Ukraine: Democracy and Corruption By Gwynne Dyer “Democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia,” said Mihaylo Fedorov, until recently Ukraine’s defence minister. “We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism which will allow Ukraine to renew its full democratic process even in the conditions of a long war.” Seven years after the last election, […]
Russia: Home of the Potemkin Nuclear Weapons? By Gwynne Dyer There’s a lot of performative militarism in Russia at the moment, which is unsurprising given that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is still stalled halfway through the fifth year of the war. The style is more Mussolini than Hitler, however, and the effect is more
A Politico opinion poll conducted in the four biggest NATO countries in February revealed almost identical popular expectations about the likelihood of a global war in the next five years. In every one – the US, the UK, France and Germany – they think it is quite likely. Forty-six percent of Americans think that, and
The US president, Donald J. (for Jesus) Trump, is a showman, and he knows how to keep the world’s attention by offering journalists shockingly good copy. He threatens a genocide: “A Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight”. He writes “Fuckin’ Strait” on a presidential post. (Note the tastefully dropped ‘g’ in Fuckin’ to show that he’s
It’s so sad. That poor, kindly man on the phone at all hours of the day and night, 79 years old and still trying to do good and bring peace and that, but as soon as he hangs up they’re right back at war again. First it was Africa in June, when Rwanda and the
If the Ukrainians feel the time has come to surrender to the Russians, they don’t need Donald Trump’s help. The ‘ungrateful’ wretches can do that for themselves. The Russian ‘peace’ offer that Trump is trying to force on Ukraine this time is almost identical to the one that Russian leader Vladimir Putin pitched to him
Back in the 16th and 17th centuries, two-thirds of the Danish kingdom’s income came from taxes paid by every ship passing through the Øresund strait (‘The Sound’), the only exit from the Baltic Sea. Each ship had to declare the value of its cargo – and if the Danes thought they were understating it, Denmark
Last February, Donald Trump and his heir apparent JD Vance launched a televised frontal attack on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House, telling him that Ukraine had “no cards”. Zelensky should let Russia keep the conquered territories (about 20% of Ukraine) in return for peace. Just last month, on his way to a
“NATO is responding with unity and strength,” said British defence secretary John Healey. “If you’ve got drones that are putting Polish lives at risk, then NATO will take them out. There’s no firm confirmation on intent, but in the end that’s not the point. It’s still reckless. It’s still dangerous.” ‘When in danger or in
The wind has definitely changed. Less than a year ago Nigel Farage, who aspires to be the British Trump, said this: “I’m not going to get dragged down the road of mass deportations or anything like that…It’s a political impossibility to deport hundreds of thousands of people. We simply can’t do it. It’s pointless even