Showing 1 - 9 of 9
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.
The Trump melodrama: Relief is at hand
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 22/08/2025
» Nobody had been bothering for the past three years, but then along came Donald Trump, determined to shape a "peace deal" between two countries about which he knows little and cares less. Why? Just to win a bauble called the Nobel Peace Prize, because Barack Obama got it first and that wasn't fair.
FGM and the need for Islamic scholars
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 20/07/2024
» There was a small victory in The Gambia this week when a proposed law to legalise female genital mutilation (FGM) was defeated by human rights campaigners. It was quite a small victory, however, because the great majority of little girls in The Gambia are still being mutilated by the professional "cutters" who move from village to village.
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.
Napoleon and world history: What if...?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/05/2021
» Napoleon Bonaparte doesn't come up much in conversation these days, which is hardly surprising given that he has been dead for two centuries. On the other hand, today will be exactly 200 years since he died, so maybe we could make an exception just this once.
Myanmar's saint who lost her way
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 06/11/2020
» Almost completely obscured by the blanket global coverage of the US election, they are having one in Myanmar too. The outcome is even more a foregone conclusion, although in this case it will confirm the existing government in power. But it is only by condoning a great crime that democracy there survives.
When English turkeys vote for Christmas
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/12/2019
» Down on the turkey farm, the Scottish and Irish birds noticed that the smiling man in the festive costume was holding a hatchet behind his back, and hid. The Welsh turkeys looked confused and huddled together squawking. But the English turkeys marched bravely up to the chopping block, confident that this would be a Christmas to remember.
The Brexit cult is proving dangerous for Britain
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 06/07/2019
» Oscar Wilde described fox-hunting as "the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible". Brexit may be similarly defined as the unhinged in pursuit of the infeasible.
No universal health care is America's loss
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/07/2018
» Nothing is perfect, and that definitely includes health care. On the 70th anniversary of the first full-coverage national health care system that is "free at the point of delivery", Britain's National Health Service, English people have been marching in the streets demanding better funding for the NHS, and Donald Trump naturally got the wrong end of the stick again.