Showing 21 - 30 of 46
Forced schooling of Mongolians driven by fear
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/09/2020
» 'Residential schools" were a common feature of European settler societies (except New Zealand) until quite late in the 20th century, and their purpose was not just to educate but to "deracinate" their aboriginal pupils: to cut them off from their roots. The Chinese government would reject the analogy with its last breath, but it is now doing the same thing.
Look at history, Syrian sanctions won't end war
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 27/06/2020
» Last week the US imposed new sanctions on Syria: a "sustained campaign of economic and political pressure" to end the nine-year war by forcing President Bashar al-Assad to UN-brokered peace talks where he would negotiate his departure from power. Mr Assad's wife was already cross about not being able to shop at Harrod's or Bergdorf Goodman, so he should crumble any day now.
A glimpse of the looming migrant 'Armageddon'
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 06/03/2020
» Turkey has opened the floodgates, and soon Europe will be drowning in immigrants. "Hundreds of thousands have crossed," Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed on television, "and soon it will reach millions." And it must be true because you can see it live on your medium of choice.
Is the Wuhan 'devil virus' a 'black swan'?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/02/2020
» China officially went back to work on Monday, after an extended two-week Lunar New Year holiday, while the authorities struggled to get the spread of the new coronavirus under control. But a lot of Chinese are not going back to work yet, and the spread of the "devil virus" (as President Xi Jinping called it) is manifestly not under control.
Turkey's anxious Erdogan takes on the world
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 06/02/2020
» Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not an "Islamist", in the extreme sense of the word. He doesn't wear a suicide vest, he doesn't behead people, he doesn't even go around holding one finger up in the air to signify his hatred of those who fail to acknowledge the One True God. But he certainly does like the Islamists a lot.
The Middle East: Winners and losers
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 30/10/2019
» The death of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi serves as a symbolic full stop to the many civil wars that have engulfed Syria in the past eight years, although Baghdadi was not personally in charge of anything by the time he died. The outcome of all those wars was already becoming clear, and it is the Russians and Bashar al-Assad who have won.
Hong Kong: It's purely symbolic
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 02/08/2019
» The anti-government demonstrations in Hong Kong are now eight weeks old and still going strong, but the level of violence is rising.
South Africa poll won't be 'pivotal'
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/05/2019
» All the major contenders in tomorrow's elections in South Africa held their closing rallies last weekend, and some striking things were said. As usual, Julius "Juju" Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters party (EFF), won the prize for the most inflammatory statement.
A journalist's funeral in Ireland reignites deadly past
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 26/04/2019
» On Wednesday, the Taoiseach (prime minister) of the Republic of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, and Prime Minister Theresa May of the United Kingdom, both showed up in Belfast in Northern Ireland for the funeral of a young woman called Lyra McKee. So did the president of the Republic, Michael Higgins and UK opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn. It's quite possible that none of them had even heard of her a week ago.
Welcome back to the Troubles?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 15/03/2019
» The other Europeans are not laughing at the English for the most part. They are looking at them with pity and scorn. But also with a great deal of impatience.