Showing 191 - 200 of 201
Long trek to democracy in SE Asia
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/08/2018
» A quarter-century before the Arab Spring of 2011, there was a democratic spring in Southeast Asia: the Philippines in 1986, Myanmar in 1988, Thailand in 1992 and Indonesia in 1998. The Arab Spring was largely drowned in blood (Syria, Egypt, Libya), but democracy really seemed to be taking root in Southeast Asia -- for a while.
Where will the disasters all end?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/08/2018
» This is Armageddon Summer in the northern hemisphere: out-of-control wildfires all around the Arctic Circle (not to mention California and Greece), weeks-long heatwaves with unprecedented high temperatures, torrential downpours and Biblical floods. And yes, it's climate change.
Pakistan's army a state above a state
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/07/2018
» 'Look, we have no other choice," Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said last May. "These games have gone on too long. Something has to change." Then he left to be with his wife Kulsoom, who is on life support while receiving treatment for cancer in England. But last week he and his daughter Maryam returned to Pakistan to begin serving the jail sentences imposed on them by a Pakistani court.
The changing of Syria's demography
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/07/2018
» With the fall of Daraa last Friday, the end of Syria's civil war is within sight. What will Bashar al-Assad and his ruling Ba'ath Party do with their victory?
No turning point in Brexit bedlam yet
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 13/07/2018
» Even with Donald Trump scheduled for a brief visit to the United Kingdom this week amid massive protests, it's still "all Brexit, all of the time" in the sceptred isle -- and the long struggle over the nature of the deal that will define Britain's relationship with the European Union (EU) post-exit allegedly reached a turning point last weekend.
America's trade war with China risks disastrous end
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 06/07/2018
» The United States could probably extract major concessions from China in a carefully managed confrontation on trading issues, because the Chinese don't want a trade war with their best export customer. But the US can't win the trade war that Donald Trump is planning to wage, and it kicks off today.
Saudi Arabia is a populist dictatorship
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 27/06/2018
» Joy and pride among Saudi women who are at last allowed to drive. Delight in the car dealerships that anticipate a lot of new business. And dismay in the families of the 1.4 million chauffeurs, almost all from South Asia, who have been earning around US$1,000 (32,960 baht) a month driving Saudi women around. But it will take a lot more than this to change Saudi Arabia.
A summit win, or mere status quo?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/06/2018
» If the Singapore meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un had been a zero-sum game, then Trump definitely lost. But maybe it wasn't.
Trump delusional on free trade
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 12/06/2018
» Halfway across the Pacific Ocean, US President Donald Trump heard the closing statements from the G7 summit in Quebec (which he had left early to meet North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in Singapore).
Ukraine's stagnant war back in focus
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/06/2018
» Four years into a stalemated war, it takes something very big or very bizarre to get Ukraine back into the headlines. Even the news in April that the United States has started delivering lethal weapons (Javelin anti-tank missiles) to Ukraine didn't do the trick, but the non-assassination of Arkady Babchenko last week did just fine.