International Affairs Archives

Iran’s Mahsa Amini Moment of Reckoning

Nationwide protests, and demonstrations abroad, seek to topple Iran’s regime, following anger over the death of Masha Amini. Will change come?

February 13, 2021 Commentary / International Affairs

In China, No News Is Great News

By William J. Furney The omnipotent might and financial clout of the Communist Party in China means the country’s leaders can do as they please, and if the wider world

March 14, 2020 Commentary / International Affairs

World Must Demand China Shutter Deadly Wet Markets

By William J. Furney With over 5,500 people dead and nearly 148,000 cases of infection (including yours truly, and it was relentless and brutal) worldwide so far, and rapidly climbing,

December 8, 2019 Commentary / International Affairs

North Korea’s Kim Clambers Up on His High Horse

By William J. Furney North Korea, the most isolated country in the world, has leaders who are big on bombastic image but critically short on vital substance. The attention-hungry totalitarian

October 26, 2019 Commentary / International Affairs / Reportage

Spain Must Free Catalonian Independence Prisoners to Restore Order

By William J. Furney, in Barcelona It’s past midnight on Monday in the Catalonian capital Barcelona, where nine independence leaders were jailed by the Spanish Supreme Court earlier in the

October 5, 2019 Commentary / International Affairs

Courageous Greta Thunberg Deserves the Nobel Peace Prize

By William J. Furney Whether Greta Thunberg wins the Nobel Peace Prize next week for her environmental campaigning is irrelevant — because the Swedish organisation with its money from the

September 7, 2019 Commentary / International Affairs

Boris’ Brexit Bull May Land Him Behind Bars

By William J. Furney To publicly admit you’re a supporter of the United Kingdom’s proposed departure from the mighty European Union is to usually invite scorn and ridicule: you’d be

July 27, 2019 Commentary / International Affairs

Troubled Boy-King Boris and His Unlikely Quest for World Dominance

By William J. Furney Boris Johnson’s first appearance at the despatch box in parliament this week revealed a man with a fixation on other ebullient and equally flamboyant British statesmen,

July 13, 2019 Commentary / International Affairs

Hong Kong’s Boss Is Tone Deaf, and No One Is Listening

By William J. Furney The sterile halls of power in Beijing will be filled with fiery alarm at the mass insolence in Hong Kong when the omnipotent Communist Party thought

June 8, 2019 Commentary / International Affairs

Asma All Smiles as Syria Burns

By William J. Furney Asma al-Assad, the first lady of Syria and previously known for her love of high-end shopping in London and other fashionable capitals of Europe, until the