Rex Brynen

(War)gaming Canadian Security in an Era of Strategic Uncertainty

"Triumph through Diversity" memorial, Parliament Hill, Ottawa. The Connections North 2026 professional (war)gaming conference will be held at the National Capital Region Officers’ Mess, Ottawa on 14 March 2026. The theme this year…

Danielle Smith uses notwithstanding clause to declare herself premier of B.C. Prime Minister Mark Carney disagrees with the concept of a premier of one province unilaterally taking over a different province but his hands are tied by his unwillingness to do anything about it.

Danielle Smith uses notwithstanding clause to declare herself premier of B.C.

Bridging theory, practice, and pressure: CNN Academy’s humanitarian health journalism simulation

This article was written for PAXsims by Zinzi Sibanda a BA(Hons) student in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge and a member of the CNN Academy simulation team. The report below reflects…

Save the date: Connections North 2026

We are pleased to be able to announce that the Connections North 2026 professional (war)gaming conference will be held at the National Capital Region Officers’ Mess at 149 Somerset St West in Ottawa on Saturday 14th March 2026. A more complete announcement…

INVESTIGATING ATROCITY: Military Observers in Carana

INVESTIGATING ATROCITY: Military Observers in Carana is a new online (browser) serious game, launched today. Walter Dorn (Royal Military College and Canadian Defence College) writes: I am delighted to announce that, after five years of effort, a…

Masked ICE agents put damper on Oak Park Girl Scout food drive: ‘It’s heartbreaking as a mom’ Federal immigration agents were confronted in Oak Park on Saturday morning by residents blowing whistles as local Girl Scouts collect food for local pantries, rattling some girls and their parents.

Girl Scouts in a Chicago Suburb hosted a food drive. But the girls encountered masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with weapons.

"ICE turned it into a scary and what felt like an unsafe environment for us to be out with these kids"

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

It blows my mind that there are real people who see a post like this and actually believe the whole “Christmas is being cancelled by Muslims” BS 🙄

Let’s have a quick look at what’s happening to Sheffield so you can put your Express reading uncle’s mind at ease!😆

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94th MORS Symposium

Registration is now open for the Military Operations Research Society’s 94th Symposium: Sharpening Our Analytical Edge, taking place 8–11 June 2026 in Colorado Springs.

Simulation & Gaming (December 2025)

The latest issue of Simulation & Gaming 56, 6 (December 2025) is now available. Editorial Leveraging Gamification to Foster Diversity and Inclusion in Healthcare Marlies P. Schijven and Toshiko Kikkawa Research Articles An Innovative Approach to Addressing…

CEASEFIRE! peace game launch (November 7)

From Rebecca Sutton (University of Glasgow): Please join us for a launch event that is taking place at 2 pm GMT on Friday 7 November 2025, both online and in-person at the University of Glasgow. We will be launching the CEASEFIRE! peace game, which is a 2D…

Wargaming in China: The Coming Wave

The following article was written for PAXsims by Louis “Cornell” Fuka. He is the lead wargame designer and analyst at SURVICE Engineering, specializing in developing educational and digital wargames. Previously, he served as an artillery officer in the U.S.…

Wargames 24 video reports on “Wargaming as an Analytical and Training Tool in Military and Civilian Environments” conference

On October 14–15, 2025, the Polish Military University of Land Forces organized a conference on "Wargaming as an Analytical and Training Tool in Military and Civilian…

Emergent Approaches to Combined Arms Manoeuvre in Ukraine (and wargaming)

SOURCE: Watling, Emergent Approaches to Combined Arms Manoeuvre in Ukraine (RUSI, 2023). As we noted back in December 2023, many Ukrainian officers have not found wargaming to be especially useful for operational…

Perun on a NATO ACT cross-domain command wargame

On his YouTube channel, Australian military commentator Perun describes a recent NATO ACT wargame in which he took part. He includes some excellent comments on the strength and weaknesses of the game, so it is well worth a watch.

Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People

Only whites need to apply ... "Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People" www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

Registration is open for the inaugural conference for the Diamond-Brown Chair in Democratic Studies!

"From Democratic Resilience to Recession: Global and Canadian Perspectives on Authoritarian Backsliding."

alumni.mcgill.ca/aoc/events-t...

Agreed (this came up in my seminar today too).

Digital Literacy Games – deepfakestracker.org Digital Literacy Games – A curated list of educational games to test your ability to identify deepfakes and develop digital literacy skills.  Creating Disinformation Games Cat Park Players are challen...

If you are an educator, here's our curated list of educational games to help improve your students' ability to identify deepfakes and develop digital literacy skills. deepfakestracker.org/digital-lite... More games will be added later this fall.

Aggro-Cultural Warfare

The following article was written for PAXsims by Kristen Bishop, a Research Staff Member for the Strategy, Forces and Resources Division at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA). She received a Ph.D. in Plant Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.…

Connections Oz 2025

The Connections Oz professional wargaming conference will take place online on 12-13 November 2025. For more information, or if you would like to propose a presentation, visit the website above.

CNN Academy is sending journalists to Brynania, a fictional country created at McGill - McGill Reporter Learning simulation, invented by Professor Rex Brynen and his students, puts participants into realistic situations and allows them to learn from their mistakes

reporter.mcgill.ca/cnn-academy-...

Over two decades, some two thousand or more McGill political science students took part in the annual POLI 450 peacebuilding simulation. Now it’s gone global—in part, due to McGill political science alumni. @rexbrynen.bsky.social

MORS Certificate in Wargaming (November 2025)

The next Military Operations Research Society Certificate in Wargaming course will take place online on 17–21 November 2025. This five-day, online program is one of the only opportunities outside of government or academia to gain practical, high-level…

CNN Academy is sending journalists to Brynania, a fictional country created at McGill - McGill Reporter Learning simulation, invented by Professor Rex Brynen and his students, puts participants into realistic situations and allows them to learn from their mistakes

Today’s CNN Academy simulations build on more than two decades of peacebuilding simulation at McGill University @mcgillpolisci.bsky.social reporter.mcgill.ca/cnn-academy-...

Quite something that Hegseth is twice as unpopular as the pro-disease guy.

"This is a photograph of the alien from the movie Alien..."

gizmodo.com/senator-says...

www.crisisgroup.org/rss.xml

Shifting Sands matrix game

Shifting Sands is a matrix game developed by James Hood and Chris Hunt at Assiniboine College. For the Environmental Legislation course, the Shifting Sands matrix game provides an interactive opportunity for students to evaluate the environmental, social, economic, and…

Games for Cities

Games for Cities is a five day training programme that will be held weekly in Amsterdam from 25 September to 30 October 2025. In this five-day training, you will learn how to develop and strategically apply games to address complex spatial and societal challenges. Drawing on…

Wargames Suisse Connections 2025

Switzerland gets its first Connections wargaming conference, on 20-21 September 2025 in Pully and Lausanne, Switzerland. Full details below. Wargame Connections Suisse_WCS25_Flyer_V1.1Download

Armchair Dragoons: Connection US AAR

At Armchair Dragoons, Aaron Danis has written a report on the recent Connections (US) 2025 interdisciplinary wargaming conference: Connections 2025! (Part I) Professional meets Commercial Wargaming Connections 2025! (Part II) Professional meets Commercial…