Borealis Threat & Risk Consulting
Episode 329 – How easy is it to create a terrorist group? You would think the world already has enough terrorist groups. While jihadi ones like Al Qaeda and Islamic State – and their affiliates, provinces and wannabes – predominate, there are others out there as well. And in what is an interesting development, new […]
Spies Like Us Season 3 Episode 23 – Mark our words: China is a big threat to Canada! After a short hiatus the Al-less boys – does this make us a duet – are back and it’s all about China. Neil and Phil talk with Canada’s top Sinologist (that means China watcher for you non-China […]
Episode 328 – Violence abroad rarely stays abroad Well, the world is in a state these days, isn’t it? War in Iran. War in Gaza. War in Lebanon. Closure of the Straits of Hormuz. An ongoing civil war in Yemen. And that is just the Middle East! When it comes to terrorism in the West, […]
Episode 275 – Why we need to take government claims of counter terrorism success with a grain of salt Terrorist groups come and go, like just about everything else. And yet, some seem to last a long time, pronouncements of their deaths notwithstanding (I want to channel my inner Mark Twain here but…). Boko Haram […]
Episode 327 – Will Ireland see the resurgence of nationalist violence? For decades, the one Western nation that seemed most beset by terrorism was Ireland, as the IRA (Irish Republican Army) was bent on using violence to coerce the six counties of the north to join the Republic. The Troubles, as they were known, stretched […]
Episode 274 – Why in heaven’s name is a convicted unapologetic jihadi being released from prison? Prisons serve several purposes, or so it seems to me (I am not a incarceration specialist). First and foremost it is a system that can help keep the public safe from truly dangerous people. Second, it is part of […]
Episode 326 – What kind of intelligence does the US President consume and does it make a difference? Imagine you are the one on the hotseat who has to tell the President of the US what is happening in the world – on a daily basis. What do you tell him? Where do you get […]
Episode 325 – Could Afghanistan pose the same terrorist threat it did a quarter century ago? For two decades NATO members, including Canada, were at war in Afghanistan. More than 3,000 allied soldiers died (among whom were 158 Canadians) and when the last US troops left in 2021 Afghanistan went back to the status quo […]
Episode 273 – Terms may hurt, but accuracy is paramount In a world dominated by jihadi terrorism we cannot discount the minor players who are also bent on violence. We have Hindu terrorists in India, Christian terrorists in the US and, wait for it, Jewish terrorists in Israel. Violence in the West Bank and elsewhere […]
Episode 324 – Even when the public wants immediate answers, police need time to do their jobs If you watch enough crime dramas on Netflix (or the streaming platform of your choice: my wife and I are watching the quirky Annika on PBS now), you are led to believe that solving crimes is a matter […]