Showing 1 - 10 of 147
Arab fraternity weakens and hegemons rule
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/11/2025
» 'This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper," wrote T S Eliot in 1925, probably responding to the profoundly unsatisfactory aftermath of World War I (although with a poet, you never really know). At any rate, it's happening again, this time in the Middle East.
Solving the conflict in Myanmar
News, Charles Petrie, Published on 15/09/2025
» The Myanmar military has recently launched a new offensive in different parts of the country, determined to claw back territory it has steadily lost since the coup of Feb 1, 2021. These operations, though at times tactically successful, are being carried out through brute force: airstrikes, mortar attacks, and the increasing use of drones. Entire areas are being destroyed. What will follow is not liberation, but military occupation. But how viable and effective will be the administrative structures that the generals will impose to govern these shattered spaces?
What did we miss in run-up to Assad's ouster?
News, Slavoj Žižek, Published on 23/12/2024
» The downfall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria surprised even the opposition, led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, offering fertile ground for conspiracy theories.
Syria needs another miracle for peace to stay
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 18/12/2024
» They're still celebrating the miraculous fall of the Assad regime in Damascus, and the killing has stopped in Syria except for parts of the north, east and south. So what are the odds that the man whose fighters brought down the regime, Ahmed al-Sharaa, can bring peace, prosperity and even democracy to Syria?
Rebel win to reshape Syria's fragile future
News, John J. Metzler, Published on 12/12/2024
» The Assad family dictatorship, which ran Syria for 53 years and withstood 13 years of bitter civil war, collapsed in just over a week. A sweeping series of Islamic rebel attacks, starting in late November, captured key cities from Aleppo in the north to Homs and Hama, which fell like dominos, creating an unstoppable military momentum on the road to Damascus.
Syria: It's those jihadis on the march again
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 04/12/2024
» One week in, the ceasefire in Lebanon seems to be holding, but everything is connected: only three days later, the civil war in Syria started up again after a de facto four-year truce.
Invest in WHO for outsize returns
News, Gordon Brown, Published on 23/10/2024
» In August, 14 of Africa's poorest countries, alongside international organisations and private companies, pledged over US$45 million (1.5 billion baht) to the World Health Organization's (WHO's) new Investment Round, which aims to raise $7.1 billion in voluntary contributions to close its current funding gap for the next four years, improve primary care, and build a more robust, better-trained health workforce.
Multilateralism in a fractured world
News, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 06/06/2024
» Multilateralism lies at the heart of international relations as an enabler of states to converge in an ever-changing world. It is closely linked with the United Nations (UN), setting in motion a rules-based system, embracing international peace and security anchored on international law.
Hazy geopolitics means Sudan conflict rages unseen
News, Peter Apps, Published on 28/05/2024
» Video released by Sudan's rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Wednesday shows the last few vehicles of aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres evacuating al-Fashir, the largest city in North Darfur, watched by the gunmen who have besieged the city and appear intent to overrun it altogether.
Iran, Israel is a panto crisis, not a real war
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/04/2024
» Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran's "Supreme Leader", is embarrassed and humiliated by the complete failure of his drone and missile attack on Israel, but does US President Joe Biden have the empathy to feel sorry for his old adversary in his time of trouble?