World News Insights: Opinion Articles

The world fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin is about to invade Ukraine, an act of naked aggression. Many Westerners are rendered even more afraid by recognition that there is pathetically little they can do to stop him. No sane person believes that US President Joe Biden — the only…

Imagine that when your great-grandparents were teenagers, they got their hands on a groundbreaking new gadget, the world’s first fully immersive virtual-reality entertainment system. These weren’t those silly goggles you see everywhere now. This device was more Matrix-y — a stylish headband stuffed…

It was early January and my friend in Melbourne had invited me over for coffee. But a surge in the omicron variant was driving Australia to a record number of daily cases, with hospitals overflowing. In that light, the unusual request made total sense: would I mind taking a rapid antigen test…

Beijing promoted its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics seven years ago with a video showing skiers and snowboarders performing under crisp blue skies. Clean air was a bold promise, and one that the host city is struggling to fulfill. Two weeks before the opening ceremonies, air pollution levels…

Despite the tragic state of Lebanon, a farcical movement can be seen by conjuring up a past that still exists and is expanding: Since its founding, the Free Patriotic Movement has demanded the “reclamation of Christians’ rights” and going back to the pre-Taif Agreement (1989) days. That means that…

Reuters quoted the lead US nuclear negotiator, Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley, as saying that his country was unlikely to reach an agreement with Iran in Vienna, unless Tehran releases four US citizens it is holding as hostages. “They’re separate and we’re pursuing both of them. But I will…

The global coalition declared victory against ISIS in Iraq in December 2017 and in Syria in March 2019. ISIS lost territorial control but it did not disappear. A great number of militants were killed. Those who were captured alive were put into prisons like the one in Hasaka. Some managed to…

The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf asks: “You can appoint any American citizen to one term as president...so long as your choice has never run for president before. Who do you appoint to the White House and why?” This sparked … let’s just say that political scientists on Twitter were less than…

Technology stocks have been gyrating lately as investors assess the effects of rising inflation, anticipated rate increases from the Federal Reserve and a possible slowdown in consumer spending. Yet Microsoft Corp.’s latest earnings underscore why the company still looks like a safe bet over the…

At some point in the last 30 years, the concept of the “free world” fell out of favor. Maybe it seemed dated once the Cold War ended. Or an afterthought in an era in which economic development, not political freedom, became the primary measure of human progress. Or too smug in an American…

Each time a new variant of the coronavirus emerges, the world follows a similar pattern. Scientists share the discovery, and panic ensues. Not enough is done between each wave to prevent or prepare for the next one. Omicron caught much of the world off guard. Not by its existence — that’s what…

One of the hardest challenges in geopolitics is figuring out how to conduct a successful retreat. We witnessed that reality last summer in Afghanistan, when the Biden administration made the correct strategic choice — cutting our losses instead of escalating to preserve a morally bankrupt status…