World News Insights: Opinion Articles

The green energy revolution is making greater progress than expected. Solar and wind power have seen exponential cost declines, and electric vehicles seem to be a market winner. That’s all good news, but improving green energy is not the same as addressing climate change. There is good chance…

Rather like children in playgrounds, countries throughout history have had to decide how to deal with a bully. Appease him in the hope that he becomes meek? Avoid provoking him, at the cost of acquiescing to his brutality? Or counter with strength and willpower to stop and contain him? If the…

President Xi Jinping has told senior officials to ensure that China’s gross domestic product growth outpaces the US’s this year. He’s determined to show that his one-party system is superior to Western democracy, and that the US is in decline, reported the Wall Street Journal. At first read,…

Americans are worrying about their gas prices. Germans are turning down their heating. Peru has seen violent protests — and a violent crackdown on them — over rising fuel costs. Nigeria’s national energy grid recently collapsed. And that’s just this spring. Focused on the future, the United Nations…

Could billionaire Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter portend the decline of the Twitter “glory”? Are we facing a deepening crisis, resulting from the impact of social media on freedoms, politics, and democracy, as former US President Barack Obama recently stated? Many justified questions arise,…

During the debate between president - candidate Emmanuel Macron and the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, the latter claimed that she was French while her opponent was European. The deeply indicative assertion eloquently sheds light on how nationalists understand “identity:” it is either this or…

Twitter has never been a place for rational, nuanced speech. Expect it to get much, much worse. The decision by Twitter’s board of directors on Monday afternoon to accept a takeover bid from Elon Musk means the company thinks the social media company would be best served by the ownership of a…

France can breathe again. On Sunday, President Emmanuel Macron was re-elected, taking 58.5 percent of the vote to Marine Le Pen’s 41.5 percent. After a couple of agonizing weeks where the country contemplated the possibility of the presidency falling to the far right, the result seemed to herald…

In a rare convergence, America’s voters are not merely unhappy with their political leadership, but awash in fears about economic security, border security, international security and even physical security. Without a U-turn by the Biden administration, this fear will generate a wave election like…

Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan has many critics in the United States, but his careful balance on Ukraine gives lessons on how diplomacy can change discomfort into political advantage. Erdogan has recaptured influence in the North Atlantic alliance despite its continued close economic…

A new and unexpected obstacle to President Joe Biden’s green ambitions has emerged: a tiny solar-power company based in San Jose. Auxin Solar Inc., which accounts for all of 2% of US solar-module manufacturing, recently persuaded the Commerce Department to open a potentially devastating trade…

Mark Zuckerberg gave his social media giant Facebook a mountain to climb when he switched focus to the metaverse, an abstract concept whose future customers must open their wallets for a relatively experimental technology. His strategy till now: Heavily subsidize the cost of its Oculus Quest…