Showing 1 - 10 of 85
The fire this time is for US climate science
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 18/03/2026
» In 1953 Ray Bradbury, an American writer, published a book entitled simply Fahrenheit 451. It was a novel about an American fireman in a not-too-distant future who realised that he was doing his job all wrong -- because his job was to burn books, which were banned in that future America. (451°F is the temperature at which paper catches fire.)
What would happen if Khamenei falls?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/01/2026
» The demonstrations began again in Iran last week, only two years after the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement convulsed the country for months. However, the current protests are potentially much broader than that episode because they are driven by the collapse in Iran's currency, the rial (now 1,420,000 to the US dollar), and the explosive rise in the cost of living.
Another day, another massacre
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 08/11/2025
» The ceasefire in Gaza, however shaky, is freeing up some bandwidth for the world's media to fret about other ongoing massacres, and UN Secretary General António Guterres wasted no time in turning the spotlight on Sudan. "The horrifying crisis in Sudan … is spiralling out of control," he said on Monday -- but he didn't explain why.
Musk, Trump and Mao have a lot in common
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 11/07/2025
» The only place where some people still see Elon Musk as a political genius is China. "Brother Musk, you've got over a billion people on our side backing you," wrote a fan on Weibo, China's biggest social media site. "If Elon Musk were to found a political party," wrote another, "his tech-driven mindset could inject fresh energy into politics."
Long live the Dalai Lama, but who is next?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 08/07/2025
» The whole business of succession would be a lot simpler if the Dalai Lama could just regenerate, like Doctor Who -- a long-running British science fiction series. When the time comes for The Doctor to stop looking like David Tennant and start looking like Matt Smith, there's flame coming out of his head and gushing out of his sleeves, and then he explodes. When the smoke clears, there's the new Doctor.
Where shall we put all the Palestinians?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/06/2025
» Reckless people fling accusations of attempted genocide in Gaza at the Israeli coalition government and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) every day, but the scale of the operation is not remotely big enough to justify that word.
It's time to go geoengineering on climate issue
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/06/2025
» This is the second anniversary of the arrival of the emergency but practically nobody is mentioning it. Instead people are choosing to worry about more familiar problems like global trade wars, the rise of fascism and genocidal wars. It's kind of a global displacement activity: if we don't mention it, maybe it will go away.
Sudan's war and the Africa we don't see
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/04/2025
» Last Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: "Many have given up on Sudan, but that is wrong. It's morally wrong when we see so many civilians beheaded, infants as young as one subjected to sexual violence, more people facing famine than anywhere else in the world.... We simply cannot look away."
Who is truly to blame for the crisis in Syria?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 11/03/2025
» 'They kidnapped; they killed; they humiliated; they kicked people out of jobs," explained an Alawite writer living in coastal Syria. "One way or another, this was going to happen."
Feedback on climate – not in front of the kids
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/01/2025
» 'This does not mean the international +1.5ºC target has been broken because that refers to a long-term average over decades." If those carefully chosen words don't set your alarm bells ringing, you have not travelled much in the land of lawyers.