World News Insights: Opinion Articles

The White House will soon be sending invitations to world leaders for its “Summit of Democracy,” currently scheduled for Dec. 9 and 10. It promises to be a grand and noble affair, with participants working to “build a shared foundation for global democratic renewal.” So it’s worth asking if…

The past four decades in which the Khomeinist ideology has dominated Iranian state structures, a new breed of “Iranologists” has emerged in Western academic and media circles. Most old “Iranologists” saw Iran as a glorious but long dead civilization distinguished by religious tolerance, ethnic…

In a single week, four people were murdered near petrol stations: three in the North died in a shootout that spiraled into familial armed clashes, and a fourth in the South died after a speeding truck crashed into his car, which he had been parked as he had was waiting in line to attain this…

Senior UK ministers are hardly paupers, but by the standards of high-flying private sector jobs, they don’t exactly rake it in. That’s why it’s called public service. Power has its own perks, however. Many former top-tier public officials soon make up the gap in earnings after they leave office. …

Was the revelation shocking or not? It’s hard to say. On the face of it, the new satellite evidence should have all of us gasping. China appears to be building between 100 and 200 silos to store and potentially launch intercontinental missiles with nuclear warheads. We previously knew of only about…

A few weeks ago I posted, on Twitter, that I was increasingly furious with the F.D.A. for taking so long to authorize Covid vaccines for children under 12. Then I deleted the tweet, because I know that as desperate as I am to get my kids inoculated, I’m not qualified to make judgments about how the…

India wants to get on the electric vehicle bandwagon, and is introducing China-style policies to pursue its green ambitions. But there’s a wrinkle: its age-old, protectionist instincts, which have kept out international auto companies for decades. Last month, Elon Musk bemoaned India’s…

It is understandable that foreign dignitaries and officials would attend the swearing-in ceremony of a UN member state’s president, as what happened during the swearing-in ceremony of Ebrahim Raisi as President of Iran. This is normal practice, regardless with those guests are from friendly…

With some reductionism that tries not to betray the facts, one of our most prominent tragedies can be described as the contradiction between reality and slogans, or the latter lying to the former: when reality shrinks, the slogans expand, and the smaller and more fragmented reality becomes, the…

The world has failed to halt climate change and is starting to feel the consequences. But for the first time, there's also hope on the horizon. Technology has made climate change a solvable problem by expanding the universe of the possible. Before advancements made renewable energy a cost…

There’s not a lot to do when you’re stuck inside for weeks dodging a pandemic. Thankfully, as Covid-19 was raging we could build digital worlds, drive cartoon go-karts and play virtual baseball on consoles built by Sony Group Corp. and Nintendo Co. 1 But now millions are vaccinated and…

As the delta variants spread, and as the number of vaccinations continues to rise, a new Covid stance is evolving: Namely, we should not look too closely at the new situation for fear of being spooked by high case numbers. There is the hyper-careful view found in “blue” locales such as San…