Showing 1 - 10 of 18
India election fuels nationalist sentiments
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/04/2024
» Extreme nationalism always looks foolish or even deranged to those who have not caught the virus, but in India it's now official.
Argentina must break its vicious political cycle
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 15/11/2023
» Bertolt Brecht lived in Germany, not in Argentina, and he has been dead longer than he was alive, but his famous question applies to the Argentine election next Sunday: "Would it not be simpler if the government dissolved the people and elected another?"
The whys and wherefores of expanding Brics
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 29/08/2023
» You can expand the curious organisation called the Brics, but you can't define it. In fact, it's hardly even an organisation: no headquarters, no secretariat. Even the (British) Commonwealth and la Francophonie have more substance: at least they share a former oppressor. Yet the Brics are expanding.
Is Najib Bukele the world's coolest dictator?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/08/2023
» 'It's not perfect, but it's good. We've done something really good here," said El Salvador's vice-president, Felix Ulloa, defending the government's no-quarter war against the street gangs that have dominated the Central American republic for decades. President Nayib Bukele agrees, calling himself "the instrument of God".
Beijing will use 'floggings' until morale improves
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/03/2023
» Xi Jinping was confirmed in a third term as president of China at the National People's Congress last week, and not one of the 3,000 delegates voted against him. Why would they? Everything is perfect in the People's Republic of Oz, and the chief Wizard doesn't even to need to hide behind a curtain.
After Merkel, who will fill her 'sensible shoes'?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/09/2021
» Last January Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) were ahead in the German opinion polls by 15 points. She was stepping down after 16 years as chancellor (prime minister), but she was still by far the most trusted politician in Germany. Indeed, she is universally known as "Mutti" ("Mummy").
Bodies will pile high indeed, Mr Johnson
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 21/07/2021
» 'Let the bodies pile high in their thousands," expostulated Boris Johnson in his private office, but the door was open and a number of witnesses heard him.
The Sheikh of Dubai and his two daughters
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 20/02/2021
» Dubai can be amusing, in a voyeuristic way, for a week or two. The tallest building in the world and the mall with the shark tank, but it's the people, really.
Vladimir Putin, Navalny and Thomas à Becket
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/08/2020
» In 20 years of writing about Russia's President Vladimir Putin -- he was completely obscure before 1999 -- I have never before had reason to mention him and Saint Thomas à Becket in the same sentence. Finally, however, the time has come.
Oil: Caught in the middle of a perfect storm
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 24/04/2020
» For the global oil industry, it has been a double whammy. First, a foolish price war between two of the world's three biggest producers, Russia and Saudi Arabia, drove the price per barrel down from almost US$70 (2,260 baht) in early January to under $50 in early March. They were fighting each other for market share, and they were also hoping that lower prices would kill off US shale oil, whose production costs are higher.