Showing 241 - 250 of 339
'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.
A tale of two bombs -- in Manchester and Bangkok
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 26/05/2017
» There were two bombs on Monday. The one in Britain killed at least 22 people and injured 120 as they came out of a concert at Manchester Arena. It was carried out by a suicide bomber named Salman Abedi and claimed by the Islamic State (IS). The other was in Thailand, and injured 22 people at a military-linked hospital in Bangkok; nobody has claimed responsibility yet. But what happened afterwards was very different.
May's mess: 'Soft' Brexit or no Brexit
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/06/2017
» 'We don't know when Brexit talks start. We know when they must end," tweeted Donald Tusk, former Polish prime minister and now president of the European Council.
Qatar crisis could turn nasty quick
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/06/2017
» Public-spirited businessman Moutaz al-Hayat is flying 4,000 cows into Qatar from the US and Australia to boost milk supply in his country, which is being blockaded by most of its Arab neighbours in the Gulf. It will take 60 flights, and is definitely not cost-effective. But that may not be his biggest problem.
Is Venezuela swiftly heading towards a civil war?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 15/05/2017
» "I am no Mussolini," insisted Venezuela's beleagured President Nicolas Maduro on television early this month, but if things go on this way he could end up like Mussolini. That would be very unfortunate for him, and also for Venezuela.
So much for the wave of populism
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 26/04/2017
» In his victory speech on Sunday night Emmanuel Macron, the next president of France, said: "I want to become...the president of the patriots in the face of the threat from the nationalists." The distinction would be lost on most Trump supporters in the United States and on the "Little Englanders" who voted for Brexit in Britain, but it's absolutely clear to the French, and indeed to most Europeans.
Washington: The playbook is back
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/05/2017
» It was striking, in US media coverage of US President Donald Trump's first hundred days in office, that most observers noted with relief that his foreign policy has turned out to be less radical than they feared. In fact, it's not radical at all. He has already fired cruise missiles at a Middle Eastern country, a ritual that has been observed by every American president since Bill Clinton.
Israeli 'peace process' still dead
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/05/2017
» Like other US presidents before him, Donald Trump invited the current Palestinian leader to the White House and told him that there was a "very good chance" of a peace settlement between Israel and a soon-to-be-independent state called Palestine.
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.