20 November 2009 Cyprus: It’s Over By Gwynne Dyer The window of opportunity actually slammed shut in 2004, when Greek-Cypriot voters overwhelmingly rejected a United Nations plan to reunite the divided island of Cyprus. A week later the Greek-Cypriot government was allowed to join the European Union anyway, while the Turkish-Cypriots, who had voted in …
3 October 2009 The EU’s Democratic Deficit By Gwynne Dyer You can get the Irish to agree to anything, even a European super-state that forces abortion on them, conscripts their citizens for a European army, and compels Ireland to abandon its traditional neutrality. All you need is a severe recession (Ireland’s economy is the hardest-hit …
3 October 2009 The EU’s Democratic Deficit By Gwynne Dyer You can get the Irish to agree to anything, even a European super-state that forces abortion on them, conscripts their citizens for a European army, and compels Ireland to abandon its traditional neutrality. All you need is a severe recession (Ireland’s economy is the hardest-hit …
17 July 2009 Europe: Two Things that Won’t Happen By Gwynne Dyer Tony Blair (or “the Winston Churchill of our Times,” as he was known in the Bush White House) is not going to be the first president of the European Union. And Iceland isn’t going to join the EU either. This sort of story …
7 January 2009 Russia, Ukraine and Gas: the Thieves’Quarrel By Gwynne Dyer Three years after the last drama involving Russia, Ukraine and gas supplies to Europe, here we are again. Russia’s monopoly supplier Gazprom cut off gas shipments to Ukraine on New Year’s Day because of alleged unpaid bills, and by 7 January no gas …
24 July 2008 Karadzic: A Victim of Soft Power By Gwynne Dyer Radovan Karadzic’s disguise was quite elaborate, but he didn’t spent the past thirteen years hiding from the Serbian authorities. They knew where he was all along. Only ten days after the government changed, the police plucked him off the 73 bus that he …
5 June 2008 The Irish Referendum and the European Union By Gwynne Dyer Out of 27 countries in the European Union, only Ireland is holding a referendum on the new constitution. Sorry, it’s not a “constitution.” It’s just a “treaty,” because French and Dutch voters rejected the constitution back in 2005. Now they’ve repackaged it …
17 May 2008 Serbia: When the Sulking Stops By Gwynne Dyer The rhetoric before the Serbian parliamentary election on 11 May was ugly enough, but it has got worse since. President Boris Tadic spun the outcome as a victory for the pro-European Union forces when only half the votes were counted, which served his purposes …
4 February 2008 Kosovo: The Least Bad Option? By Gwynne Dyer The Serbian presidential election on Sunday was a near-run thing, but in the end the good guy won. Not that President Boris Tadic is all that wonderful, but he positively glows with virtue in contrast to his opponent Tomislav Nikolic, an ultra-nationalist who served …
25 July 2007 Libya, Bulgarians and Lockerbie By Gwynne Dyer Libya is the land of make-believe, and from a safe distance it can seem comical. The 65-year-old teenager who runs the place, Colonel Muammar Gaddafy, has an even stronger commitment to fashion than my 15-year-old daughter (although she has much better taste): his outfits are …