Showing 1 - 10 of 89
When repressive states choose terror over death
News, Alan Clements, Published on 23/01/2026
» Fyodor Dostoevsky -- one of the few writers to survive state terror and return with a psychology sharp enough to indict it.
It's the economic history, stupid
Oped, Iker Saitua, Published on 14/01/2026
» Every year, I walk into a first-year lecture hall in Bilbao at the University of the Basque Country (EHU) and watch shoulders slump. The title of the course I'm teaching -- "Economic History" -- draws a similarly dejected reaction from my students: "Meh." "Boooring." "What's this even for?" Some call it "the history class", as if it belonged to another century.
The last word on weird book titles
Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/12/2025
» Being somewhat old-fashioned I still love browsing in bookshops. It provides a brief escape to a completely different world, both relaxing and therapeutic. Alas it is a pleasure future generations are unlikely to experience as these days bookshops are something of an endangered species.
Act now as Suu Kyi is gravely ill
Oped, Alan Clements, Published on 10/09/2025
» Just days ago, Kim Aris, the youngest son of 80-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi, told The Independent that his mother -- Myanmar's imprisoned democracy leader and Nobel Peace Laureate -- is gravely ill with worsening heart disease.
Central banks caused own woes
News, Otmar Issing, Published on 02/08/2025
» US President Donald Trump's fierce attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have attracted global attention, rattled markets and, perhaps most importantly, sparked debate about the wisdom of central-bank independence -- a complex issue with constitutional and economic implications.
Human cost of war
Oped, Postbag, Published on 25/07/2025
» Re: "Thai airstrikes hit two Cambodian targets," (BP, July 24).
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.
Return nameless victims to heal tsunami wounds
Oped, Alan Morison, Published on 26/12/2024
» A leader of the team that identified thousands of victims of the 2004 tsunami now believes that Interpol's 99.9% certainty rule should be adapted out of compassion to try to reunite the remaining 380 nameless victims with their families. Twenty years on, the full story behind the huge detective saga in Thailand that gave names back to thousands of victims of the 2004 tsunami is being told for the first time.
Thai defamation law fails good people
Oped, Alan Morison, Published on 07/12/2024
» Pressure is likely to intensify in the new year for Thailand to repeal its abusive criminal defamation laws as flaws in the multiple cases against advocate-journalist Chutima Sidasathian. Many others have exposed the laws' deficiencies.
Rohingya crisis merits reconciliation
Oped, Alan Clements, Published on 28/09/2024
» As Bangladesh's interim chief adviser, Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus has captured global attention with his impassioned call for the urgent repatriation of over 1.2 million Rohingya refugees. The scale of this humanitarian tragedy -- displacement on a near-unimaginable level -- is undeniable. Bangladesh's commitment to maintaining peace and stability within the camps is commendable. But in the rush to repatriate, we must not lose sight of the harsh realities on the ground in Myanmar's Rakhine State, where violence and devastation continue to unfold.