Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Has Iran finally reached the end of the line?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 02/01/2025
» Six months ago, at the end of Iran's presidential election, I finished an article by speculating that the long-lived theocratic dictatorship in Iran may be a lot closer to its end than its beginning: "If you can plausibly say "This cannot go on forever", you are also saying "Some day this will come to an end'."
Israel-Hamas war can only be stopped by Biden
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 28/02/2024
» More than four months into the sixth Arab-Israeli War, with about 1,500 Israelis dead and 30,000 Palestinians dead, all the major local actors are stuck. Only the United States can stop the killing -- if it chooses to do so.
Syria: The rehabilitation of dictator Assad
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/05/2023
» There is no justice. Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator whose membership even the Arab League suspended 12 years ago, is off to Riyadh this week to celebrate his re-admission to the organisation. He will pay no price for his many crimes against humanity: the name of the game now is not retribution but 'rehabilitation'.
Sept 11 didn't change the world forever
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 11/09/2021
» 'Changed the world forever' is the most hackneyed phrase in journalism, and if you can get through this week (the 20th anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks) without hearing it half a dozen times you'll be very lucky.
Syria's suffered enough: End the sanctions
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/03/2021
» The Syrian civil war is 10 years old this week, and it's time to stop it. At least half a million Syrians are dead, a quarter of the pre-war population are refugees abroad, and another quarter are refugees inside Syria. Thirty percent of the country's housing stock is destroyed or badly damaged -- and we have known who won the war for at least four years now.
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.
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.
Whodunnit? Blame always goes to Iran
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/09/2019
» US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismissed the Houthi claim that the Yemeni rebel group had carried out Saturday's strike on two huge Saudi Arabian oil processing facilities. There was "no evidence" that the drones belonged to the Houthis, he said. Instead, he blamed Iran.
Could falling living standards fuel 2nd Arab Spring?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 09/03/2019
» The slogans of the "Arab Spring" are being heard again in the Arab world. "The people want the fall of the regime," chant the protesters in Sudan, where almost three months of popular demonstrations challenge the power of long-ruling dictator Omar al-Bashir. He acknowledges the parallels himself, condemning the demos as "an attempt to copy the so-called Arab spring for Sudan".
No real choice in Nigerian election
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 22/02/2019
» Lengthy delays before announcing the results of African elections are commonplace (the Democratic Republic of Congo last month, Zimbabwe last July, etc.). It just means that people voted the wrong way, and the government needs time to re-arrange the results before publishing them. Postponing the vote at the last moment is much less common, and not so easy to explain.