Showing 1 - 10 of 49
Too long in power a bad idea for leaders
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/07/2025
» Leading an entire country for a few years is a steep learning curve, but it's useful experience. Being in power for a dozen years makes most leaders arrogant and careless, but some remain more or less functional. Being in power for more than 30 years just makes you stupid. Consider Cambodia's Hun Sen and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Weaponising data against democracy
News, Published on 17/02/2025
» For those who have witnessed the shock-and-awe tactics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the past decade, the events unfolding in the United States since Donald Trump returned to the White House evoke a sense of déjà vu. In India, we have learned the hard way: authoritarian leaders are often far more dangerous in their second term than in their first.
Nuclear warning
Oped, Postbag, Published on 18/01/2025
» Re: "New plan prepares for nuclear power", (Business, Jan 14).
S Korea sets a good example
Oped, Editorial, Published on 07/12/2024
» As a country frequently plagued with military interventions, Thailand has many lessons to learn from the recent political upheaval in South Korea, which reveals a case of democracy at work.
Reformist candidate wins Iran’s presidential election
New York Times, Published on 06/07/2024
» TEHRAN - In an election upset in Iran, the reformist candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian, who advocated for moderate policies at home and improved relations with the West, won the presidential runoff election, beating his hard-line rival, the Ministry of Interior said on Saturday morning.
Blinken labels China's Uyghur treatment 'genocide' in US report
South China Morning Post, Published on 23/04/2024
» United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlighted Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang region as victims of "genocide and crimes against humanity" while launching the State Department's annual human rights report on Monday, days before he is expected to meet senior officials in Beijing.
Democracies can win tech race
Oped, Published on 04/04/2024
» The world is on the precipice of a technological cold war. As authoritarian regimes develop new digital tools that endanger open societies and threaten democratic values, the West must decide whether to compete or concede. Today, the battle for freedom is being fought in Ukraine; but the frontline could one day be in Taiwan, a global technology hub, producing the world's most advanced microchips, and a flourishing democracy less than 160 kilometres off the coast of China, which seems bent on annexing the island.
Polls no panacea
Oped, Postbag, Published on 17/02/2024
» Re: "The perils of too much democracy", (Editorial, Feb 10).
Why Turkey's Erdogan continues to be triumphant
Oped, Published on 20/05/2023
» It is hard not to be disappointed about the outcome of the first round of Turkey's presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday. In a campaign defined by the aftermath of February's huge earthquake, mounting economic problems and deepening corruption, hopes were high that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian 20-year rule would end. Some polls suggested that the six-party opposition led by the centre-left Kemal Kilicdaroglu, from the Republican People's Party (CHP), would be able to win a majority or, at the very least, enter the second round with an advantage over Mr Erdogan.
Thailand shut out of US democracy summit again
Published on 29/03/2023
» WASHINGTON: Thailand has once more been excluded from US President Joe Biden’s second “Summit for Democracy”, where he is expected to pledge $700 million in funds and a joint alliance against surveillance technology as US concern mounts over China and Russia.