Showing 1 - 10 of 12
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.
Sudan: Thieves fall out and the people suffer
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 18/04/2023
» It's a pity that both sides can't lose in the war that broke out between rival generals in Sudan on Saturday, but the best that the 48 million Sudanese can hope for now is that one side loses quickly. Beyond that, it's all bad: the rival generals both want to strangle the democratic revolution that began in Khartoum four years ago.
Which way for Malaysia under Anwar Ibrahim?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 02/12/2022
» If Anwar Ibrahim had become prime minister of Malaysia in the late 1990s, when he was in his early 50s, instead of being jailed on trumped-up sodomy and corruption charges, Malaysia might now be a very different place. He's finally getting his chance, but now he's 75. Is it too late for the kind of Malaysia he promised?
Vinland history: a question of dates, timing
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 28/11/2022
» 'If the 20th century AD were dated at the same resolution as the 20th century BC, the two World Wars would be indistinguishable in time; and the Montgomery Bus Strike might post-date the release of Mandela." So wrote the Exact Chronology of Early Societies' (ECHOES) team of palaeohistorians at Groningen University in the northern Netherlands -- and then they fixed the problem.
Apocalypse may be just around the corner
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/09/2022
» Which would be worse: a global nuclear war with all buttons pressed, or real, self-conscious artificial intelligence that goes rogue? You know, the central theme of the Terminator movies.
Afghanistan faces famine, it can't be ignored
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 18/02/2022
» Because the Taliban have been designated as "terrorists", it is possible for the United States not only to embargo American aid and trade to Afghanistan, but also to block or at least seriously hinder efforts by other countries to send humanitarian aid. As a result, more than half the country's people -- 23 million at last count -- are suddenly near starvation.
Recycled wars of benighted Afghanistan
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 18/08/2021
» In the year 2000, five years after the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, nobody elsewhere cared what happened in that land-locked, benighted country. It was ruled by angry rural fanatics who tormented the local people with their demented rules for proper "Islamic" behaviour, but it was not a military or diplomatic priority for anybody.
UFOs: The Silly Season is coming early
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 12/06/2021
» Normally it happens in August, when wicked people all over the northern hemisphere temporarily stop doing evil things to take their children to the beach and enjoy the last of the summer. With no bad news to report, desperate journalists will run any story, however silly.
Major powers' defence budgets are indefensible
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 04/01/2021
» The recent war between Armenia and Azerbaijan made sense, in an old-fashioned way. The dispute was about territory -- borders that were drawn almost a century ago by a Russian dictator, Joseph Stalin -- and Azerbaijan had lost the last war and a lot of land.
What the virus is telling us about climate change
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 29/05/2020
» Human beings respond well to a crisis that is familiar, especially if it is also imminent. They don't do nearly as well when the threat is unfamiliar and still apparently quite distant. Consider our response to the current coronavirus threat.