Showing 1 - 8 of 8
A bright spot in global landscape
Oped, John J. Metzler, Published on 02/01/2026
» It's time to consult the crystal snow globe and try to peer ahead to what may be on the horizon for the new year. Without question 2025 has been tumultuous but the year ahead holds cautious promise to finally solve some political crises mixed with some epic events on tap.
Indonesia leads Asean into Brics+
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 17/01/2025
» As the new year gets underway with the looming re-inauguration of United States President Donald J Trump, countries and entire regions are having to manoeuvre and realign in view of an accelerated breakdown of the post-Second World War rules-based liberal international order.
Trump's tariff blackmail boosts Brics
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 06/12/2024
» Even before officially taking office, United States President-elect Donald J Trump is shaking up the international system with drama and fanfare unlike any other major leader in recent memory. His most recent outburst to slap 100% tariffs on the "Brics" countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, as well as Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates -- is a case in point. While it will coerce developing economies to think twice about the cost of going their own way, this tariff blackmail and others like it also risk pushing smaller countries away from the US to other rival big powers, particularly China.
How elections bring about a cycle of devaluation
Oped, Jeffrey Frankel, Published on 01/05/2024
» The proposition that major currency devaluations are more likely to come immediately after, rather than before, an election is being tested anew. In the biggest voting year in history, the implications could be far-reaching.
The 'pink tide' is rising in Latin America
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 15/06/2022
» 'Corruption isn't fought with slogans on TikTok," complained veteran Colombian presidential candidate Gustavo Petro. But social media can win elections, and a right-wing dark horse called Rodolfo Hernández, who calls himself the "King of TikTok", may crush Mr Petro's hopes of becoming Colombia's first-ever leftist president next Sunday.
The guardians of civil society and democracy
Oped, Michelle Bachelet, Darren Walker & Mark Malloch-Brown, Published on 16/12/2021
» When global leaders gathered virtually last week from Dec 9-10 for US President Joe Biden's Summit for Democracy, they ought to have asked themselves a simple question: What can we do to help democracy's bravest advocates, like the protesters who are risking their lives in Sudan?
Premature to mourn death of Bolivia's democracy
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/10/2020
» The quotation is usually given as "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely", but Lord Acton's original remark went on to say: "Great men are almost always bad men." And so they are.
Of plagues, genocides and the coronavirus
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 10/07/2020
» Last Sunday in the city of Baltimore, they tore down a statue of Christopher Columbus and threw it into the harbour.