Canadian Intelligence Eh
Episodes
351 episodes
Quick Hits Episode 277 - Why it is important to let police do their jobs
Ok, I get it. The media want to be first to get a story out and be definitive on what it all means. As a consequence, they tend to reach out to (self-styled) 'experts' to weigh in and provide explanations. Even if not all the facts are in...
Episode 335 - Why psychology and terrorism are linked
If you were to ask the average person about terrorists you would probably hear that the consensus is that there is strong underlying mental illness. Is this true (hint: no)? What, then, can psychologists and other academics do to help cou...
Episode 334 - Forget Taliban 2.0! How about Afghan jihad 2.0
After the horror of 9/11 it was logical - and completely justifiable - to go after those behind the attacks. As it turned out, the group responsible - Al Qaeda (AQ) - was based in Afghanistan and was protected and enabled by the Taliban. ...
Episode 333 - Is Syria's leader still a jihadi or not?
Hip hip hooray for Syria! The hated Assad regime is done, hopefully for ever. The country could enter a new era - fingers crossed - but the new leader is a man who is a ?former? terrorist, Ahmed Al-Sharaa. Is he indeed someone who has lef...
Spies Like Us Season 3 Episode 26 - Chinese linking rings - not just an illusion
To prove that three old guys - ok, in Neil's case old-ish - are with it and hip with technology we go video this week! You can actually hear AND see us - how cool is that? Phil learns that the Shanghai sweetheart on LinkedIn may not be wh...
Episode 332 - Why Oman should play a bigger role in the Persian Gulf conflict
I am fairly certain that most people have either never heard of Oman or could not find it on a map. This small sultanate does not garner many headlines but is, oddly enough, one of the more stable Middle East regimes (hence the lack of he...
Episode 331 - What to do with the 'ISIS kids'?
Adults who choose freely to join terrorist groups such as ISIS have made dumb decisions and these decisions have led to serious consequences. One of those consequences is subsequent arrest and incarceration for what they did and I imagine...
Spies Like Us Season 3 Episode 25 - ISIS isn't was-was, it still is is
As Phil sips on a "Lumbersexual" IPA - whatever that means - and jet-lagged Al is barely comatose (and Neil is, well, Neil) - the lads weigh in on why should NOT bring ISIS terrorists home, including those who go to a firing range on thei...
Episode 330 - Al Shabaab remains a serious threat to Somalia
When it comes to terrorism, some groups are simply more successful than others. There are those which skyrocket to fame only to wither and disappear: the FLQ in Canada in the 1960s and early 1970s comes to mind. Then there are those which...
Spies Like Us Season 3 Episode 24 - Canada's fraudulent immigration removal system 'Rana' amok!
With Al's triumphant return from wherever he was - don't ask, don't tell! - the lads weigh in on Canada's joke of a citizenship removal system despite obvious fraud and terrorism links, the US counter-terrorism ?strategy? that somehow mis...
Quick Hits Episode 276 - Left hand/right hand when it comes to foreign interference in Canada?
Canada is sorrily used to talk of separation. We went through two referendums (referenda? neverendums?) on Quebec independence in the 1980s and 1990s and are now faced with a possible vote to split in Alberta. That oil-rich province is al...
Episode 329 - Where do 'new' terrorist groups come from?
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 interesti...
Spies Like Us Season 3 Episode 23 - Don't break the China!
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 watchers) Charles Burton about why exactly ...
Episode 328 - Overseas conflicts often lead to threats here
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, acts ...
Quick Hits Episode 275 - Where are all the dead terrorists?
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 in Nigeria is a good exa...
Episode 327 - Old terrorist groups never die, or do they?
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 kn...
Episode 274 - Canadian law sucks when it comes to terrorism
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 a series of institutions t...
Episode 326 - What is it like to brief the POTUS on intelligence?
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 the information from? How does personality enter into the equation? H...
Episode 325 - Is the world ignoring the peril of Afghanistan?
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 ante: i.e. t...
Quick Hits Episode 273 - Is Jewish terrorism real?
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 ...
Episode 324 - The pressure of investigating a shooting in wartime
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 of time. Alas, that time can be as sho...
Episode 323 - Should Canada know more about its spies?
If there is one profession that is badly misunderstood - or not understood at all - it is espionage. Oh sure, there are spy novels and James Bond films and all that, but these are fictional and do not portray the world of intelligence gat...
Episode 322 - Is Canada putting money ahead of human rights?
Thanks to US President Trump Canada is forced to diversify its trade relationships. One of those partners, not new but enhanced, is China, and the government of Prime Minister Carney is busy signing deals with the PRC. One of those agreem...
Spies Like Us - Season 3 Episode 22: Say it ain't so Ma!
Yes, another week with the lads in the virtual bar as they delve into the details of yet another counter terrorism unit in Canada, why a wanker Liberal MP is questioning Chinese use of forced Uyghur labour, and why can the Canadian govern...
Quick Hits Episode 272 - Does Toronto Police need its own counter-terrorism unit?
In a surprise announcement on March 24, the Chief of Toronto Police, Myron Demkiw, stated that his force would create a "standalone" counter-terrorism unit. Recent attacks against the US Consulate in Toronto and several Jewish institution...