.  Wait, let me rephrase that, since saying “the West” is too vague.  In some countries (France, Spain, Canada I would argue) we have reached a kind of post-religious society where all religions are tolerated but play very little role in the public sphere. […]

It had to happen eventually. With all the attention on Islamic State – the attacks in Paris and California, the airstrikes, the recruitment of Westerners – it was just a matter of time before this came out: “93 secret ISIS cells in US” Was this an exclusive of the New York Times?  Washington Post?  Wall […]

I have just returned from spending three wonderful days in New York City.  Broadway.  Central Park.  American Museum of Natural History.  Bryant Park.  The city that never sleeps.  And the city that is never far from the attention and aspiration of terrorists. When I used to work in security intelligence it always struck me that […]

I’ve been noticing a lot more coverage of terrorism and radicalisation in the pages of New Scientist lately.  On the one hand I find this curious since the magazine, which I have enjoyed reading since the early 1980s, usually includes articles on the harder sciences: physics, astronomy and biology.  True it does treat the somewhat […]

Although there is much still to learn about the attack in California in which a husband and his wife opened fire on a group of his co-workers, killing 14 and wounding many more before dying in a shootout with police, there is some information available that casts interesting light on what we know, and what […]

One of the greatest challenges a society has to face with respect to the delicate balance between privacy and freedom of thought and national security has to do with when organs of the state are allowed to take an interest in the activities of its citizens when those activities are believed to constitute a threat […]

All too often the word terrorism is associated with a Muslim, or a group of Muslims, or even a whole organisation of Muslims, who carry out acts of despicable violence against civilians.  Paris.  Nigeria.  Sinai.  Pakistan.  Somalia.  Beirut.  The list goes on and on. It is important to note that there are a great many […]

It is natural in the wake of a catastrophic attack for people to be upset and angry and even vengeful.  Emotions are raw and there are immediate calls to “do something”.  Problems that have been around for a long time suddenly get more attention, but rather than a sober, measured response, we leap towards knee-jerk […]

I have said it before and I will repeat it here: I am not an expert in military affairs.  Hell, I am not even a well-informed John Q Public when it comes to things military.  When I talk about the military I am bound to sound dumb. So, here it goes: my take on why […]