Other People's Wars: A Review of Overseas Terrorism in ... - Edocr

Other Peoples’ Wars – Chapter One
Canada is connected with the rest of the world; it is our market, our supplier, and our
vacation site. We have citizens who have come from virtually every nation on the planet.
As a result, this means that problems elsewhere in the world are our problems too. They
are not something we can ignore. Additionally, as a trading nation with a cosmopolitan
population, we have a responsibility to other nations. We owe them security and
protection from internal problems, and this is a responsibility that sovereign nations owe
each other.
Notwithstanding the desires and fond beliefs of some of our citizenry, the rest of the
World does not necessarily love us, for Canada is a Western nation and a part of what
some might consider as the “Anglo Saxon Mafia”. While many Canadians may feel that
our purported reputation as Peacekeepers (a fantasy that does not withstand objective
scrutiny) or as a multicultural country may exempt us from hatred by others, we remain a
democratic society with the same background and vitality as other Western nations. This
vitality has attracted spiteful and envious hatred.
Also, as may be apparent in an examination of the nature and motivation of terrorism,
being a tolerant and cosmopolitan society does not mitigate against risk. In fact, it is
more likely to increase it. While Canada is capable of generating some terrorism of its
own, the most severe danger has been imported as potential terrorists and terrorist
supporters creep in almost unnoticed with the tide of newcomers arriving here every year.
If there is one lesson to learn from the attacks of September 11 th , 2001, it is that
instability on the other side of the world can be a problem for stable sovereign nations.
This also means that our security and stability are dependent upon the security and
stability of other countries and regions; it is in our best interests to look after their
interests.
Since the end of the Cold War, the most dangerous conflicts around the world have
been internal ones. The State vs. State violence that most Canadians think of as “war”
has become rare, and is replaced almost entirely with conflicts where one of more of the
participants are non-state actors such as guerrillas, tribal militias, armed political factions,
vigilantes, mobs, organized criminal societies, and terrorists.
These forces, trivial and remote though they may seem, are at once both a problem in
themselves, and a symptom of other problems. Nor are they necessarily small and weak.
If left to their own devices they can generate civil conflicts that can kill hundreds of
thousands of people, destabilize whole regions, and bankrupt nations. With intimidation
of officials and police and the money from illegal enterprises such as narcotics or
diamond smuggling, for example, they can corrupt institutions, buy weapons and
equipment, and sustain themselves for decades -- often long after the conditions that
created them have gone.
More to the point for Canada, these non-state actors have moved into our country to
take advantages of opportunities we present to them. The members of some groups come
here when the price on their heads is too high at home. Others come to generate new
followers among their countrymen and co-religionists from home, or to define and
enforce a new system of beliefs among them. Canada can be a market for the black or
gray market activities that feed their movements; to collect money openly and legally, or
to quietly live until the time is right to resume the struggle.
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