23 June 2024 Ukraine: “We Have Provoked This War” By Gwynne Dyer There is one thing almost all populist nationalists agree on: the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the continuing carnage there was the fault of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. If NATO had not expanded to Russia’s borders, it would all still […]
28 February 2024 The Utility of Neutrality By Gwynne Dyer Neutrality used to be a European thing, but it is now in steep decline. If it were an animal, we’d have to declare it an endangered species. For hundreds of years Europe was the ‘cockpit of war’, but if a country got sick of the
1 November 2023 Ukraine: The Big Push Fails By Gwynne Dyer On 10 September, the great breakthrough was underway. “The Ukrainians went forward again,” said breathless reports from the front lines. “The Ukrainian Armed Forces are moving west of Novoprokopovka, east of Verbovo and between Novoprokopovka and Verbovo, expanding the breakthrough zone.” Fifty days later,
27 September 2023 Pantomime Politics in Eastern Europe By Gwynne Dyer The Polish hate the Russians The Slovaks hate the Czechs, The Bulgars hate Ukrainians And everybody hates the Jews. With thanks and apologies to Tom Lehrer Tom Lehrer’s original song, ‘National Brotherhood Week’, was about how different kinds of Americans hated each other, but
30 August 2023 Pope Francis: Some Confusion, Perhaps By Gwynne Dyer Javier Milei, who is very likely to be elected president of Argentina in the October election, is fairly frank in his view of Pope Francis, a fellow Argentine. He calls Francis “a Communist turd” and “the representative of the Evil One on Earth”. Even
10 July 2023 NATO Summit 2023 By Gwynne Dyer When NATO held its annual summit in Brussels two years ago, all 31 presidents and prime ministers of the alliance’s member states dutifully showed up, but their hearts weren’t really in it. France’s President Emmanuel Macron had publicly declared NATO “brain-dead” in 2019, and nobody could
22 May 2023 Ukraine: Biden’s Timing by Gwynne Dyer A great many people are glad that US President Joe Biden has finally agreed that Ukraine can be supplied with modern Western aircraft – specifically F-16s – but they are still cross about his procrastination and worried that he has waited too long. From Ukraine’s point
20 February 2023 Ukraine War and International Law By Gwynne Dyer Just before the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Friday, 24 February), France’s President Emmanuel Macron declared that he wanted to see Russia “defeated, but not crushed.” That is a very fine distinction, but an important one. Macron is seen as ‘soft’
12 February 2023 The Earthquakes and the Blame By Gwynne Dyer If you are trying to dodge the blame for a great disaster, the best policy is to say that it was God’s will. So Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, visiting one of the 6,000 buildings that collapsed on their sleeping residents in eastern Turkey
29 January 2023 A Bad Case of Cultural Lag By Gwynne Dyer “I wish you a world without Babiš. Forget about Babiš. Try to live without Babiš,” said former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš on Saturday after his campaign for the presidency failed to convince the voters. “Stop waking up in the morning with hatred