World News Insights: Opinion Articles

My generation of Chinese looked up to the United States. When I was a university student in northwestern China in the late 1990s, my friends and I tuned in to shortwave broadcasts of Voice of America, polishing our English while soaking up American and world news. We flocked to packed lecture…

A former high-ranking Hezbollah official who has now become among the party’s most ardent critics has been saying that Hassan Nassrallah has a deep hatred for Beirut and everything the city represents as a space where civilizations come together socially, economically, politically, culturally, and…

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, many observers expected that Russia’s military would make quick work of President Vladimir Putin’s mission: ​​to capture the country’s capital, Kyiv, depose its democratically elected government and restore Ukraine to Moscow’s control. But nearly six months…

A central dilemma of US foreign policy today is this: The country that most threatens the American-led global order is also the country whose cooperation is essential to preserving a livable world. That quandary flared anew last week, when China responded to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to…

If success has many fathers, then a crypto exchange in the eye of a money-laundering storm has become an orphan. After Indian law enforcement froze $8 million in WazirX assets, Binance Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao denied owning the country’s largest crypto exchange. Binance’s November…

Inflation finally surprised markets in good way, and traders are understandably enthusiastic that the worst price pressures may finally be in the rear-view mirror. But the true turn for the better will come when inflation ceases to be shocking altogether — positively or negatively — and can fade…

While the entire Arab Levant has become a patchwork of explosive hotbeds and combat zones, be they active or dormant, Iraq is the most prominent, broadest arena in which the travails of the region play out, as well as being its most dangerous. As for the horizons for violent polarization that loom…

The war in Syria has stopped but the crisis in the country have not ended. Assad, who as been elected as president for the fourth time (but not everyone is convinced that these elections have rendered him the legitimacy which he claims) does not control all of Syria. More than 2/5 of Syria is…

Tensions, already very high between the US and China over Taiwan, were exacerbated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “farewell tour” visit to the island. Many analysts are warning that an invasion by Beijing could come sooner rather than later — within 18 months is a common projection — often citing…

The financial capitals of the world have lost their luster. The bright lights of New York City seem to have dimmed. London has far too many issues to contend with, from inflation, messy politics and homes not built for the heat to a dysfunctional international airport. Hong Kong is a dark shadow of…

Pfizer continues to spend its Covid windfall wisely. The pharma company said it would spend $5.4 billion to buy Global Blood Therapeutics, which has one approved drug to treat sickle-cell disease and two more in development. It’s a smart deal for both companies. Pfizer can put needed marketing…

Gold, according to financial markets lore, is a pretty simple beast. For all its complexities, at bottom what it likes is a weak dollar, turmoil, and lower interest rates. Falls in the greenback mathematically raise the price of dollar-denominated commodities. Turmoil makes investors head for…