The rise and rise of Daesh

The terrorist group isn't a spent force yet

The rise and rise of DaeshExtremism thrives in chaos. Since the Arab Spring plunged Syria into civil war, the country has been consumed by factionalism. For example, the northwest of the country is controlled by the Syrian National Army (which includes an Al-Qaeda faction), and the northeast is controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Syria’s political landscape is…

Why attempts to change Afghanistan keep failing

NATO largely ignored the ethnic, cultural, religious and other aspects of how Afghans live

Why attempts to change Afghanistan keep failingThe hasty, defeatist and craven withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan in August has compelled the “civilized” Western nations and their leaders to confront the failures and errors of the past 20 years, which resemble those of earlier conflicts. The initial supposed conquest of Afghanistan relegated the remnants of the Taliban zealots to…

Time for Canada to help the victims of the PS752 shootdown

The victims’ families deserve justice, and the people of both Canada and Iran deserve the truth

Time for Canada to help the victims of the PS752 shootdownOn January 8, 2020, the Islamic Republic of Iran shot down Ukrainian flight PS752, causing the death of 176 people, including 138 Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and others with close ties to Canada. While Tehran called the downing a mistake, a recent report from the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims identifies several key…

We must ensure Muslims and all believers are made welcome

But to claim Islamaphobia is endemic in Canada is wrong

We must ensure Muslims and all believers are made welcomeOctober was Islamic History Month in Canada. In a letter introducing the month, former Diversity Minister Bardish Chagger wrote, “Today and everyday, I stand with Muslim communities, and indeed all Canadians, to denounce the hatred that fuels Islamophobia.” Muslim leaders also wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister in June asking for a National…

The bloody end of Anwar Sadat

Sadat had committed the cardinal sin of making peace with Israel

The bloody end of Anwar SadatOn Oct. 6, 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was gunned down while presiding over a ceremony celebrating the eighth anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. It was a brutal reminder of how passionate political differences can claim the lives of even the most prominent. Political assassinations weren’t exactly unheard of in the second half of…

Rebuilding democratic ideals after the surrender of Afghanistan

Multilateral bodies have an important role to play in spreading democracy

Rebuilding democratic ideals after the surrender of AfghanistanWith democrats everywhere grieving over recent events in Afghanistan and the 20th anniversary of 9/11, it is worth recalling that as the first plane struck the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, all 35 Organization of American States (OAS) member governments were in Peru signing a democratic charter that denied OAS membership to…

Canada must help ease the chaos in Afghanistan

Joe Biden rivals his predecessor, Donald Trump, in the peddling of lies and false promises

Canada must help ease the chaos in AfghanistanDuring the final week of Canada’s modest evacuation flight effort, Canadian visa holders outside Kabul International Airport took their chances to fight through the crowds and make it to one of the ever-changing gates that occasionally would open and admit tiny fractions of the throngs of people desperately trying to get on an evacuation flight.…

Canada is failing religious minorities in Afghanistan

Will Canada’s leaders put election campaigning on hold just long enough to deal with this humanitarian crisis?

Canada is failing religious minorities in AfghanistanAfghanistan’s religious minorities are facing nothing less than a genocide but the Canadian government has yet to make a firm commitment to protect some of the most vulnerable among them, say Canadian human rights activists. Hazaras and Christians – two of these minorities – have been cornered into a desperate situation ever since the fall…

Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban. Do you care?

Biden’s claim that the invasion’s original “objective” was achieved is ignorant at best, misleading at worst

Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban. Do you care?Very few people have given a damn about Afghanistan for the last several years. It doesn’t impact their lives. It’s “over there.” The troop count has been low, Western casualties have been effectively nil, and the country’s situation has rarely punctuated the mainstream headlines. I’ve been guilty of the same apathy, especially during COVID. Yet,…

Quebec, France poised to reject diversity, pluralism

Freedom of religious expression is a human right

Quebec, France poised to reject diversity, pluralismAccording to the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practise, worship…