Well, this is kind of crazy. The RCMP has arrested four members of the Canadian Armed Forces.(CAF) on terrorism (and related) charges. The four Quebec squaddies diverted a huge number of guns, ammo, grenades, night-vision goggles and laser-sighters, etc, in an unprecedented ideologically-motivated plot by extemist army members to form an "anti-government militia" and take over some land in the Quebec City area. I'm not entirely sure how this qualifies as "terrorism", but I'll take that on trust.
These guys apparently held their own military-style training exercises - shooting, ambushing, survival and navigation - and there are even some awkward posed photos of at least some of them holding their oversized guns on social media. It's rather cute in some ways - like a group of boys playing at soldiers, except these ARE soldiers, and the weapons are real. Two of the four are current active CAF members.
It's thought they have ties with some pretty shadowy extreme right-wing groups. For example, there is a Facebook group called the "Blue Hackle Mafia", which boasts many members of the CAF, and which features "racist, misogynistic, homophobic and antisemitic comments and images", and there is speculation that the four would-be revolutionaries are also involved in various white supremacist groups.
But it was the detail about their plans to "forcibly take possession of land in the Quebec City area" that struck me most. It seemed like such a modest goal. And what would they do there? Hold military parades? Farm it? They apparently wanted to set up an "anti-government community" north of Quebec, which sounds rather quaint, like a hippy commune or something.
You just have this feeling that they didn't quite think it all the way through. The whole thing seems equal parts scary and hilarious.