Showing 1 - 10 of 287
Chokepoints expose fragility of our global order
Oped, Todd G Buchholz, Published on 22/04/2026
» Most schoolchildren learn that the Earth is roughly 40,000km around. They do not learn that the global economy depends on just 160 of those kilometres.
Is the Iran war America's Suez or its Gallipoli?
Oped, Yanis Varoufakis, Published on 21/04/2026
» When Egypt closed the Suez Canal for five months in 1956, it triggered events that shrunk the global standing of Britain's pound sterling, inaugurated the petrodollar age, and demonstrated how a small country can inflict serious damage upon the economic power that had subjugated it decades earlier.
Opening Hormuz is the easy part, restoring oil flow is not
Reuter's columnist Ron Bousso, Published on 20/04/2026
» LONDON - The stop-start shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz underscores the profound uncertainty hanging over the world’s most critical oil and gas chokepoint. But one thing is already clear: even if the guns fall silent, flows through the narrow waterway will take months – and possibly years – to recover to pre-war levels.
Fanatics, an obsessive, and a belligerent fool
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/04/2026
» We don't have to look very far to find a useful historical analogy for the current crisis in the Middle East. In 1967, Egypt closed the Strait of Tiran to Israeli ships, and Israel replied with a surprise air attack that destroyed almost the entire Egyptian air force on the ground.
Iran's water weapon against Gulf
Oped, Michael Christopher Low, Published on 07/04/2026
» The oil-rich monarchies of the Persian Gulf are often described as petrostates. But the US-Israeli war with Iran has highlighted that they are also saltwater kingdoms, societies whose survival depends on desalination, or converting seawater into potable water at industrial scale.
Gulf states tell US ending the war is not enough
Oped, Samia Nakhoul, Published on 31/03/2026
» Gulf Arab states are telling the US that any deal with Tehran should do more than end the war, and must permanently curb Iran's missile and drone capabilities and ensure global energy supplies are never again "weaponised", four Gulf sources said.
Selective outrage will not end the war in Iran
Oped, Jayati Ghosh, Published on 27/03/2026
» Few United Nations Security Council resolutions have been as one-sided as its recent condemnation of Iran's "egregious attacks" on regional neighbours such as Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Leaving little room for interpretation, it describes those attacks as "a breach of international law and a serious threat to international peace and security".
The Iran war is upending global energy markets
Oped, Carolyn Kissane, Published on 12/03/2026
» The war with Iran is widening faster than many expected. The Islamic Republic's retaliation against Arab Gulf states has extended beyond military targets to critical civilian infrastructure, including airports, water desalination plants, and energy facilities. Hezbollah has opened a second front from Lebanon. US President Donald Trump suggests that operations could last "four to five weeks", but with nearly 50 senior Iranian officials having been killed, it is unclear who might be positioned to negotiate an off-ramp.
Testing times could prove govt mettle
Oped, Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 09/03/2026
» A honeymoon period seems out of the question for the new administration led by the Bhumjaithai Party, which may come into office in late April or May, depending on how quickly the processes of electing the House Speaker and his two deputies, and the election of the prime minister in parliament, take place.
The long road to war with Iran
Oped, Carla Norrlöf, Published on 06/03/2026
» As the conflict with Iran reshapes global security assumptions and energy markets, the debate in the United States has focused largely on why President Donald Trump chose war in the first place. Was it domestic politics, a desire to project strength, a miscalculation, or something else?