About Phil Gurski

About Us Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd.  He worked as a senior strategic analyst at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation. He is the author of five previous books on terrorism. Phil Gurski is the President and […]

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Perspectives

Sexual abuse in conservative Christian communities: This is religious terrorism too

If we want to be consistent with how we see and deal with terrorism, we need to look at the violence tolerated within fringe Christian sects.

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Perspectives

January 24, 1975 | Bombing in New York City

Nationalist movements will resort to violence if some see it as advancing their cause. When it comes to colonial powers what comes to mind? I would imagine that you would first proffer countries like England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Even Italy had an overseas territory in the Horn of Africa and Libya. All […]

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Books When Religion Kills

Book launch – When Religion Kills: How Extremist Justify Violence Through Faith

Are Islamist terrorists the only ones to use religion to justify violence?

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Perspectives

Today in Terrorism: December 3, 1975 and 2018

On this day in 1975, six armed men boarded a train at the Dutch town of Assen and seized the passengers as hostages.

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Perspectives

Today in Terrorism: 2 November 2004/2018

Islamist terrorists strike in Netherlands and Egypt 14 years apart I have been studying and writing about terrorism for a very long time, coming up on 20 years. First as an intelligence analyst at CSIS in Canada, followed by a post civil service career as a writer and media commentator (and author of five books […]

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Perspectives

Why it is important to not think that terrorist ‘profiles’ abroad apply here

We all get a feeling of deja vu at times, don’t we? You’ll see something and remark that you definitely seen it before. Sometimes it is a little spooky while at others it is more mundane. Today’s blog is about the latter. The MacDonald Laurier Institute, a Canadian thinktank, has just published a paper by […]

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Perspectives

The terrorist attack that wasn’t – and one that may have been

This piece appeared in The Hill Times on April 1, 2019. If you are like me – and I really hope you are not for many, many reasons! – you probably read the news with a certain slant and through a certain filter. In my case, I read almost everything via a terrorism lens – […]

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Perspectives

Readin’, ‘Ritin’ and Radicalisin’: schools and the links to terrorism

This piece appeared in The Hill Times on March 18, 2019. One of the many beauties of living in a liberal, secular democratic society is the freedom to disagree and debate. There are always many sides to an issue and we have the liberty to express our opinions without the fear of being arrested. Many […]

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Perspectives

Podcast #5: China is getting CT all wrong

Here is a link to the YouTube version of podcast (it is also available on iTunes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uy_S0Inojk Here are some informative links about China’s campaign against the Uyghurs https://thediplomat.com/2019/01/are-indonesia-and-malaysia-ready-to-stand-up-for-chinas-muslims/ https://www.rfa.org/english/women/suffering-01302019152956.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/02/07/uighurs-australia/?utm_term=.59e0784d5aea https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/2186446/beijing-backs-patriotic-actions-chinese-students-who-reported https://ent.siteintelgroup.com/Chatter/is-supporter-calls-to-kill-chinese-in-defense-of-islam-and-uyghurs.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/21/how-china-tried-stop-my-freedom-speech-canada/?utm_term=.214ddb57f282&wpisrc=nl_todayworld&wpmm=1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/china-has-put-1-million-muslims-in-concentration-camps-mbs-had-nothing-to-say/2019/02/24/370be676-36e4-11e9-854a-7a14d7fec96a_story.html?utm_term=.84e60354c337&wpisrc=nl_todayworld&wpmm=1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/chinas-expanding-war-on-islam-now-theyre-coming-for-the-kazakhs/2019/03/01/16ebbe76-38ff-11e9-a2cd-307b06d0257b_story.html?utm_term=.0e75941659e5&wpisrc=nl_todayworld&wpmm=1 Featured terrorist attack – Kashmir https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/02/15/a-deadly-bombing-provokes-a-crisis-between-india-and-pakistan Terrorism this fortnight (Feb 12-25) Afghanistan Afghan Intelligence forces arrested two members of […]