Showing 1 - 10 of 40
South Korea: Very competitive and childless
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/03/2024
» There are enough people to go around: eight billion now, compared to two billion less than a hundred years ago. Fifty-one million in South Korea, compared to only twelve million a hundred years ago. So why are South Koreans obsessed about their low birth rate?
Beauty queen shows old habits die hard
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 10/02/2024
» It did not end well for Karolina Shiino, the young woman who won the title of Miss Japan two weeks ago.
New space race to the Moon's South Pole
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 16/08/2023
» Don't say "Moon Race". Perish the thought! But there is a race to land on the Moon, and the Russians are cheating. Well, sort of cheating.
Heat waves and tipping points as world warms
Gwynne Dyer, Published on 23/07/2023
» 'What we're seeing is climate impacts that scientists thought would accompany certain temperatures happening far more rapidly, with far more devastating effects than had been forecast," said Dr Simon Nicholson of the Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment at American University.
The baby bonus just does not work any more
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 22/05/2023
» I was one of five children -- not seen as a particularly big family in Newfoundland at the time -- and there was one year when we allegedly beat Guatemala to have the highest birth rate in the world. (That's probably not true, but people were proud of it anyway.)
A resurgence of alliances is an echo of past wars
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 21/01/2023
» Alliances are as old as civilisation. Older, actually: almost every hunter-gatherer band that anthropologists have studied, from the New Guinea highlanders to the Yanomamo in the Amazon, made alliances with other groups to try to protect themselves.
Will Xi Jinping be in charge of China forever?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/10/2022
» In the Chinese Communist Party's 20th National Congress, which begins in Beijing on Sunday, President Xi Jinping is expected to be confirmed as president-for-life. If that actually happens, China's ascent to genuine superpower status will be at least delayed. At worst (from the Chinese perspective), it may not happen at all.
Ukraine: lessons for Taiwan, and for China too
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 23/03/2022
» Almost a month in, China is still being extremely coy about its attitude towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The regime is acutely aware that there are many parallels between the Russian-Ukrainian relationship and the Chinese-Taiwanese one, and that the Russian attempt to conquer Ukraine is failing, or at least stalled.
South Korea's gender politics getting ugly
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 10/03/2022
» Gender is not the only issue in this week's election in South Korea, but it's the hot-button topic. It's not clear if there was ever a successful sexual revolution in the country, but the counter-revolution is definitely doing well. The 'F-word' (feminism) is being used a lot by both major parties, and not in a good way.
North Korea: The sting in the scorpion's tail
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 02/02/2022
» 'They want to have a deterrence system that is like a scorpion's tail," said Professor Kim Dong Yup, a former South Korean naval commander. "North Korea's main purpose is not to attack but to defend themselves." They want a "diversified deterrent capability", and who could blame them?