“The threat of homegrown terrorism isn’t new, but the manner in which the RCMP zeroed in on this couple represents a fresh gambit in the fight to identify and stop prospective terrorist recruits before they leave Canada. These techniques, which have attracted the ire of civil liberties advocates, are being deployed amid a growing sense of urgency: Officials are warning that more than 100 Canadians are suspected of involvement in terrorism activities around the world.”
Troubling in a bunch of different ways. Western youth being drawn to Islamic radicalism did not start with ISIS and will not end with ISIS. So the Canadian legal system will have to develop a mechanism for dealing with the problem, but arbitrarily using passport laws to restrict the movement of “high-risk” individuals seems like a recipe for disaster to me. The media portrayal of the issue is also disturbing. It’s taking on a bit of a “reefer madness” tone, with stories of fresh faced kids being lured by the evils of extremism and violence. Like this one:
IR Theory & Practice 