“Evidently, he [Osama bin Laden] doesn’t understand that a game of ‘Historical Grievances’ can cut two ways.”

The Mackenzie Newsletter #55 (January 2004)

 "A country that does not respect the rights of its own people will not respect the rights of its neighbours."

Andrei Sakharov, quoted in Natan Sharansky with Ron Dermer The Case for Democracy

"We must understand the difference between fear societies and free societies, between dictators and democrats. We must understand the link between democracy and peace and between human rights and security. Above all, we must bring back moral clarity so that we may draw on the power of free individuals, free nations, and the free world for the enormous challenges ahead."

Natan Sharansky’s “Preface” in Natan Sharansky with Ron Dermer The Case for Democracy

"Let’s just say the alarm-bell ringers have a very good track record of being right, and those who dismiss them have a very good track record of being wrong."

John Thompson of the Mackenzie Institute (re warnings about Naziism, Communism etc.), quoted by Donna Jacobs in Ottawa Citizen Dec. 17 2001

"The important borders during the Cold War were seen as those that separated capitalists from communists, Americans from Soviets, East from West. But not to dissidents. Of course, more than anyone else, we were painfully aware of these fault lines because we often paid the price for crossing them… Still, while the fault lines framed the larger geopolitical and ideological contours of the superpower face-off, they failed to capture what for many of us was an even more important threshold – a border that did not separate the world as it was, but rather as it might be. On one side stood those who were prepared to confront evil. On the other stood those who were prepared to appease it."

Natan Sharansky with Ron Dermer, The Case for Democracy

In my latest National Post column I say the recent cruise missile attack on Syrian chemical weapons sites sent all too clear a message... of weakness.

The book "A Right to Arms", companion volume to our 2016 documentary on Canadians' historic right to self-defence, is now available through my online store. Click here to order a copy.

In my latest National Post column I say justified dismay at school shootings shouldn't prevent us from thinking clearly about what will or won't help stop them.