Showing 1 - 8 of 8
Surviving the collapse of the population
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 13/02/2026
» 'To them that hath shall [more] be given" is generally a reliable guide, especially in economic matters, but it doesn't work if the beneficiaries are too stupid to take advantage of the gift. The scarce and precious commodity in this case being people, who are in increasingly short supply.
Kingdom of Denmark vs the Shadow Fleet
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/10/2025
» Back in the 16th and 17th centuries, two-thirds of the Danish kingdom's income came from taxes paid by every ship passing through the Øresund ('The Sound') Strait, the only exit from the Baltic Sea. Each ship had to declare its cargo -- and if the Danes thought they were undervaluing it, Denmark had the right to buy it at the declared price.
Could Ukraine actually end up winning?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 30/09/2025
» Last February, Donald Trump and his heir apparent JD Vance launched a televised frontal attack on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House, telling him that Ukraine had "no cards". Mr Zelensky should let Russia keep the conquered territories (about 20% of Ukraine) in return for peace.
Early extinction of fossil fuels a risk in itself
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 20/12/2021
» The "new normal", said International Energy Agency spokesperson Heymi Bahar last May, may be a far faster expansion of renewable energy than expected, driven mainly by market forces. So fast, in fact, that it raises a different kind of risk (but he didn't mention that).
Lebanon was cursed even before the blast
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 13/08/2020
» Beirut has been living with car bombs and air raids on a sporadic but continuing basis for so long that it would probably make sense to rebuild this time with shatterproof glass. The torrent of broken glass falling from a thousand shattered buildings probably accounted for half the 158 dead found so far in Beirut and certainly for most of the 6,000 wounded.
Coronavirus response reveals China's fatal weakness
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 28/01/2020
» In an emergency, the good thing about a dictatorship is that it can respond very fast. The bad thing is that it won't respond at all until the dictator-in-chief says that it should. All the little dictators who flourish in this sort of system won't risk their positions by passing bad news up the line until the risk of being blamed for delay outweighs the risk of being blamed for the emergency in the first place.
How to solve two converging crises
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 27/08/2019
» Maybe we can get through the climate crisis without a global catastrophe, although that door is closing fast. And maybe we can cope with the huge loss of jobs caused by the revolution in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) without a social and political calamity.
Lula barred from fighting for presidency
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/09/2018
» On Sunday, Brazil's top electoral court ruled that "Lula", former president Luiz Inácio da Silva, cannot run in the presidential election this October.