Showing 1 - 10 of 33
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.
Musk's Starship: If it sounds too good to be true...
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 06/12/2025
» Elon Musk promised to build a spaceship that would put people and cargo into Earth orbit at one-hundredth of the current cost per kilo and even enable human beings to create a colony on Mars. A great many people were seduced by the idea, including me.
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.
Trump can't do that much climate damage
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 23/01/2025
» 'Drill, baby, drill", exulted the new President of the World (American branch), but he will find that the oil and gas industry isn't listening. As Darren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil, tactfully put it in November: "I'm not sure how 'drill, baby, drill' translates into policy."
Beware of rogue presidents (this time in Korea)
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/01/2025
» Turning yourself from a democratically elected president into a dictator is a tricky operation, and most people who try it fail. It's called a "self-coup", from the Spanish auto-golpe, and to try it without first gaining the support of the armed forces is sheer lunacy. Yet, from time to time, an elected president tries to do exactly that.
Turning a little debate into a major crisis
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 20/12/2024
» One of the daily miracles of the media world is that there is always exactly enough news to fill the slot.
Syria receives another chance with Assad gone
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 10/12/2024
» Take a moment, first, to celebrate the fall of a regime of surpassing evil even by the demanding standards of the Middle East. Father and son, the Assad regime oppressed and abused the Syrian people for 53 years, and now it is gone in a week. Even the American-backed puppet regime in Afghanistan did not fall that fast.
New Caledonia pragmatism pips nationalism
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/09/2024
» With the sole exception of the fifty people on Pitcairn Island, the United Kingdom (once known as the British Empire) liquidated its holdings in the Pacific Ocean long ago. France, by contrast, has a half million citizens in the Pacific (and another two million living in other bits of its former empire on islands in all the world's major oceans).
Next chapter in Thailand's political saga
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 22/08/2024
» 'I consult with my father on all issues, whether on private matters or about work, and have done since I was young," said Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thailand's new and youngest prime minister at 38 years of age. She is the third member of the Shinawatra family to hold this office, and part of the "evil cycle" that has paralysed the country's politics for the past 18 years.
Fascism rising in France, but don't panic…
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 06/07/2024
» Nothing else in France looks like the 1930s, so why should fascism? There really is a fascist movement in France, although it avoids torch-lit marches and jackboots. It has even stopped the Holocaust denial (mostly).