Showing 251 - 260 of 340
'Principled Realism' without principles or realism
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 24/05/2017
» The media mostly missed it (or chose to ignore it as a piece of meaningless rhetoric), but Donald Trump proclaimed a new doctrine in his speech to the assembled leaders of the Muslim world in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. It goes by the name of "Principled Realism", though it didn't offer much by way of either principles or realism. In practice, it mostly boiled down to a declaration of (proxy) war against Iran.
Erdogan's win will unleash turmoil
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/04/2017
» "The office of the President of the Reich is unified with the office of the Chancellor. Consequently all former powers of the President of the Reich are demised to the Fuhrer and Chancellor of the Reich Adolf Hitler. He himself nominates his substitute. Do you, German man and German woman, approve of this regulation provided by this Law?"
President Trump all talk when it comes to return of coal
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 01/04/2017
» 'My administration is putting an end to the war on coal," said Donald Trump, surrounded by the usual gaggle of officials and (in this case) coal-miners, as he put his super-size signature on the Energy Independence Executive Order. But coal is dying as a major energy source in the United States for reasons far beyond the reach of executive orders.
After reaching a peak, the only way for Russia is down
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 29/03/2017
» The crowds of protesters in Moscow and other Russian cities were far bigger the last time, in 2011-2012. Opposition leader Alexei Navalny was so intoxicated by the forty or fifty thousand citizens who demonstrated in Moscow against Vladimir Putin's rule that he boasted: "I see enough people here to take the Kremlin ... right now, but we are peaceful people and won't do that just yet."
If Trump tries to 'solve' N Korea, his bluff might be called
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/04/2017
» Never mind the legalities of the situation. Never mind morality either. Just answer the pragmatic question: Is it ever a good idea to start a nuclear war? Because that's the notion that Donald Trump is actually playing with.
Trump took the bait in Syria attack
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 10/04/2017
» Donald Trump has spent a lot of time in the courts, so he must be familiar with the legal concept of "cui bono" -- "who benefits?" When a crime is committed, the likeliest culprit is the person who benefited from the deed. But he certainly did not apply that principle when deciding to attack a Syrian government airbase with 59 cruise missiles early Friday morning.
Suu Kyi's no Mother Teresa or Mandela
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/04/2017
» 'I'm just a politician," said Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in a recent interview with the BBC. "I'm no Mother Teresa." Fair enough: She has a country to run, and an army to hold at bay. But she's no Nelson Mandela either, and that has deeply disappointed some people (including fellow holders of the Nobel Peace Prize) who expected better of her.
Choose a side: Donald Trump and the Sunni-Shia war
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 17/03/2017
» The Sunni-Shia civil wars in Iraq and Syria are both nearing their end, and in both cases the Shias have won -- thanks largely to American military help in Iraq's case, and to a Russian military intervention in Syria. Yet Russia and the United States are not allies in the Middle East. At least not yet.
Trump and the maniac in Pyongyang
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 15/02/2017
» 'This guy, he's like a maniac, OK? He wiped out the uncle. He wiped out this one, that one. I mean, this guy doesn't play games. And we can't play games with him. Because he really does have missiles. And he really does have nukes."
Scourge of famine is back
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 24/02/2017
» For the first time in six years, there is famine in the world: a real, United Nations-declared famine, with more than 30% of the affected population suffering acute malnutrition and more than a thousand people dying of hunger each day. And there are three more countries where famine may be declared any day now.