July 14, 2001 Kyoto Accord By Gwynne Dyer “Apart from the political embarrassment it would cause, ratification of the Kyoto treaty without US participation would allow foreign energy companies to reap the benefits of the new markets that it created before their American rivals were ready. So it is not good enough to defect from …
February 03, 2001 Afghanistan and the Gods of the Little Things By Gwynne Dyer God’s preferences on dietary matters are well-known: no pork for Jews or Muslims, no beef for Hindus, and no saturated fats or refined sugar for the Western upper-middle class. But this is the first time he has taken such a strong …
27 Sep 2000 Columbia and Vietnam By Gwynne Dyer It is customary, when Washington says “Jump,” for British governments to ask “How high?” When they don’t jump, their failure to comply should be treated with the same alarm as when one of the old “pit canaries,” kept in coal mines to detect the build-up of …
16 April 2000 The Dead Walrus on the Breakfast Table By Gwynne Dyer On Friday, the Russian Duma finally ratified START II (the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), six years after it was signed. The next step, rationally, would be to finish the negotiations on the START III treaty, cutting the nuclear warheads on each …
March 9, 2000 Oil Prices in the Sanctions Balance By Gwynne Dyer United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has publicly told Hans von Sponeck, until recently the U.N. official responsible for coordinating humanitarian aid to Iraq, to shut up about the horrendous impact of sanctions on that country so long as he is drawing a U.N. …
February 21, 2000 Time to end sanctions against Serbia By Gwynne Dyer A year ago this week, the Rambouillet conference on Kosovo was nearing its end and hopes were rising that war in the Balkans could be avoided. They were misplaced. A decade of Serbian repression of the Albanian-speaking majority in Kosovo had led to …
February 21, 2000 Time to end sanctions against Serbia By Gwynne Dyer A year ago this week, the Rambouillet conference on Kosovo was nearing its end and hopes were rising that war in the Balkans could be avoided. They were misplaced. A decade of Serbian repression of the Albanian-speaking majority in Kosovo had led to …
January 17, 1999 Is driving on the right right or wrong? by Gwynne Dyer The Romans drove on the left. Why does half the world drive on the left, and the other half on the right? At last, the answer to this burning question is within reach. “We do not know which side of the …
8 April 1997 Uighurs’ Independence By Gwynne Dyer “We think Deng’s death will bring a power struggle within the Chinese elite,” said Sargari Tarym, spokesman for the Uighur independence movement, in Moscow in late February. “If that happens, the independence movement in Turkestant will intensify.” In fact, it is already pretty intense. Given the tightness …
1 October 1979 Soviet troops in Cuba By Gwynne Dyer (LONDON) Naughty Mr Brezhnev has put 3,000 Soviet combat troops in Cuba. Slap wristies. It would now appear that Presidert Carter has decided not to have a full-scale international crisis, over the Soviet troops in Cuba after all, despite the views of senators Church, Stone …