Showing 1 - 10 of 59
The case of the disappearing senior generals
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 10/02/2026
» Armies can be used against both against foreigners abroad and against citizens at home, but the two roles require quite different equipment and tactics. The same applies to their commanders: you need a different kind of general if you think that the primary task of their troops will be controlling dissent at home.
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.
Donald Trump buys time with weapons for Kyiv
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 18/07/2025
» There was rejoicing when US President Donald Trump announced that he was going to let Ukraine have weapons after all, but it was conspicuously contained joy. Half-smiles and sighs of relief were plentiful; cheers were absent or faked.
Clear danger as war in Europe is in the air
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 10/06/2025
» 'There is a clear, present risk, particularly as Vladimir Putin does see himself as being at war with the West. The homeland is again (in peril)...Air and missile attacks will potentially cause civilian casualties (in the United Kingdom) in very large numbers." Therefore, concludes Gen Sir Richard Barrons, the UK needs to bring back air raid sirens and air raid drills.
Farewell Nato: The late, great military alliance
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/03/2025
» The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) retired to its sickbed as soon as Donald Trump won the presidential election last November. It finally died last Friday in the White House, when Mr Trump and Vice-President JD Vance launched a vicious attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before the massed cameras of the American media.
First as tragedy, then as farce: that's Trump
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/03/2025
» Hegel wrote that "all great world-historic facts and personages appear twice." It was Karl Marx who said that Hegel forgot to add that these repeating events happen "first as tragedy, then as farce." You know, like Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump.
Will there be a ceasefire in Ukraine now?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 15/02/2025
» It's taking Donald Trump a little longer than the 24 hours he said he would need to end Russia's war in Ukraine, but his 90-minute phone call with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday comes as no surprise.
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'."
Global warming and the burning issue of money
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/11/2024
» It's hard to imagine a less plausible venue for the annual UN-sponsored conference on climate than the dictatorial petrostate of Azerbaijan. Baku, the capital, has a walled medieval centre that's worth a day or two, but offshore the shallow Caspian Sea is littered with a century's worth of old and new oil wells.
Age begins to show for Chinese Communists
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 08/10/2024
» 'No one can stop the wheel of history," said China's President Xi Jinping on the recent 75th anniversary of the day when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proclaimed the creation of the People's Republic of China. And the wheel is indeed still turning -- but that may not be good news for the fourth-generation heirs of that revolution.