Showing 1 - 10 of 10
Iran: Drought, incompetence, revolution?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 22/11/2025
» Twenty years of strict sanctions on Iran by both the United States and the United Nations did not bring down the regime of the ayatollahs. Half a dozen major waves of non-violent protest involving several thousand deaths have not brought it down either. Even last June's massive bombing campaign by Israel and the US did not bring it to heel.
Theatre of white refugees from South Africa
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/05/2025
» As my flight landed in South Africa on Sunday, I looked in vain for the plane that was due to take off with the first 49 white, Afrikaans-speaking "refugees" of the many thousands who are supposedly going to find safety from racist persecution in Donald Trump's United States.
We don't need to kill animals for food
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 24/09/2024
» A bit behind the curve (it was first posted last April), I have stumbled across "The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness".
Clock is ticking for Armenians in Karabakh
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 12/09/2023
» The Armenians are a people of great antiquity -- the first Armenian kingdom was in the 8th century BC -- but they grew up in a tough neighbourhood, and they have been in retreat for a very long time.
Can insurance come to our climate rescue?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 09/06/2023
» California's fall from grace has been steep and swift, and now even the insurance companies are pulling out. The two biggest American home insurance companies, State Farm and Allstate, announced last week that they will stop selling insurance policies to Californians. Why? Climate change-related wildfires are making it too risky to insure Californian houses.
Climate change salvation in a vat
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 09/12/2020
» We are putting a final end to the fossil era," said Denmark's climate minister, Dan Jorgensen, last week. What he meant was that the European Union's biggest oil and gas producer is officially getting out of the petrochemical business after 80 years.
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 Great Dying, the Little Ice Age, and little old us
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 06/02/2019
» The Black Death killed about 30% of the European population in a few years in the middle of the 14th century. A century and a half later the native people of the Americas were hit by half a dozen plagues as bad as the Black Death, one after another, and 95% of them died. The plagues of the "Great Dying" had much less terrifying names like measles, influenza, diphtheria and smallpox, but they were just as efficient at killing.
Migrants: The borders are closing
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 21/06/2018
» There are actually fewer migrants crossing the Mediterranean and landing in European Union countries this year than in any other recent year: only 37,000 so far, although the flow will increase with good summer weather. But they are nevertheless the "last straw" as far as some EU countries are concerned. Patience is running out.
The Putin factor and Russia's future
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 23/02/2018
» Why wait another month to report on the Russian election when we can wrap it up right now? Vladimir Putin is going to win another six years in power by a landslide -- probably between 60% and 70% of the vote. The real question is what happens after that, because he will be 72 by the end of his next term and will not legally be allowed to run for president again.