World News Insights: Opinion Articles

In 2017, France bucked the populist trend by voting for Emmanuel Macron against europhobic Marine Le Pen. In 2022, it has done so again – just as Slovenia looks set to eject its nationalist leader. An overwhelming display of pro-EU values? Not quite. Macron’s lead is narrower than last time –…

The Wall Street Journal published a story about Saudi-American relations that can only be described as part of the organized disinformation campaign to vilify Saudi Arabia. Some might say that it is just a story, and it is not worth the commenting. But this is not true. We must be aware of…

Abu Dhabi recently pledged Environmental targets for the coming fifty years, in conjunction with the UAE Centennial in 2071, which was announced earlier to mark the creation of the state. This triggered memories of how the ultimate aspiration of Arab environmental activists less than twenty years…

Savers are about to learn one painful and one surprising lesson about interest rates and banks. First, just because the Federal Reserve is raising rates doesn’t mean the rate investors earn on their cash will rise as much — if at all. In fact, the financial repression in the form of zero rates…

The early days of Covid in 2020 brought a cascade of cancellations of big-name business conventions including the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and the South by Southwest technology and music gathering in Austin, Texas. The expectation was…

It seems that in the Arab world, we are constantly on the lookout against inherited religious discourse and literature on the relationship between religions, us and the other etc… This is evident from the issues kept under wraps for fear of upending social cohesion and controversy. This creates…

The people behind Bitcoin, the No. 1 cryptocurrency by market value (and renown), are under heavy pressure to reduce its carbon footprint — the planet-warming emissions from burning fossil fuels for electricity to run the network’s computations, known as mining. I spoke with people on both sides of…

Barbara Lazear Ascher’s husband gave her the news in the most straightforward way. “Looks like pancreatic cancer,” he told her matter-of-factly after the test results came back. She and their friends gave him a wonderful death. They had theme parties with matching drinks. “Dying was intimate,…

Rapid antigen tests have been among the tools many public health experts and politicians have to ease into “living with Covid.” But many people are still skeptical about the tests’ reliability. The bigger problem may be with the advice people are getting on how to use them. It’s never been clear…

Deploying sanctions against Russian oligarchs and banks was a no-brainer. Now comes the far thornier question about how far to go in canceling Vladimir Putin’s Russia — not just politically connected elites but the athletes, artists and other symbolic ambassadors of the regime. The All England…

Last Sunday, I wrote about the lie of an axis of “resistance” and “confrontation” in an article entitled From Mashaal to Nasrallah. It is a longstanding lie whose credibility fluctuates like stock prices, except that this fluctuation is propelled by the fortunes of constant campaigning and attempts…

The terrorist Haqqani group, a terrorist wing of the Taliban, has been responsible for the bloodiest suicide attacks on the people of Afghanistan and the foreign forces stationed in this country during the past two decades. When the United States gave up Afghanistan to Taliban, Haqqanis entered…