Showing 1 - 10 of 12
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.
Syria's tragic saga a long way from being over
Oped, John J Metzler, Published on 12/12/2025
» Just one year ago Syria's brutal and seemingly eternal Assad family dictatorship was toppled.
UN picks rights council members with bad records
Oped, John J Metzler, Published on 23/10/2025
» In a ritual of near-farcical folly, the UN General Assembly has elected 14 new members to join the Geneva-based Human Rights Council on Oct 15.
South Asian nuclear war would hit globe
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/05/2025
» India and Pakistan have had several shooting matches since they carried out a total of nine underground nuclear weapons tests in 1998. However, they don't make Putin-style thinly veiled threats to use their nukes (around 170 nuclear warheads each at the moment), and they do understand that escalation from smaller, "conventional" wars is the real danger.
The conflict in Syria is not quite over yet
Oped, John J. Metzler, Published on 26/12/2024
» The extraordinary and fast-moving events in Syria have gripped the world. What was viewed as a forgotten, forsaken and frozen conflict churning on for nearly 14 years, has suddenly jumped into the headlines to round out this tumultuous year.
The fascists are (probably not) coming after all
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 29/01/2024
» ‘Fascism is on the march everywhere!” shrieked the headline on a recent think-piece by my least favourite foreign affairs commentator (who must remain nameless because I don’t want to give him any publicity). But articles and op-eds about the fascist threat are certainly on the march, and occasionally a real fascist pops up in public.
Peacetime frigate?
Oped, Postbag, Published on 11/11/2023
» Re: "Sutin backs military modernisation", (BP, Nov 10).
India at 75, and what might have been
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 20/08/2022
» Last Tuesday, on the 75th anniversary of Indian independence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to turn India into a developed country within the next 25 years. If all goes well, that could actually come to pass, but it would have to go very well indeed.
Lebanon quickly sinking in more ways than one
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 21/10/2021
» Off the Lebanese coast about 60 kilometres north of Beirut a 104-metre battleship stands vertically, with her bow and some 30 metres of her length plunged into the mud. The seabed is 140 metres down, but you can even scuba-dive on the stern if you are a technical diver. The ship is a bit like Lebanon, for reasons I'll explain later.
Biden's Asia policy and the Iranian conundrum
Oped, Nehginpao Kipgen and Vikas Nagal, Published on 19/03/2021
» The Barack Obama administration's "Pivot to Asia" grand strategy was designed to pull the US out of the Middle East quagmire and to realign its military, diplomatic and economic power towards the Asia-Pacific region. Even the Trump administration -- which pulled out of many of Obama's initiatives such as the Iran nuclear deal, Paris Climate Accord and the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- largely followed this approach.