Showing 1 - 8 of 8
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.
Who is truly to blame for the crisis in Syria?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 11/03/2025
» 'They kidnapped; they killed; they humiliated; they kicked people out of jobs," explained an Alawite writer living in coastal Syria. "One way or another, this was going to happen."
Gaza ceasefire under pressure from all sides
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 21/01/2025
» In the 80 hours between Wednesday, Jan 15, when the Gaza ceasefire agreement was announced, and Sunday, Jan 19, when it went into effect, Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed 123 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children. The Israel Defence Force (IDF) said it had tried to avoid civilian casualties, but it had to kill the "terrorists" of Hamas wherever they were.
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.
The impact of Russia's latest war atrocities
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 11/04/2022
» Four years after the Soviet Army fought its way into Berlin in 1945, Moscow built a huge memorial in Treptower Park to the 80,000 Russian and other Soviet soldiers who died taking the city. (5,000 of them are actually buried in the park.) And Berliners instantly took to calling it the "Tomb of the Unknown Rapist".
3 wars, 2 truces: at least some hope out there
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/04/2022
» Two weeks ago, the three biggest wars in the world were in Ukraine, Ethiopia and Yemen. Now truces have silenced the guns and the air strikes in two of the three. They are only temporary truces so far, but there is a reasonable chance that they could grow into something more permanent.
Look at history, Syrian sanctions won't end war
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 27/06/2020
» Last week the US imposed new sanctions on Syria: a "sustained campaign of economic and political pressure" to end the nine-year war by forcing President Bashar al-Assad to UN-brokered peace talks where he would negotiate his departure from power. Mr Assad's wife was already cross about not being able to shop at Harrod's or Bergdorf Goodman, so he should crumble any day now.
The changing of Syria's demography
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/07/2018
» With the fall of Daraa last Friday, the end of Syria's civil war is within sight. What will Bashar al-Assad and his ruling Ba'ath Party do with their victory?