• OPINION

  What Wagner's revolt means to Putin's war

  News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 26/06/2023

  » The Don is a much bigger river than the Rubicon, but Yevgeny Prigozhin and his army crossed it anyway on Friday.

• OPINION

  In Iran, all options to curb crisis are bad

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/10/2022

  » 'Death to [fill in the blank]!" has been the slogan of choice chanted by Iranian protesters since the glory days of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. ("Death to the Shah!", "Death to America!", etc) It's now forty-three years later, however, and the content has become a bit more nuanced.

• OPINION

  Silly buggers: Russia, US play chicken

  News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 23/06/2017

  » I don't remember which navy I was in when I first heard the term "silly buggers", but the meaning was clear. It included some sensible exercises like "man overboard" drills, but the heart and soul of the game was high-speed manoeuvres by ships travelling in close company. These sometimes got quite exciting, because ships don't have brakes.

• OPINION

  Khashoggi and MBS's blunderers

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/03/2021

  » If Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, were a burglar, he wouldn't be George Clooney in Ocean's Eleven. He'd be a cartoon burglar in a carnival mask and a top with black-and-white horizontal stripes, carrying a sack labelled "SWAG".

• OPINION

  Do we need more rockets in the stratosphere?

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 27/08/2021

  » If you're worried about your "carbon footprint" -- a concept foisted on the world in 2004 by British Petroleum to persuade people that their own behaviour, and not giant oil companies like BP, is causing the climate problem -- then you definitely should not sign up for a sub-orbital space flight. Besides, you probably can't afford it (US$250,000 -- about 8 million baht -- per person).

• OPINION

  There's nothing special about democracy in US

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 08/01/2021

  » If I have to read one more hand-wringing article about the "crisis of American democracy" and what it means for the world, I'm going to retch.

• OPINION

  Napoleon and world history: What if...?

  Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/05/2021

  » Napoleon Bonaparte doesn't come up much in conversation these days, which is hardly surprising given that he has been dead for two centuries. On the other hand, today will be exactly 200 years since he died, so maybe we could make an exception just this once.

• OPINION

  Wreath gaffe puts Corbyn in hot water

  News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/08/2018

  » It sounds like a tempest in a teapot, but it could bring down Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain's Labour Party -- and that could end up meaning that Britain doesn't leave the European Union after all.

• OPINION

  Is Aussie political madness catching?

  News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 29/08/2018

  » I happened to be in Canberra last Friday, speaking to a room full of journalists at the National Press Club, when the news came in, halfway through lunch, that Australia had a new prime minister. The moderator pointed out that the year is already two-thirds gone and it is "only three prime ministers till Christmas" -- and the China Daily's headline read "Australia changes its prime minister again, again, again, again, again".

• OPINION

  China's Xi shaping up as Chairman Mao of 21st century

  News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 28/02/2018

  » The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) approved a proposal on Monday that the country's president no longer be limited to two five-year terms of office. The National People's Congress will rubber-stamp the change. And that will be the end of three decades of consensus-seeking collective leadership in the CCP. The god-king model is back.

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