Search: “islamic state”

I suppose I have to explain the title for this blog.  I recall reading a book by English author H.E. Bates called Fair stood the wind for France back in high school about a British pilot that crash lands in Nazi-occupied France in WWII and ends up falling in love with the daughter of a […]

I am currently attending a very interesting conference in Tunisia entitled ‘International Panel on Exiting Violence’ as part of a multinational group looking at all kinds of issues surrounding terrorism and violent radicalisation.  Among the presentations I listened to was one in which the speaker talked about conflicts and how to ensure, to the extent […]

There is indeed good news coming out of western Iraq and eastern Syria these days.  When is the last time anyone said that?  Islamic State (IS), a truly barbaric terrorist group if there ever was one, is on the outs.  It is about to lose Mosul and maybe even Raqqa and, according to recent reports, […]

Imagine the following scenario if you will.  You are an HR officer for a company or in a government department and you are going through a stack of applications for an open position.  One candidate strikes you as very qualified so you arrange for an interview.  In the course of your talk with the aspiring […]

Well, we are coming up to the six-month mark of the Donald Trump era and it is time for a reckoning.  So much print and coverage has been devoted to the Donald that I hesitate to add to this amount.  And yet there is quite a bit that bears on counter terrorism policy and strategy […]

Following up on yesterday’s blog about a possible Canadian who knifed a police officer at Flint Airport in Michigan, we now know that yes indeed he is Canadian.  Thankfully, the wounded officer’s condition has gone from critical to stable after he underwent surgery yesterday.  The assailant, Amor Ftouhi, has been taken into custody and charged. […]

Canadian courts are showing themselves to be prudent and worthy interpreters of the law of the land when it comes to terrorism.  A number of cases have now worked their way through the system and in the majority of them the Crown has successfully made its argument that a small number of Canadians are guilty […]

Most people in Canada have a good impression of Sweden I would think.  Whether it focuses on tall, blonde attractive men and women or the increasing number of star hockey players – the Ottawa Senators have been blessed with both Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Karlsson – the images are positive ones.  And if you have […]

I am a big Isaac Asimov fan (and a big science fiction fan in general, although I don’t get to read as much as I’d like what with all this terrorism to look at).  In his classic Foundation series we are introduced to a character right at the outset named Hari Seldon, a mathematics professor […]

The Fisher King is a 1991 film starring the late Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges  in which the latter plays a shock jock radio host who spurs a caller into massacring people at random at a restaurant in which the former’s wife dies.  The character played by Williams loses his sanity and becomes a street […]