Search: “afghanistan”

Bangladesh is a country born in the paroxysms of violence 45 years ago and one that is teetering on the abyss of more bloodshed day by day.  As the country finally deals with the massacre of thousands in the early days of independence through the trials and, in some cases, executions of the perpetrators of […]

As I wrote in a blog post yesterday, today marks the 10th anniversary of the arrest of 17 men in the Greater Toronto Area in the culmination of a massive terrorism investigation by Canadian authorities.  In what came to be known as the “Toronto 18” (the last subject was arrested in August 2006) Canadians were […]

It seems that many Canadians, let alone foreigners, have forgotten about the Toronto 18 (I can attest that every time I give a talk on terrorism in Canada and make reference to the 2006 terror cell fewer and fewer people have any real knowledge of what remains the single largest counter terrorism investigation in our […]

Foreign policy is tough.  I say that not with any hands-on experience as a former foreign affairs officer but as a former intelligence analyst who worked alongside many people at GAC (Global Affairs Canada, formerly DFATD, formerly DFAIT, formerly EAC, formerly…) on international security issues.  I learned that Canada has a very good reputation internationally […]

A lot of people and a lot of governments are getting tired of the so-called “War on Terrorism”.  More and more attacks seem to be happening all the time.  What we used to think was a problem “over there” is now “over here”: Brussels, Paris, San Bernardino, Ottawa…  We cannot seem to get away from […]

We learned today (April 25) that a Canadian citizen, John Ridsdel, was killed by a terrorist group that had been holding him and three others, including another Canadian, a Norwegian and a Filippino, hostage since last September.  The extremist organisation, Abu Sayyaf, had made several demands for ransom and appears to have beheaded Mr.Ridsdel when […]

If there is one theatre of war tactic that remains controversial – aside from the inevitable divisions of futuristic killer robots I keep reading about – it is the use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles as the military prefers to call them.  Relentless, tireless, brimming with state of the art gadgetry, these flying platforms […]

There are many occasions on which public perception does not hold up well once research is carried out and data collected.  For instance, people in Canada and the US think that crime is on the increase when statistics show quite the opposite and that we are in an era of unprecedented safety.  Global warming  is […]

I learned a long time ago not to jump to conclusions based on very little information (a cardinal sin in intelligence analysis).  Hence some of this post will be tenuous in nature.  I am writing of course on the attack at a Canadian Armed Forces recruiting centre in Toronto on March 14th in which a knife-wielding […]

I see that another Canadian has died fighting in what he believed to be a legitimate jihad overseas, this time in Libya.   Owais Egwilla joins a not so illustrious list of fellow citizens including Ali Dirie, Andre Poulin, Vilyam Plotnikov, Abdelrahman Jabarah, Salman Ashrafi, Damian Clairmont and – unfortunately – many others.  Their graves, […]