Showing 1 - 10 of 514
Fanatics, an obsessive, and a belligerent fool
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 07/04/2026
» We don't have to look very far to find a useful historical analogy for the current crisis in the Middle East. In 1967, Egypt closed the Strait of Tiran to Israeli ships, and Israel replied with a surprise air attack that destroyed almost the entire Egyptian air force on the ground.
Iran's water weapon against Gulf
Oped, Michael Christopher Low, Published on 07/04/2026
» The oil-rich monarchies of the Persian Gulf are often described as petrostates. But the US-Israeli war with Iran has highlighted that they are also saltwater kingdoms, societies whose survival depends on desalination, or converting seawater into potable water at industrial scale.
Can alliances with the US be replaced?
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 07/04/2026
» The increasingly loud debate over the future of alliances -- after reports that the US could scale back or even withdraw from Nato -- is nerve-racking. It has caused alarm across Europe and in Southeast Asia, another node of the US alliance network. Even without any official decision, remarks by US President Donald Trump on social media were enough to shake already fragile US alliances. The question now frequently asked by Thai policymakers is: What comes next if alliances weaken?
Bridge to nowhere
Oped, Editorial, Published on 07/04/2026
» New Myanmar president Snr Gen Min Aung Hlaing will be sworn in on Friday.
Where are we in terms of SDGs?
Oped, Evgeny Tomikhin, Published on 03/04/2026
» As 2026 began, the United Nations Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap) headquarters reopened its doors for the annual Asia-Pacific Forum for Sustainable Development (APFSD).
Russia is winning the Iran War
Oped, Chris Patten, Published on 02/04/2026
» While the rationale for US President Donald Trump's Iran war is difficult to decipher, its main beneficiary is far easier to identify: Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Several bad options for US in Iran standoff
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/04/2026
» The Iranians know they have won, but President Trump doesn't get it yet. He's still at the stage of counting up the US and Israeli air strikes and assuming that those numbers mean a US victory is possible. But five gets you ten that the Iranians are already thinking about nuclear weapons. Not their own, which don't exist. America's.
Gulf states tell US ending the war is not enough
Oped, Samia Nakhoul, Published on 31/03/2026
» Gulf Arab states are telling the US that any deal with Tehran should do more than end the war, and must permanently curb Iran's missile and drone capabilities and ensure global energy supplies are never again "weaponised", four Gulf sources said.
Selective outrage will not end the war in Iran
Oped, Jayati Ghosh, Published on 27/03/2026
» Few United Nations Security Council resolutions have been as one-sided as its recent condemnation of Iran's "egregious attacks" on regional neighbours such as Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Leaving little room for interpretation, it describes those attacks as "a breach of international law and a serious threat to international peace and security".
Iran war: One miscalculation after another
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 24/03/2026
» Still not four full weeks into the war, and already Donald Trump's "short-term excursion" -- decapitate the Iranian regime with a surprise attack and impose harsh terms on the defeated survivors -- has morphed into a global economic crisis and a region-wide war that could destroy the wealth of all the countries on both sides of the Gulf. At the very least.