4 November 2002 Changing the Guard in China By Gwynne Dyer It’s China, of course, so nobody outside the Communist Party’s inner circles knows exactly what’s going to happen when the 16th Party Congress opens on Friday, 8 November. This is supposed to be when the ‘third generation’ of leaders — those who fought for …
18 October 2004 Nuclear Is Back (A Bit) By Gwynne Dyer “The worst possible nuclear disasters are not as bad as the worst possible climate change disasters,” declared the Centre for Alternative Technology in Britain recently, urging “a modest revival of nuclear energy…to sell the idea to the sceptics.” And while Europeans and North Americans …
14 October 2004 Cold Shower in Taiwan By Gwynne Dyer The rhetoric had been getting harsher for months, as Taiwan’s leaders stoked popular fears of Communist China’s intentions in an attempt to push through a controversial $18 billion arms purchase from the United States. It reached a peak on 30 September, when President Chen Sui-bian …
22 August 2004 A Blessing in Disguise By Gwynne Dyer Some time this week or next, oil is likely to reach $50 a barrel for the first time ever. The price is up by a third since the end of June, and US prices have set record peaks in all but one of the past …
16 May 2004 The Tortoise and the Hare? By Gwynne Dyer India has its first foreign-born prime minister. Sonia Gandhi, born 57 years ago in the village of Orbassano, not far from Milan, is going to be the leader of the world’s largest democracy and its second-largest country, even though her Hindi is still Italian-accented …
29 April 2004 Disappearing Babies By Gwynne Dyer The one-child policy in China is coming to an end. It has a few years left to run yet in most of the country, but Shanghai’s city government announced in mid-April that divorced people who remarry can have a child together even if they each have a …
21 March 2004 Taiwan: The Best Possible Outcome By Gwynne Dyer “If Chen loses, the chances of war are about 20 percent,”said Arthur Ting of Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, only days before the vote on 20 March in which President Chen Shui-bian was seeking re-election. “If he wins, the risk rises to 40 percent.” …
31 December 2003 Year of Decision By Gwynne Dyer History normally runs on rails, with one development following another in fairly obvious succession. Colourful personalities and dramatic events abound, and it may seem like a roller-coaster ride at times, but twenty years later the outcome is just about what you would have expected at the …
10 December 2003 Triple Bluff over Taiwan By Gwynne Dyer Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian is bluffing when he hints at holding a referendum on independence from China. US President George W. Bush was bluffing three years ago when he promised to do “whatever it takes” to defend Taiwan, though he was serious last Tuesday when …
THIS ARTICLE MAY BE USED ALONE, BUT IS THE FIRST OF A TWO-PART SERIES ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. THE SECOND PART FOLLOWS WITHIN A DAY. 28 November 2003 The Global Economy Part I: An Enormous Sucking Sound By Gwynne Dyer “That enormous sucking sound you hear,” third-party candidate Ross Perot told American voters during …