World News Insights: Opinion Articles

The news last week of the death in mysterious circumstances of the Islamic Republic ambassador to Sanaa reminded me of a 19th century English limerick: Who and where and when and what Is the Akhund of Swat Is he lean or is he fat Is he cold or is he hot The Akhund of Swat? The Akhund of…

For nearly two years, American officials have changed recommendations on how to manage the coronavirus. On Monday we got one of the biggest shifts yet: Infected people, who had long been told to isolate for at least 10 days, now have to isolate for only five days if they feel fine, regardless of…

For Americans under 50, inflation is little more than a theoretical concept. But for those of us born in the late 1950s and 1960s, the inflation of the 1970s was a formative experience we’d rather not repeat. Inflation was as much a part of our childhood as COVID is for today’s kids. It was…

The rash of flight cancellations over the winter break — is it a major blunder by the airlines or the forgivable consequence of the outbreak of Omicron? I looked into this over the past couple of days and my conclusion is that it’s a little of each. First, the case against the airlines. They’re…

Nature and geopolitics can interact in nasty ways. The historian Geoffrey Parker has argued that changing weather patterns drove war, revolution and upheaval during a long global crisis in the 17th century. More recently, climate change has opened new trade routes, resources and rivalries in the…

December’s end is when we reflect on what we hope to improve in the year to come … and also the time for my annual predictions of news headlines for the next 12 months. Usually I begin by evaluating last year’s predictions, but this year only one bears mention: For the second time in the past…

On the anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, we remember some of those who believed that this union should never have seen the light of day in the first place. Those critics were not all “right-wingers.” Among them were “left-wingers,” the most prominent of whom is the Czech…

The parents were talking about pandemic schooling, so, unsurprisingly, the conversation quickly turned to emotional devastation. It was a Wednesday night in December, and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, was sitting in a living room in a giant suburban house in…

The Netherlands’ lockdown stands as a warning to the United States, other European countries and Covid hot spots across the globe. The warning, though, isn’t just about Omicron — other countries have more coronavirus cases and worse vaccination rates than the Netherlands does, and they are not…

The success or failure of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda could depend on a single senator from a mountainous state who has idiosyncratic views and is not especially popular in his own party. That’s right: Biden’s future may lie in the hands of Mitt Romney. The Utah senator introduced a…

In 2021, inflation returned. After a year-long debate, nobody can any longer deny this. Next year, we will discover whether it’s here to stay and how much bitter economic medicine will be required to quell it. On this vital issue, opinion is as divided as ever. Optimists still maintain that even…

The year 2021 will be remembered as one in which markets tumbled down a rabbit hole and entered financial wonderland: A once-elite undertaking became more populist, tribal, anarchic and often downright bizarre. Retail investors upstaged hedge funds, crypto squared up against fiat currencies and…