BBC trolling for fear in the “colonies”
June 5, 2006 | 
Author The BBC radio program Have Your Say is trolling once again for fearful Canadians by asking: “Do you feel safer since anti-terror raids in Canada? Do you feel safer as a result of the arrests of a group of terrorism suspects by Canadian police?”
No — I don’t feel safer because it is not clear that this was a “real” terror cell. Since this was a sting operation — and the police themselves orchestrated the delivery of the ammonium nitrate — it is unclear what would have really happened if the police had not been as involved. Time will tell though. Charges against 12 of the accused have finally been read and include conspiracy to carry out a terrorist activity, training for terrorist purposes, bombmaking and illegally importing guns and ammunition.
That said, Canada is extremely vulnerable — as are most industrialized nations — because there just too many weak points in our infrastructure which could be attacked with relative ease. We have unprotected nuclear plants accessible from Lake Ontario. There are thousands of abandoned water wells which could allow water tables to be tainted. Gas pipelines could be disrupted. Blocking 3 or 4 major highways with tractor trailors would probably disrupt emergency response effectively enough to allow all sorts of mayhem to take place. Of course, as we have seen, the Taliban and other purveyors of terror are also quite vulnerable.
We can not secure everything, so we should take care to enforce Canada’s “hate” laws so that no church/temple/mosque or any other group is able to incite members to violence. In the end, we can only protect our infrastructure — and our values — if we give developing countries and all trading partners a fair shake. John F Kennedy’s words are as true today as ever: “The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution”. By the same token, radical, fundamentalist groups will never be able to solve their own problems through acts of terrorism.
As a multi-cultural society, Canada has been relatively successful (if we can ignore these idiots for the moment) in maintaining peace between many different peoples within our borders. We are far from perfect, but we have less to fear than countries that have not fostered the same degree of cultural integration and tolerance that we see in Canada.
So there BBC — that’s about as fearful as I can get right now.
Posted in Canadian Politics
[...] Enough vitriol and anguish over Terrorism in Toronto for a while. My earlier reaction to that mess is proof that the “listen to your gut” approach to thinking does not always work. On the otherhand, the actual disclosure of fact can be so glacial, its no wonder we just make it up, sometimes. So instead we spent last Sunday at the Carden Alvar and were treated to 58 species of birds and assorted assorted wildlife (had a good view of a very healthy looking coyote). Common Snipe were zooming back and forth over our heads, sounding like “B” movie UFO’s. Also good looks at Upland Sandpiper. These would have been admirable choices, but the Bird of the Week “honor” goes to the plucky Eastern Bluebird. There are about 500 pairs of these gorgeous birds nesting in the Carden Alvar area and their tendency to fence sit (guarding nest boxes from King birds and swallows) made it possible to actually get a few photos. [...]