World News Insights: Opinion Articles

As the Covid-19 pandemic shattered lives and livelihoods, experts somberly anticipated a decline in philanthropic donations. The World Bank predicted an alarming drop of 20 percent in global emigrant remittances as a result of the economic crisis. After all, the 2008 Great Recession led to…

The world’s biggest car companies have a lot to fear from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And it’s not just production shutdowns or supply chain snarls. As the war rattles commodities from nickel to wheat and corn, upending exchange trades and casting doubts around sustained supply, a material…

Observers of the course of the Chinese policy know that the leaders of this giant country avoid confrontation in any situation, unless it's forced upon them. That happened when former US President Donald Trump put countering China at the heart of his foreign policy objectives. Nonetheless, the…

In 1994, I was a young journalist in the information graphics department at The Detroit News, just two years out of college. In April of that year, the Rwandan genocide — a war of ethnic tensions — erupted, resulting in 100 days of unspeakable carnage. The United States, still stinging from…

As it heads for its second month, like other wars in history, the war in Ukraine seems to be finding the rhythm and tempo that determines its cruising speed at least for some time. One thing that all wars have in common is that, after an initial shock-and-awe period, they are factored in as part…

One question I get repeatedly these days: What is wrong with the Russian military? Many in the West had a mistaken belief that the Russian war machine was a rough match for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and they are surprised at how much trouble the massive force is having subduing a much…

The 2022 parliamentary elections are not a repeat of the 2018 elections or any other election. When discussing the collapse, destitution, starvation, and people being left to die at hospital gates, the cause of these tragedies- the parties to the alliance between the mafia and the militia that…

Billions of people around the world are watching helplessly as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine accelerates into its third week, continuing to kill more innocent people every day, while destroying infrastructure throughout the country and forcing millions of refugees into neighboring European countries…

Last week, the US Congress failed to approve $15 billion needed to continue Covid-19 precautions, even though today’s low case counts are likely to rise, as they are in Europe, with the sub-variant called BA.2. We’ve learned that some expensive mitigation measures, such as deep cleaning, are a…

You can’t buck the market, the late UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously said. In a different context, US heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson observed that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Both were expressing variations of the same principle. Faced with an unopposable…

If war is tragic, it is also an opportunity for change. That is why the history of wars, especially European wars- from the Napoleonic ones to World War Two- is seen as a history of transitions from one world to another, one set of social, cultural, and artistic norms to another. Only in despotic,…

The Syrian conflict marked its eleventh anniversary on Tuesday. Putting aside the enormous suffering endured by the Syrian people, what is also striking is that international efforts to achieve a settlement have lost steam over the past few years. A few weeks ago, I had settled on the theme of…