Canada is of strategic importance, not only for bilateral relations with the United States, but also as a multi-lateral force around the world, at least in security terms.  A little over a month ago, I attended a conference in Kingston-Ontario that was hosted by Queen’s University.  This particular conference  focused on Canada’s military role in [...]

Yesterday we held our monthly International Thursday event, and one of our speakers made a comment that got my attention.   When talking about the shift towards populism, and the erosion of capitalism and democracy in Latin America, he said that their is nothing more worrisome than the longevity of liberal democracy being in the [...]

For years the Philippines has battled against radical Islamic insurgencies in Mindanao, and the recent bombings have further exacerbated the ethnic tensions behind this identity-based conflict.  At the same time, China is experiencing similar problems with their ethnic minorities.  For today’s post, we will draw on the expertise of Priscilla Tacujan, who holds a PhD [...]

UPDATE:  One of our readers made a great point, about whether or not people are actually familiar with the Honduran constitution.  A few moments before I read this comment, I had received an article by our friend - Eneas Biglione from HACER - which not only sources the Honduran constitution, but actually highlights the articles [...]

By the name of the title, you would think that the SFS program is going to host our own radio program.  I only wish!  Actually, this is the name of the new radio program by the Center for Security Policy, which will broadcast every weekday evening from 9-10pm on WTNT in Washington DC.
Secure Freedom Radio [...]

A week ago, I traveled to Kingston Ontario, Canada for a conference on Latin America titled “At Home in the Americas: Canada, the US and Hemispheric Security.” This was the fourth annual conference co-sponsored by the Queen’s Centre for International Relations, Royal Canadian Military, and the US Army War College. Skipping the conference presentations, which [...]

Not to harp too much more on the CEDICE event in Venezuela, but I just wanted to quickly share an image that pays homage to our President Alex Chafuen.  As a man that usually stays behind the scenes and thrives on the success of others, it was nice to see him getting some well deserved [...]

The key component of the  Think Tanks for a Secure Free Society mission is to promote the work of think tanks that “Engage in issues where economics intersects with security, intelligence, and defense.”   While this network is continually developing, we have been able to identify a handful of experts that are well versed in both [...]

For its 25th anniversary, CEDICE managed to host one of the largest gatherings of Latin American free market champions this year, all under the nose of the Chavez regime.  As expected, the Venezuelan dictator did not take kindly to this gathering and threatened to shut it down, and even detained famous writer - Mario Vargas [...]

Since the turn of the century, many in the foreign policy world have turned their attention to regions with immediate security challenges (e.g. Middle East, Horn of Africa, etc.).  In the meantime, the security environment in Latin America has steadily deteriorated as insurgency groups have resurfaced in Peru, drug cartels have dominated most of Central [...]