RESEARCH
July 28, 2022
Lessons Learned from Listing Violent Far-Right Extremist Groups in Canada
In June 2019, Canada listed two violent far-right extremist groups as terrorist entities: Blood and Honour and Combat 18, the first listings of their kind in Canada. In February 2021, the government listed four more entities: The Base, Atomwaffen Division, Russian Imperial Movement, and the Proud Boys. As part of their rationale for listing, the government included the Proud Boys’ participation and “pivotal role” at the US Capitol.” In June 2021, the…...
READ MORE
April 04, 2022
Foreign Fighters, Volunteers, and Mercenaries: Non-State Actors and Narratives in Ukraine
When Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine was launched to pursue the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine, it evoked a level of “gaslighting”—attempting to make others question their own reality—that has come to define the Kremlin’s approach to geopolitics. Just as Russia bombed hospitals in Aleppo and casually blamed the atrocities on “terrorists,” Moscow now seeks to stoke the flames of transnational far-right extremism and violence in support…...
READ MORE
February 07, 2022
Promoting Democracy and Security in Africa: Don’t Forget Cities
Speaking in Abuja last fall, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken implored African governments to enact reforms in response to their citizens’ demands for better governance. The ongoing crises in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Burkina Faso together with recent allegations of Nigerian police brutality and a growing awareness of the connections between weak or failed governance and terrorism and other political violence across the continent underscore the need for change. Communities across Africa…...
READ MORE
October 04, 2021
A Perfect Storm: Insurrection, Incitement, And The Violent Far-Right Movement
The Capitol Insurrection in the United States on January 6, 2021, sent shockwaves around the world. From London to Canberra, and Ottawa to Auckland, millions watched as a mob of far-right violent extremists stormed the U.S. Capitol seeking to overturn the results of a free and fair presidential election that had already been certified many times as both legitimate and credible. Dozens of Capitol Police officers were injured and attacked with racist…...
READ MORE
September 11, 2021
The Road to 9/11 and the Dangers Ahead
Twenty years ago, in the fall of 2001, having already spent years chasing Osama bin Laden, I found myself near Kabul, standing in one of the al-Qaeda leader’s safehouses—or what remained of it. Intense coalition bombardment had reduced the building to rubble. Together with my fellow investigators, I sifted through the remains, looking for evidence that might lead us to the al-Qaeda leader or his lieutenants. Toward the end of our search,…...
READ MORE