Showing 1 - 10 of 39
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.
Musk, Trump and Mao have a lot in common
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 11/07/2025
» The only place where some people still see Elon Musk as a political genius is China. "Brother Musk, you've got over a billion people on our side backing you," wrote a fan on Weibo, China's biggest social media site. "If Elon Musk were to found a political party," wrote another, "his tech-driven mindset could inject fresh energy into politics."
Theatre of white refugees from South Africa
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/05/2025
» As my flight landed in South Africa on Sunday, I looked in vain for the plane that was due to take off with the first 49 white, Afrikaans-speaking "refugees" of the many thousands who are supposedly going to find safety from racist persecution in Donald Trump's United States.
South Asian nuclear war would hit globe
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/05/2025
» India and Pakistan have had several shooting matches since they carried out a total of nine underground nuclear weapons tests in 1998. However, they don't make Putin-style thinly veiled threats to use their nukes (around 170 nuclear warheads each at the moment), and they do understand that escalation from smaller, "conventional" wars is the real danger.
Congo: Where the tail is still wagging the dog
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 26/03/2025
» 'Joseph Kabila boycotted the election and is preparing an insurrection because he is the AFC," said President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo last October, and lo! It is coming to pass just as he predicted. But you can't tell the players without a programme, so a little bit of explanation first.
Different kinds of thieves with the same goal
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 18/02/2025
» What's the difference between smash-and-grab raids and protection rackets? Not all that much from the legal point of view, but protection rackets have a lower level of risk and a higher rate of returns.
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.
Iran's theocracy simply cannot go on forever
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 09/07/2024
» 'I have heard that people's zeal and interest is higher than in the first round [of Iran's presidential election]," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iranian TV just before the second round of voting on Sunday. "It is wrong to assume those who abstained in the first round are opposed to Islamic rule."
India election fuels nationalist sentiments
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/04/2024
» Extreme nationalism always looks foolish or even deranged to those who have not caught the virus, but in India it's now official.
Schrödinger's Island: Taiwan election 2024
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 12/01/2024
» Taiwan's fate is as unknowable as usual, even though we know who the next president will be. The Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) William Lai, vice-president under outgoing President Tsai Ing-Wen, will almost certainly win the election tomorrow because the two opposition parties failed to agree on a joint candidate and will split the slightly-less-anti-China vote between them.