Showing 1 - 10 of 167
The treacherous sycophancy of the populists
Oped, Michael Burleigh, Published on 15/12/2025
» Until a few days ago, it had never crossed my mind that people across Europe -- including Londoners like me -- were living in a strife‑afflicted hell hole, "suffocated" by regulations, stripped of political liberties, and bound for "civilisational erasure". So, it was with some surprise that I read this assessment in the new US National Security Strategy -- a document that echoes pseudo‑intellectual propaganda more than resembling any serious foreign‑policy analysis.
When the news is wrong about my homeland
Oped, José González Vargas, Published on 11/12/2025
» The people of Venezuela conjure contradictory images, particularly for those living in the Global North. We're starved and oppressed masses under a totalitarian thumb, but also arrogant and pigheaded émigrés living in golden exile from Miami to Madrid. More recently, we are hordes of criminals, the scum of the Earth, flooding into the United States. Where's the truth? Where's the lie?
Marking time at the COP30 climate summit
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 12/11/2025
» Populist parties are already in power in some developed countries and waiting just outside the door in many more. The key trick of populist politicians is to tell the voters what they want to hear, and the voters definitely do not want their lives to be disrupted by global heating, so they are told it is not happening. It's "the world's biggest con", in Donald Trump's words.
Trump returns to Asean with a bang
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 28/10/2025
» The Asean chair, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, said it all. Acknowledging US President Donald Trump's presence during the signing ceremony on Thailand-Cambodia relations on Sunday, he stated: "We, of course, admire your tenacity and courage because the world needs leaders who promote peace strongly."
Is 'Gun' a loose cannon?
Oped, Editorial, Published on 23/10/2025
» At this moment in time, few people probably don't know who influencer Guntouch "Gun" Pongpaiboonwet is. Over the past few months, he has been on the frontline conducting an eerie campaign on the Thai-Cambodian border in the hope of removing Cambodian encroachers from Nong Chan and Nong Ya Kaeo in Sa Kaeo province.
Here's a taste of things to come in the US
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 02/10/2025
» 'Predictions are hard, especially about the future' (Danish proverb), but still we make them, especially when we care about the future. Here are some about the future of the United States in the next three and a bit years, expressed as probabilities, although you should not trust the numbers.
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.
Is genocide being redefined just to indict Israel?
Oped, Konstanty Gebert, Published on 09/09/2025
» There is a raging global debate about whether Israel's actions in Gaza qualify as genocide. The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines the offence as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such". The convention then enumerates incriminating acts, starting with "killing members of the group".
Gaza: From genocide to real estate scheme
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/09/2025
» A motley band of greedy fantasists got together at the White House on Aug 27 and came up with a cunning plan to bring peace to the Middle East while lining their own pockets at the same time. It was "leaked" within days, as it was clearly meant to be, and since then the sound of outraged clucking has been loud in the land.
Why is North Korea courting Russian tourists?
Oped, Saahil Menon, Published on 13/08/2025
» Hoping to replenish state coffers with much-needed foreign exchange reserves and offset the sharp post-Covid decline in Chinese tour groups, the Hermit Kingdom has set its sights on inquisitive holiday-makers from an ideologically aligned Russia.