World News Insights: Opinion Articles

American policy on Ukraine comes from mixing analytical thinking among the national security experts with emotions among the American public that influence politicians. On the analytical side, there was an argument among experts and officials about whether the expansion of NATO to former Communist…

Historians may describe the period between the First World War and today as one of conflict over empire: empires’ disintegration as a result of this war and the subsequent continuous attempts to rebuild them, attempts that cost many wars and a lot of blood and destruction. This happened in Russia,…

You mustn't say that this war is far from and doesn't concern you. It is the most violent earthquake to rattle the "global village" in decades. This war will affect the price of wheat and the loaf of bread needed by your children. It will affect the price of gas that helps you warm your home. It…

Russia’s attack on Ukraine came in the face of stern warnings and escalating economic sanctions from world leaders, including steps to tighten the screws on the country’s debt and access to funding in international markets. While the US and its allies can do more to cut Russia off the global…

Russia’s war for Ukraine’s territory is being waged with tanks and artillery, but the battle for the world’s hearts and minds is being fought largely on social media — and there, at least, Vladimir Putin is losing. Cell phone videos of desperate Ukrainians huddled in subways have a power…

For those shocked by images of Ukrainian civilians targeted by Russian air strikes, I have one word for you: Syria. Moscow’s indiscriminate bombing campaign in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal war against his own people — including attacks on hospitals, schools,…

There is no world leader today with a better track record when it comes to using military power than President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Whether against Georgia in 2008, Ukraine in 2014 or in Syria since 2015, the Russian military has repeatedly converted battlefield successes into political…

The crisis around Ukraine had been looming for some time, with efforts to prevent further escalation. President Putin’s recognition of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic has carried the crisis to the next stage. A day later, Putin took a further step…

The day before the fake “referendum” that handed Crimea to Vladimir Putin’s Russia in 2014, I marched against the annexation with tens of thousands other Muscovites — but a majority of Russians supported the move, and Putin’s popularity, measured by independent sociologists, soared to highs not…

There will be no ravaging World War III to end all life on earth. But there might be worse: protracted wars on multiple frontlines fought with traditional weapons and run by nuclear powers. Even without the prospect of a World War breaking out, the Ukraine crisis stretches far beyond Ukraine…

Just on Day One of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the European Commission, about 120,000 people fled their homes — becoming “internally displaced,” in the bureaucratic jargon. Roads and highways out of Kyiv and other cities were clogged. Again, that was just the first day. How many…

What environment do we want and what organization can lead international environmental action? On the verge of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), conceived at the United Nations Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm in June 1972, many questions remain…