Showing 1 - 10 of 45
Iran war: One miscalculation after another
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 24/03/2026
» Still not four full weeks into the war, and already Donald Trump's "short-term excursion" -- decapitate the Iranian regime with a surprise attack and impose harsh terms on the defeated survivors -- has morphed into a global economic crisis and a region-wide war that could destroy the wealth of all the countries on both sides of the Gulf. At the very least.
Netanyahu's long game ensnares Trump
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/03/2026
» Donald Trump is caught in the trap that he helped to build, and he is starting to flail against his fate. His "war of choice", "Operation Epic Fury", was supposed to end in "unconditional surrender" by Tehran in just a few weeks, but if Mr Trump ever had a plan beyond "use massive force", it isn't working.
It could take 1 Danish soldier in Greenland
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 23/01/2026
» In 1910, Henry Wilson, the British army officer charged with planning for a possible war with Germany, visited the French officer doing the same job in Paris, Ferdinand Foch. The Anglo-French alliance was still a tentative, semi-secret thing, so Wilson asked Foch, "What is the smallest British military force that would be of any practical assistance to you?"
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).
Gaza: From genocide to real estate scheme
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/09/2025
» A motley band of greedy fantasists got together at the White House on Aug 27 and came up with a cunning plan to bring peace to the Middle East while lining their own pockets at the same time. It was "leaked" within days, as it was clearly meant to be, and since then the sound of outraged clucking has been loud in the land.
EU leaders must master Trump management
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/08/2025
» It's like one of those slapstick comedies from the early days of silent films: the "Keystone Cops" movies, perhaps, or Buster Keaton's various efforts. Lots of people rushing around, constant reversals of fortune, and many pratfalls.
Sudan's war and the Africa we don't see
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/04/2025
» Last Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: "Many have given up on Sudan, but that is wrong. It's morally wrong when we see so many civilians beheaded, infants as young as one subjected to sexual violence, more people facing famine than anywhere else in the world.... We simply cannot look away."
Vintage tonnage keeps Russian oil flowing
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/01/2025
» The name is brilliant: "vintage tonnage". It evokes 17th-century pirate vessels flying the skull-and-crossbones, 18th-century ships-of-the-line bristling with cannons, or even 19th-century clipper ships in full sail bringing tea to England and America. The images are always romantic and often beautiful.
Did the West cause the war in Ukraine?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/06/2024
» There is one thing almost all populist nationalists agree on: the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the continuing carnage there was the fault of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato). If Nato had not expanded to Russia's borders, it would all still be peace and love in Europe.
A small Slovak assassination bid; few hurt
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 21/05/2024
» Madeleine Albright, the former US Secretary of State, once called Slovakia "the black hole at the heart of Europe", which seems a harsh judgement on five million Slovaks. The assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico was alarming, but we can narrow the problem down to a more specific group of people.