Showing 1 - 10 of 205
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.)
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.
Who is next for the United States?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 12/01/2026
» The Crazy Gang are high on the "brilliant success" of their Venezuela caper and looking for new targets. Like Alexander the Great, US President Donald Trump weeps because there are no more worlds to conquer. But wait! Actually, there are still lots of places to conquer.
Somaliland: Mixed motivations
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/01/2026
» Last week Israel was the first country in the world to establish diplomatic relations with Somaliland. Not Somalia, a wreck of a country on the East African coast that has been mired in civil war for the past thirty-five years, but Somaliland, a different country just north of there that has been peaceful, relatively prosperous and even democratic for all those years.
Venezuela: Performative purging
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 09/12/2025
» 'If you're on a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl or whatever, headed to the United States, you're an immediate threat to the United States," said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week. So it's perfectly reasonable for the US armed forces to kill everybody on that boat (including a "double tap" on any survivors in the water).
World leaders are destroying the rule of law
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/12/2025
» Russia's "big concession is they stop fighting, and they don't take any more land," US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, when asked what Russia was conceding in the thinly disguised surrender document he was trying to shove down Ukrainian throats. He truly is a 19th-century man at heart.
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.
Jane Goodall and the chimp wars
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 11/10/2025
» Jane Goodall died last week, still on the road at the age of 91 and still advocating for biodiversity in general and the welfare of chimpanzees in particular. She was a hero to me and millions of others for her courage, her wisdom and her compassion. She was also one of the greatest self-taught scientists in history.
Here's a taste of things to come in the US
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 02/10/2025
» 'Predictions are hard, especially about the future' (Danish proverb), but still we make them, especially when we care about the future. Here are some about the future of the United States in the next three and a bit years, expressed as probabilities, although you should not trust the numbers.
Symbolic acts won't create a real Palestine
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/09/2025
» Ten more countries are recognising Palestine as a sovereign state in the course of this week. That brings the total up from 147 to 157. It's a big deal to an extent because for the first time it includes quite a few big, rich Western countries (France, the UK, Canada and Australia). But it is not unified, and it still controls no territory.