Showing 1 - 10 of 10
With Israel and Iran it's tit for tat for tit for tat...
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 31/10/2024
» It's more like a courtship ritual between exotic birds than a 21st-century war. First the Israelis assassinate Revolutionary Guard generals in an Iranian embassy on foreign soil. Tag. You're it.
What now after Israel's invasion of Lebanon?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/10/2024
» Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has launched his invasion of Lebanon. As usual in the opening stages of Israeli incursions into that fragile country, the signs and portents look good for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
Netanyahu's game crossing all the red lines
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 06/08/2024
» Democrats in the United States and most people who are paying attention elsewhere in the world were greatly relieved when President Joe Biden quit his re-election campaign two weeks ago and let Vice-President Kamala Harris run instead. They don't really know much about her, but they know she is not Donald Trump.
FGM and the need for Islamic scholars
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 20/07/2024
» There was a small victory in The Gambia this week when a proposed law to legalise female genital mutilation (FGM) was defeated by human rights campaigners. It was quite a small victory, however, because the great majority of little girls in The Gambia are still being mutilated by the professional "cutters" who move from village to village.
Anwar Ibrahim's quiet triumph in Malaysia
Oped, Kishore Mahbubani, Published on 07/11/2023
» The path from political prisoner to political power is by no means well-trodden, but those who have made the arduous journey in recent decades include luminaries such as Nelson Mandela, Jawaharlal Nehru, Aung San Suu Kyi, Michelle Bachelet, and Vaclav Havel. To this august group must be added Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who, after nine years in prison, is now showing the same zeal as Mandela did for institutional and economic reform rooted in democratic values.
Upcoming AMM facing uphill tasks
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 26/07/2022
» The Asean Foreign Ministerial Meeting (AMM) next week will be a test of its centrality and relevancy as never seen before. The annual meeting has to confront sensitive new and divisive issues that will require the 55-year-old bloc's collective wisdom, commitment and foresight.
With eased Covid curbs, lift decree
Oped, Ismail Wolff, Published on 05/07/2022
» Last week, the Thai government downgraded the Covid-19 situation in the country from a pandemic to endemic. In turn, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his government should also immediately lift the draconian Emergency Decree, which the authorities have used to criminalise legitimate dissent.
Implications of Blinken's aborted visit
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 17/12/2021
» Having skipped Thailand due to a Covid-19 case among his travel delegation, the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken's aborted three-country tour of Southeast Asia has hindered the full projection of President Joe Biden's Indo-Pacific geostrategy. Not wrapping up the trip with a visit to Thailand, a mainland Southeast Asia pivot and longstanding US treaty ally, also misses an opportunity to shore up what has been a relative bilateral estrangement. In short, Secretary Blinken's diplomatic foray in Southeast Asia has fallen short for the time being.
Asean lags behind Myanmar curve
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 06/08/2021
» The more it tries to catch up on Myanmar's post-coup crisis, the more Asean falls behind. Since Myanmar's military takeover on Feb 1, Asean has spent nearly the first three months getting its act together for a "special summit" and a "five-point consensus" on April 24 and then more than another three months to meekly implement the agreement. In the event, the appointment of Brunei's Second Foreign Minister Erywan bin Mohd Yusof as the Asean envoy to promote dialogue and humanitarian assistance in Myanmar is likely to prove too little, too late for what has been desperately needed on the ground.
Rohingya treatment a violation of human rights
Oped, Puttanee Kangkun & John Quinley, Published on 29/07/2020
» Tomorrow marks the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, but the governments of Southeast Asia have little to celebrate. Rohingya refugees, many of whom are survivors of trafficking and crimes of atrocity, continue to arrive on the shores of Thailand and Malaysia, where their arrival is met with a cold reception. Instead of protecting trafficking survivors and refugees, Thailand and Malaysia continue to propagate shameful policies of detention and refoulement and fail to hold traffickers accountable.