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Patrick Smyth

Patrick Smyth

The Irish Times

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Is time running out for Binyamin Netanyahu?

Support in Ireland for the Palestinian cause, as many have observed, has much to do with history and sympathy for an oppressed people. But, it would...

07.04.2024 10

The Irish Times

Patrick Smyth

Could Jacob Zuma’s promise to ‘drain the swamp’ persuade South African voters?

While half the world’s population in 2024 is heading to the polls in 64 countries, there is a temptation to become fixated on just one contest: the...

16.03.2024 10

The Irish Times

Patrick Smyth

Postponement of Senegal election a further sign of West Africa’s ominous drift from democracy

Coups come in many guises. As do “insurrections”. And Africa’s latest suspension of democracy in its most stable democratic state, Senegal, just...

24.02.2024 10

The Irish Times

Patrick Smyth

If Ireland wants to join South Africa’s case against Israel, here’s what it needs to consider

There is an understandable and widespread desire internationally to hold Israel to account before an international court for its disproportionate use...

03.02.2024 30

The Irish Times

Patrick Smyth

The US supreme court is unlikely to stop Trump running again. Here’s why

Rex non potest peccare – the king can do no wrong. It is really rather remarkable that in a modern republic, one that prides itself on championing...

13.01.2024 4

The Irish Times

Patrick Smyth

Characterising criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism shuts down debate

I want to start this column by making clear my abhorrence of Hamas’s barbaric October 7th murder of 1,200 Israelis. And by stating that Israel does...

23.12.2023 10

The Irish Times

Patrick Smyth

British repudiation of the European human rights convention could blow a hole in the Belfast Agreement

We have been here before. Several times. Five consecutive Tory PMs up to Rishi Sunak speculated about, or advocated, repudiating the European...

02.12.2023 10

The Irish Times

Patrick Smyth

Could a Holy Land confederation offer a path to peace?

“When this crisis is over, there has to be a vision of what comes next,” US president Joe Biden insists. “And in our view, it has to be a...

12.11.2023 10

The Irish Times

Patrick Smyth

We should be wary of fetishising referendums. They’re not a great way to do business

We’re in referendum season. Just last weekend there was Australia, and a sorry defeat for Indigenous people’s rights. Then Poland, and a failed...

21.10.2023 5

The Irish Times

Patrick Smyth

Joe Biden joining a picket line was a landmark moment in US’s year of strikes

On Monday, striking Hollywood screen writers won a long battle for higher pay and job security. On Tuesday, Joe Biden – who describes himself as the...

30.09.2023 10

The Irish Times

Patrick Smyth

Africa experiencing a contagion of coups as Gabon latest to fall

In Gabon a ruling dynasty that began with Ali Bongo’s father Omar in 1967 came to an end last week after Ali had been “re-elected”. The latter...

09.09.2023 10

The Irish Times

Patrick Smyth

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