Search: “national security”

Having just spent two and a half days with religious leaders, civil society activists, policy makers and bureaucrats from around the world at Wilton Park in Sussex, there were so many topics and perspectives presented that I will likely have to write several blogs to cover the richness of the material and the subsequent thoughts […]

The other week Islamic State (a.k.a. ISIS) came out with issue #14 of its premier on-line magazine Dabiq.   There was the usual stir over the appearance of yet another propaganda product from the world’s most worrisome terrorist group as analysts pored over the text to do content analysis and determine whether this edition contained any […]

Life is all about making choices, whether this applies at the level of the individual or the state.  Presumably both types of decisions are aimed at contributing to the personal or common good, and both are constrained by resources, financial or otherwise.  Decisions have consequences since electing one path means rejecting another one or several […]

The famous French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy has penned an op-ed piece in which he asks whether there is a fight within Islam for the soul of the faith.  He makes the familiar argument that there are elements within the global Muslim polity that are at a minimum grossly fundamentalist and intolerant and at a maximum […]

As we strive to learn more about why people adopt violent extremist views and, more importantly in my opinion, try to determine which people pose a real threat to society, we often find ourselves in areas we would not have expected.  We need to exhaust every avenue, no matter how outside the box, for two […]

The Canadian Council of Imams has announced that it intends to launch a series of deradicalisation clinics in the Greater Toronto Area this summer.  Describing the move as “proactive”, Imam Hamid Slimi noted that “nobody wants to see another Brussels or Paris” in Canada.  No, we don’t, whether we are Muslim or not. The CCI […]

First of all kudos to the Trudeau government for its recent announcement on funding for counter radicalisation and community engagement.  $35 million over five years is an excellent start and, although details are wanting, the government sees the new “Office of the Community Outreach and Counter Radicalisation Coordinator” as a leadership post for Canada’s efforts. This […]

CSIS Director Michel Coulombe appeared before the Senate National Security and Defence Committee today and stated that his organisation has used its new disruption powers over twenty times since 2015.   This measure was controversial when introduced by the former Conservative government and is still seen by some as too strong for a service that […]

I just read in the Ottawa Citizen that the brother of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Alexandre, has called on the Liberal government not to deport alleged Algerian terrorist Mohamed Harkat back to his native land. Recall that Mr. Harkat was subject to a National Security Certificate and found to be inadmissible to Canada under the […]

I see that the US has undertaken airstrikes against the Libyan “province” of Islamic State (see article here).  The initial focus seem to be tied to targeting an individual behind two attacks  in Tunisia.  It is likely that more strikes will take place and it is even possible that Canada will get involved in this […]