Showing 1 - 10 of 17
Fanatics, an obsessive, and a belligerent fool
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/04/2026
» We don't have to look very far to find a useful historical analogy for the current crisis in the Middle East. In 1967, Egypt closed the Strait of Tiran to Israeli ships, and Israel replied with a surprise air attack that destroyed almost the entire Egyptian air force on the ground.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Gaza Strip pantomime ending at last
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 29/07/2025
» The coordinated chorus of despair by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump and their various henchpersons and flacks was quite impressive. The message was that everybody should stop hoping for a negotiated peace. Mr Netanyahu has stared Mr Trump down once again, and the four-month pantomime search for a new ceasefire in Gaza is at an end.
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."
Three hours in Greenland and plenty of bluster
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 02/04/2025
» 'We need to wake up from a failed, 40-year consensus that said we could ignore the encroachment of powerful countries as they expand their ambitions," said US Vice-President JD Vance during his brief visit to the US military base at Pituffik in northern Greenland. (It was brief because the Greenland authorities wouldn't let Mr Vance go anywhere else.)
Nobody really wants to be a Nazi, but....
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 27/12/2024
» 'Alternativ fur Deutschland" (AfD) means "The Alternative for Germany", and the alternative on offer is fascism. Not actual Naziism, but the AfD uses fascist rhetoric and tactics to attract German voters. It has also attracted some improbable foreign admirers.
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.