World News Insights: Opinion Articles

The Soviet Union was often described as having huge muscles but a small puny head. Nonetheless, it did have a big mouth: "The emancipation of peoples, assisting nations to build socialism, defending peace on earth, etc…” With these slogans and others, which were always accompanied by generous…

As vice president in January 2017, Joe Biden gave a speech endorsing the idea of a “world without nuclear weapons.” Last year, he took office pledging to reduce America’s reliance on those weapons — perhaps with a promise that Washington would never use nuclear weapons first in a conflict, or…

We knew this was coming. “George, you have to understand that Ukraine is not even a country. Part of its territory is in Eastern Europe and the greater part was given to us.” These were the ominous words of President Vladimir Putin of Russia to President George W. Bush in Bucharest, Romania, at…

It all began with the coronavirus outbreak on a Diamond Princess cruise ship back in February 2020. Nine health care workers and quarantine officers who were responding to the outbreak on the ship in Japan became infected. An official report suggested that they had most likely been infected…

Apple Inc., the iconic company whose products have transformed daily life, has done what was once unthinkable: It has become humdrum. On Thursday, Apple reported revenue of $124 billion for the December quarter, beating the $119 billion median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Net…

Despite all the fanfare around Mark Zuckerberg’s plans to create a cryptocurrency that was predicted to bring in “billions” in new revenue, the project has petered out with barely whimper. Meta Platforms Inc., the company formerly known as Facebook, agreed to sell assets tied to the project born in…

Epidemics and climate change took center stage in 2021 while other issues essential to safeguard life on Earth took a back seat. It is true that the Covid-19 pandemic and its ongoing manifestations have put humans face to face with the most prominent health challenges in this generation; equally…

Peer review is both the greatest strength and the greatest weakness of the scientific research system. It filters out bad work and makes good work better. But it can also slow down the dispersal of new ideas, which is a big problem when it comes to tackling fast-changing challenges like the Covid…

As some 3,000 athletes, their retinues and the media converge on Beijing, the Chinese government has gone to extraordinary lengths to prevent the 24th version of the Winter Olympics, which open Feb. 4, from becoming a Covid superspreading event. Though athletes and coaches will be required to be…

Against the backdrop of the Arab Consultative Ministerial Council, what message will Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib deliver Saturday, to his Kuwaiti counterpart, Dr. Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah? What will be the response to the Arab-Gulf-international message which Dr. Al-Sabah…

Boris Johnson’s leadership may have become a laughingstock thanks to “Partygate” breaches of lockdown rules at Downing Street, but the UK is being taken more seriously in one part of Europe than it has been for years — Ukraine. Today, the most clear-eyed response to Russia’s propaganda offensive…

Novak Djokovic isn’t the only one missing from this year’s Australian Open in Melbourne. Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai is also absent from a tournament where she’s played at least 15 times since 2005. But it is event organizers who, perhaps unintentionally, have shone a light on a problem many…