World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Sure, it works in practice, but does it work in theory? Over the years I’ve heard this parody of academic pomposity put in the lips of various targets, from French intellectuals to University of Chicago economists. Lately, though, I’ve begun thinking it myself — about the hawkish side in the debate…

In the month since I last wrote about the dearth of data on Paxlovid’s benefit for vaccinated and younger Covid-19 patients, infections have soared and prescriptions of the antiviral have skyrocketed. As of June 1, more than 1 million courses of the drug have been administered in the US. Roughly…

More than 100 days of war in Ukraine have not only unleashed multiple political, economic and environmental crises; Vladimir Putin’s invasion has also revived dangerous delusions in the West. A few months ago, acute divisions plagued the United States, the European Union and ties between them…

Since the Lebanese voted in 13 deputies that the media has dubbed “forces for change,” Aounists and the axis of resistance have been waging a campaign against them. In the press and on social media, they sharpened their tongues. The “critics” kept their eyes locked on these “change” deputies,…

Saudi-US relations are returning to their normal path. We are currently hearing a different American discourse, praising the Saudi role. We are also seeing confused US media coverage; but this is their story… It is another story that needs a separate article. However, US Secretary of State…

Fewer than half of eligible Americans have received a third Covid vaccine shot despite clear evidence of its benefit. That booster shot improves your odds of avoiding even mild omicron. So why haven’t more people gotten it? One reason may be that we’re all over map in our risk of getting…

President Joe Biden gave a prime-time speech Thursday about gun violence. It was carried by all three broadcast networks, as well as the cable stations. As presidential speeches go, it was fine; he mixed some aspirational policy goals with support for more modest objectives that may have a…

Despite the frenzied talk about the huge rise in oil prices, what the market is witnessing is not a novelty, as prices have reached higher levels in the past, based on political, military and economic developments. If we compare the purchasing power of Dollars a barrel of oil can fetch today with…

When the inhabitants of the United Kingdom and television audiences across the world celebrate Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee this weekend, one telling secret of her popularity is likely to be overlooked. As her most authoritative recent biographer, Robert Hardman puts it, “the Queen genuinely…

The world is struggling with simultaneous energy and climate crises. To solve the first could require undoing all the progress made toward greener power and cleaner air. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Euphoria for electric cars — and the powerpacks that run them — has obscured a more…

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s push to give renewed prominence to the old imperial system of weights and measures in the United Kingdom is stirring fresh interest in a fascinating corner of economics: path dependence. Path dependence explains how small, even random, events can have lasting…

Coming of age in the 1970s and ’80s, a kid took in a fair number of public service messages. Smokey Bear warned that only you could help prevent forest fires (if only this were entirely true). An actor dressed up as a Native American shed a single tear to get people to stop littering (or at least…