World News Insights: Opinion Articles

When the BRICS Summits officially began in 2009, the goal was clear, giving emerging economies a voice in the international community. The group was initially composed of four countries: Brazil, Russia, India, and China, while South Africa, representing the African continent, joined the grouping…

I chose a corner in a café to write my article. The power cuts in Beirut prevent me from writing at home. I have no problem with that; I am not tied down to superstitions when it comes to writing. The profession does not allow such luxuries. One must write at home, a hotel, the airport or on the…

Myanmar’s modern history has been marked by colonial exploitation, military repression, violence and democracy denied. Grass-roots activists like me and thousands before me have dedicated our lives and sacrificed our safety to change this. But over the past year, an even deeper darkness has…

The idea of time travel is an old British preoccupation, from H.G. Wells’s 1895 novel to the seemingly immortal television series “Doctor Who,” which first aired in 1963, the year before I was born. Although I didn’t travel by Tardis or encounter any murderous Daleks, returning to my native land…

Risking a public appeal while caged in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison speaks volumes about the depth of my despair. I have suffered quietly as nearly 2,500 of what should have been the best and most productive days of my life were lost behind these bars. But I am compelled to break that silence now…

The US and Iran’s indirect nuclear deal negotiations in Doha ended in failure, with an American official saying that reviving the deal with Iran has become less likely after the meeting in Qatar. The question now is: Why have the negotiations failed? Last week, I wrote that time is not on the…

Our lakes, rivers and oceans are increasingly clogged with plastic, plus trillions of microscopic fragments thereof, from all the useful and disturbingly durable products made possible by the petroleum industry. This deluge of waste has grown exponentially over 60 years. Some 10 million tons of…

Fourth of July fireworks echo eerily in a divided country. In theory, this patriotic holiday marks what holds us together, beyond all our disagreement. In practice it amplifies American division. The year that Independence Day memorializes, 1776, also lends its name to the Trumpist 1776 Project, a…

Judging from the American and Australian reactions, China’s push to raise its profile in the Pacific Ocean seems frightening indeed. Secretive negotiations between Beijing and the government of my home country, the Solomon Islands, have raised speculation that they could lead to a Chinese…

As in politics and economics, so in environment and climate; it is compromises that allow for reaching major agreements, where facts are intertwined, interests are diverged and options are conflicting. Compromises are not a defect, as no one is the sole possessor of the truth in these complex…

If it feels as if the Supreme Court is hellbent on dividing us further, Thursday’s ruling on the Environmental Protection Agency’s powers raised that feeling to whole new level. In effect, the 6-3 decision constrains the EPA in regulating greenhouse-gas emissions from stationary sources — power…

Although freelancers have been around for ages — the English word originally referred to a “free lance,” or a medieval mercenary willing to fight for the highest bidder — working independently is often considered unstable. It certainly can be, but it also forces one to learn how to navigate…