Showing 1 - 10 of 144
Several bad options for US in Iran standoff
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/04/2026
» The Iranians know they have won, but President Trump doesn't get it yet. He's still at the stage of counting up the US and Israeli air strikes and assuming that those numbers mean a US victory is possible. But five gets you ten that the Iranians are already thinking about nuclear weapons. Not their own, which don't exist. America's.
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.
Somaliland: Mixed motivations
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/01/2026
» Last week Israel was the first country in the world to establish diplomatic relations with Somaliland. Not Somalia, a wreck of a country on the East African coast that has been mired in civil war for the past thirty-five years, but Somaliland, a different country just north of there that has been peaceful, relatively prosperous and even democratic for all those years.
A lesson in geoengineering for grown-ups
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 18/12/2025
» A few days ago the European Union's Earth Observation programme, "Copernicus", made a special announcement at the end of its monthly report on the state of the climate. It said that the average global temperature for the past three years (2023-2025) has been 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level. That's the level we were warned that we must never exceed.
Bibi's strategy to keep justice at arm's length
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/12/2025
» Israel's prime minister, Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, has just asked the country's president, Isaac Herzog, to "fully pardon" him of all three charges -- bribery, fraud and breach of trust -- that he has been on trial for since 2020. And the question is: Why did he only ask for it now?
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.
How a bad Trump edit became a global controversy
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/11/2025
» I have spent thousands of hours sitting alongside video editors working on productions quite similar to the Panorama documentary that has landed the British Broadcasting Corporation with the threat of a billion-dollar libel suit by Donald Trump. I think I know what happened.
Kingdom of Denmark vs the Shadow Fleet
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/10/2025
» Back in the 16th and 17th centuries, two-thirds of the Danish kingdom's income came from taxes paid by every ship passing through the Øresund ('The Sound') Strait, the only exit from the Baltic Sea. Each ship had to declare its cargo -- and if the Danes thought they were undervaluing it, Denmark had the right to buy it at the declared price.
Could Ukraine actually end up winning?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 30/09/2025
» Last February, Donald Trump and his heir apparent JD Vance launched a televised frontal attack on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House, telling him that Ukraine had "no cards". Mr Zelensky should let Russia keep the conquered territories (about 20% of Ukraine) in return for peace.
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.