Showing 31 - 40 of 62
Vladimir Putin the immortal hero?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 21/01/2020
» Five years ago somebody posted photographs on the internet showing a man who looked a lot like Vladimir Putin in photographs from 1920 and 1941. In both shots he was in military uniform, defending the interests of the Russian people then as he still does today.
Dismantling Malta's mafia state
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 27/12/2019
» It's two years since Daphne Caruana Galizia, the best investigative journalist in Malta, was killed by a car bomb. She had been using the huge leaks of financial data in the "Panama Papers" to track down suspicious dealings by members of the Maltese government, and she was getting too close for comfort.
Cameroon's war on anglophones is self-defeating
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 06/11/2019
» Sometimes Donald Trump gets it right. In February he cut off US military aid to the central African country of Cameroon because of its appalling human rights record (and didn't even offer to restore it if the Cameroon government dug up dirt on his political opponents at home). Last Friday he acted again, dropping Cameroon from a pact that promotes trade between sub-Saharan African countries and the US.
Netanyahu has nearly finished his grim mission
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/09/2019
» Benjamin Netanyahu's work is almost done. If he wins tomorrow's election and forms yet another government (he is now the longest-serving Israeli prime minister), he will put a stake through the heart of the "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that was born in the 1993 Oslo peace accords. Hamas should send him a gold watch for long service.
South Africa poll won't be 'pivotal'
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/05/2019
» All the major contenders in tomorrow's elections in South Africa held their closing rallies last weekend, and some striking things were said. As usual, Julius "Juju" Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters party (EFF), won the prize for the most inflammatory statement.
Israel's election and the West Bank
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 09/04/2019
» It shouldn't have been a surprise when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, three days before the Israeli election, that he is going to annex all the Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. After all, every other member of his Likud Party in the Israeli parliament (28 out of 29) had already said they wanted to do that. Yet it did come as a surprise.
Golan Heights show conquest still an option
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 27/03/2019
» When President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday affirming Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, there was an outcry that went far beyond the Arab world. His action went against the international rule on the "inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force", we were told -- conquest, in less lawyerly language. Alas, that is just an ideal, not a hard-and-fast international law.
No real choice in Nigerian election
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 22/02/2019
» Lengthy delays before announcing the results of African elections are commonplace (the Democratic Republic of Congo last month, Zimbabwe last July, etc.). It just means that people voted the wrong way, and the government needs time to re-arrange the results before publishing them. Postponing the vote at the last moment is much less common, and not so easy to explain.
Bangladesh returns to 1-party state
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/01/2019
» It always looks bad when the ruling party jails the opposition leader just a few months before the election. If only Khaleda Zia, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had decided to boycott this election like she did the last one, she'd probably still be a free woman. But she decided to run, and so was sentenced to jail time on various implausible corruption charges.
MBS playing with fire in Saudi's Game of Thrones
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 11/12/2018
» Now is the moment of maximum danger for Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS).