World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Kafkaesque, relating to the Czech writer Franz Kafka (1883-1924), is a term that has gone beyond the scope of literature and has become prevalent in discussions of philosophy, life, our states and moods, and the reactions of the weak to the challenges they face. The Kafkaesque world is a dark…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s trip to Washington and his historic speech in Congress have rekindled hope in an alliance of democracies. To the centrist American elites from both parties who share this aspiration, his visit indicates that such an alliance is possible and that faith in…

Making predictions about American politics and foreign policy in 2023 is not easy. However, some trends are clear, and if we watch a few key developments, we can better anticipate the coming year’s events better. First, although the Republican Party failed to gain the majority in the American…

Winter is here, and Germany is ready. After worries that the country would have to resort to energy rationing, the government has managed to fill the reservoirs: Holiday season, now in full flow, is as it’s always been. Offices and apartments are a little cooler, but the Christmas markets — giving…

There’s no need to call a doctor. Wounds are not his specialty, but something strange is happening. He is overcome by sadness that rapidly spreads in his veins. He shows signs of fatigue. He is overwhelmed by despair.   At the office, he is overcome by unhealthy feelings. He thinks about…

It is hard to imagine the United States going for two years without an ambassador representing its interests in Beijing, Berlin, Moscow or Tokyo. Yet Roosevelt House, the American ambassador’s residence in New Delhi, has remained unoccupied since January 2021 — the longest gap on record. There…

Earth is in the midst of the worst mass extinction since an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago — and this time, the asteroid is us. Human beings are displacing the planet’s other species at an unprecedented rate, a disaster that the landmark UN Biodiversity Conference known as…

All the condemnations of the Taliban after it banned Afghan women from attending university are not enough, be they international, regional, or Arab, and that includes the statement by the Saudi Foreign Ministry and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar.   What we need now is actions, not statements…

I once watched a movie with a friend who is knee-deep in ideology. It was a police film that began by presenting a rosy image of the police: he helps the oppressed and seeks to uphold justice and apply the law, putting the public interest above his own and any other private interest.   My friend…

There would seem to be a sincere commitment across America these days to try to listen to one another across divides. To engage nuance rather than pretending that everything is, as it were, black and white. To address discrimination without devolving into the Jacobinesque routines of cancel culture…

The clearest signal that the US economy is likely to fall into a recession in the next year is coming from interest rates. One of the first people to establish the signaling value of interest rates was Arturo Estrella, then an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. I interviewed him…

The protest movement in Iran that broke out 13 weeks ago has forced the world to change how it deals with the Iranian regime in domestic and international matters. It seems that many of the concerned Western states have decided to abandon the flexibility with which they dealt with the Iranian…