Showing 1 - 6 of 6
Prigozhin and the aftermath of Russian folly
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 30/06/2023
» 'I said to Putin: 'We could waste [Prigozhin], no problem. If not on the first try, then on the second.' I told him: 'Don't do this'," said Aleksander Lukashenko, long-ruling dictator of Belarus, clearly delighted at having upstaged his arrogant Russian counterpart. The worm had turned, and it was the Russian dictator who needed help.
In Iran, all options to curb crisis are bad
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/10/2022
» 'Death to [fill in the blank]!" has been the slogan of choice chanted by Iranian protesters since the glory days of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. ("Death to the Shah!", "Death to America!", etc) It's now forty-three years later, however, and the content has become a bit more nuanced.
Khashoggi and MBS's blunderers
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/03/2021
» If Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, were a burglar, he wouldn't be George Clooney in Ocean's Eleven. He'd be a cartoon burglar in a carnival mask and a top with black-and-white horizontal stripes, carrying a sack labelled "SWAG".
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.
Pompeo's Israel visit was to push for annexation
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 15/05/2020
» Israel's new two-headed government, with Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister, was supposed to be sworn in on Wednesday. Then suddenly the inauguration was postponed by one day to accommodate a quick visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. What brought Mr Pompeo so far for so short a time?
Reopening our economies is a balancing act
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 18/04/2020
» Wuhan, the Chinese city where it all started, was locked down for 79 days before the restrictions on movement were finally lifted last week. A bit over-cautious, perhaps, but in China the coronavirus does really seem to be under control -- not totally eradicated, but controllable without extreme measures.