Showing 61 - 70 of 90
No real choice in Nigerian election
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 22/02/2019
» Lengthy delays before announcing the results of African elections are commonplace (the Democratic Republic of Congo last month, Zimbabwe last July, etc.). It just means that people voted the wrong way, and the government needs time to re-arrange the results before publishing them. Postponing the vote at the last moment is much less common, and not so easy to explain.
Bangladesh returns to 1-party state
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/01/2019
» It always looks bad when the ruling party jails the opposition leader just a few months before the election. If only Khaleda Zia, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had decided to boycott this election like she did the last one, she'd probably still be a free woman. But she decided to run, and so was sentenced to jail time on various implausible corruption charges.
Is Pakistan's dilemma self-defeating?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/11/2018
» 'India is shrinking the flow of water into Pakistan," said Pakistan's Chief Justice Saqib Nisar on Saturday, renewing a ban on showing Indian TV shows and Bollywood films on Pakistani television. "They are trying to [obstruct the construction] of our dam and we cannot even close their [television] channels?"
Gay rights and trends in global culture
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 12/09/2018
» Is there really such a thing as a global culture? Consider gay rights.
Is Aussie political madness catching?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 29/08/2018
» I happened to be in Canberra last Friday, speaking to a room full of journalists at the National Press Club, when the news came in, halfway through lunch, that Australia had a new prime minister. The moderator pointed out that the year is already two-thirds gone and it is "only three prime ministers till Christmas" -- and the China Daily's headline read "Australia changes its prime minister again, again, again, again, again".
America's trade war with China risks disastrous end
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 06/07/2018
» The United States could probably extract major concessions from China in a carefully managed confrontation on trading issues, because the Chinese don't want a trade war with their best export customer. But the US can't win the trade war that Donald Trump is planning to wage, and it kicks off today.
No universal health care is America's loss
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/07/2018
» Nothing is perfect, and that definitely includes health care. On the 70th anniversary of the first full-coverage national health care system that is "free at the point of delivery", Britain's National Health Service, English people have been marching in the streets demanding better funding for the NHS, and Donald Trump naturally got the wrong end of the stick again.
Saudi Arabia is a populist dictatorship
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 27/06/2018
» Joy and pride among Saudi women who are at last allowed to drive. Delight in the car dealerships that anticipate a lot of new business. And dismay in the families of the 1.4 million chauffeurs, almost all from South Asia, who have been earning around US$1,000 (32,960 baht) a month driving Saudi women around. But it will take a lot more than this to change Saudi Arabia.
Ukraine's stagnant war back in focus
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/06/2018
» Four years into a stalemated war, it takes something very big or very bizarre to get Ukraine back into the headlines. Even the news in April that the United States has started delivering lethal weapons (Javelin anti-tank missiles) to Ukraine didn't do the trick, but the non-assassination of Arkady Babchenko last week did just fine.
EU's survival at risk if Italy decides to exit
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 23/05/2018
» From the European Union's (EU) point of view Brexit, the impending departure of the United Kingdom, is a pity but not a disaster. Britain never joined the euro, the common currency used by most EU members, and the English were always the awkward squad in the EU's march towards an "ever closer union". Whereas the defection of Italy could threaten the EU's survival.