Today, principled conversation is impossible, and that’s dangerous
Recent threats on the world stage cause me to wonder whether perhaps we should be mourning the passing of the Soviet era. With the eruption of ISIS in the Middle East and the ongoing autocracies in Russia and China, pause for a moment and think back to the last century and compare the challenges then…
Without a concrete plan beyond airstrikes, we could find ourselves mired in war for years to come
Initially, I was convinced that the war against ISIS could be morally justified. ISIS, after all, is a malevolent force from which neither Iraq nor Syria is able to protect their people. The international community, therefore, had a responsibility to intervene. But beyond that, the moral waters get muddy. Both Catholic “just war” theory, with…
Bill C-51 explicitly states that it is not concerned with “lawful advocacy, protest, dissent, and artistic expression"
Despite the general justification of the preamble, there are no marginal annotations explaining the details of Bill C-51, the government’s proposed anti-terrorism law. This means that commonsense is required to rein in the anxieties of our imagination if we are to discern the reasons why changes to existing security legislation are warranted. We also need…
Putin has maintained his iron grip on Russia by being the most ruthless in a sea of gangsters
The murder of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in the shadow of the Kremlin is so obvious an act of political gangsterism that future generations could well – in retrospect – view it as a turning point in the history of Russia and the West. With this killing the last veils are being ripped off…
The very foundations of our free society slowly being whittled away
Here’s a trick question for you: Why do you see young adults stopping friends who’ve been drinking from getting behind the wheel? You might say it’s because they don’t want their friend to get into an accident, hurt somebody or end up in jail. All of those reasons are valid, but they’re not the full…
Western ignorance of the moral character of the struggle is leading to many mistakes
Western civilization has shaped the modern world. Unfortunately, that world and the liberal values that underpin it are facing violent existential threats today. The most dangerous of these threats are the rise of radical Islam and a newly menacing Russia. There is a growing sense of frustration, even resignation, in the public, a belief that…