Showing 81 - 90 of 90
Brazil picks up pieces after Rousseff's fall
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 09/09/2016
» On Tuesday former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff left the presidential palace in Brasilia and boarded a plane for her adopted home city of Porto Alegre. She leaves behind a successor who risks indictment for far worse offences than the ones that brought her down, and a country that has lost its right to a place among the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) association.
'Solar Impulse' represents the future for aeroplanes
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 27/07/2016
» As I write this, Solar Impulse is already in the air on the last 48-hour leg of its remarkable journey: the first round-the world flight by an aircraft that uses no fuel except sunlight. By the time you read it, pilot Bertrand Piccard will probably have landed in Abu Dhabi, to global acclaim. And you can't help wondering: is this the future of flight?
Imagination: President Trump in power
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 22/07/2016
» Let us suppose that it is July 2017. Let us suppose that Donald Trump, nominated as the Republican candidate for the US presidency exactly a year ago, won the November election -- quite narrowly, perhaps, but the polls are certainly suggesting that such a thing is possible. So he was inaugurated six months ago, and has started to put his campaign promises into effect.
Wrecked Iraq a symbol of stupidity
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 11/07/2016
» "Suppose that... the Iraqis feel ambivalent about being invaded and real Iraqis, not (just) Saddam's special guard, decide to offer resistance," wrote British prime minister Tony Blair to US president George W Bush in December 2001, two years before the US and the UK invaded Iraq. At least Mr Blair had some doubts, but neither man could really imagine that the Iraqis would see them as conquerors, not liberators.
Macedonia's 'Colourful Revolution'
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/06/2016
» Abstract expressionism is no longer cutting-edge art in most places, but in one country it is enjoying a massive popular revival: Macedonia. The artists are at work day and night in the capital, Skopje, decorating public buildings and statues with splatters of every colour in the rainbow in a style clearly inspired by Jackson Pollock.
Age of technology will need universal basic income
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 08/06/2016
» In a referendum on Sunday, Swiss voters rejected a proposal for a guaranteed annual income for everybody by an overwhelming 78% majority. But the idea was not crazy, and it is not going to go away.
Time for war on Zika ahead of Olympics
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 02/06/2016
» In the past, the only excuse for cancelling the Olympic Games has been a world war.But if this year's Games had been scheduled for somewhere in West Africa two years ago, when the Ebola outbreak was nearing its peak, they would certainly have been called off. So should the Olympic Games scheduled to begin in Rio de Janeiro on Aug 5 be cancelled, moved or postponed?
Property in Iraq fuelled by dirty money
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 04/05/2016
» Property prices in central Baghdad are as high as London's, even though Iraq's national income is down by 70% since the collapse in the oil price. Islamic State's (IS) bombs regularly devastate parts of the capital, and still the real estate market booms. Why?
EU-Turkey migrant deal bound to fail
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/04/2016
» Next Monday, the deal made between the European Union and Turkey to stem the flood of refugees into the EU goes into effect. It will promptly blow up in everybody's face, for three reasons.
Dark side of cosmetics industry is beyond the pale
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/01/2016
» Last week, a Thai cosmetics company called Seoul Secret launched a new beauty product, Snowz, and got locally famous Thai actress Cris Horwang to appear in the promotional video. She starts out white, and explains: “In my world there is tough competition. If I don’t take care of myself, everything I have built, the whiteness I have invested in, could be gone.”