World News Insights: Opinion Articles

The timing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s proposed trip to Taiwan puts President Joe Biden in a bind. Having drawn threats and condemnation from Beijing, the visit risks undermining any fruits of a planned call between Biden and China’s Xi Jinping. For Pelosi to postpone or cancel, though, would…

As president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi saved the euro. In my estimation, this makes him history’s greatest central banker, outranking even the former Fed chairs Paul Volcker, who brought inflation under control, and Ben Bernanke, who helped avert a second Great Depression. In a…

In times like these, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. Take Twitter, which this morning blamed uncertainty related to Elon Musk’s acquisition as a factor in its second quarter slowdown, along with “industry headwinds associated with the macroenvironment.” That sounds a little as if…

Britain’s chickens have come home to roast. A dependably temperate climate has this week given way to extreme heat. “HOTTER THAN THE SAHARA,” bellowed the front page of the aptly titled tabloid The Sun on Monday. Worryingly, it proved to be a rare instance of accuracy from the paper. By…

Over the past decade, Chinese banks have lent generously to poor nations for China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, a politically and economically motivated effort to help build ports, rail lines and telecommunications networks abroad. But now that some of those borrowers are having trouble…

In the week that followed the Jeddah Security and Development Summit, tens of reports were published in quick succession; some focused on the events, and others assessed its implications. Even the Tehran Summit that brought together the Presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey did not manage to turn…

What a difference six months of a seemingly unwinnable war makes to a leader’s self-esteem. As the Russian war against Ukraine grinds on Vladimir Putin, the self-styled conqueror, seems to be descending from his high horse like the statue of Peter the Great in Pushkin’s famous poem to mingle with…

Early in 2009, I offered the world some tech advice that I have regretted pretty much ever since: I told everyone to join Facebook. Actually, that’s putting it mildly. I didn’t just tell people. I harangued. I mocked. Writing in Slate, I all but reached through the screen, grabbed Facebook…

Until just the other day, Republicans and conservative media loved, just loved talking about the price of gasoline. Indeed, “Remember how cheap gas used to be under Trump?” became a sort of all-purpose answer to everything. Is there now overwhelming evidence that the former president conspired in a…

The smell of natural gas rarely gets thought of as a recession risk in Europe. Yet International Monetary Fund researchers this week listed exactly that as one of several potential bottlenecks that could aggravate the pain of a major European Union gas supply crisis, as seemingly small…

After more than 75 years, the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia has evolved from a simple energy-for-security arrangement to a deeply connected commercial and interpersonal partnership. These ties have helped US businesses find a new home for exports and expand their…

Iran’s rush to hold its summit in the same week as the Jeddah summit is not a coincidence. It is an act of desperation in response to the strong front put on in Saudi Arabia by ten states. Iran has given up hope on restoring the nuclear deal, which it coveted with Joe Biden’s election as US…