World News Insights: Opinion Articles

As the drama around former Health Secretary Matt Hancock moves to the background, a moment of truth is coming for Boris Johnson. This time, it’s all about spending. The prime minister’s inclination is to spend his way out of the pandemic-induced crisis, but Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi…

While the US, the United Kingdom and Russia are expected to sit high on any list of cyber nations, one surprise name also mixes with the best, highlighting the value of having solid allies over technical prowess. Malaysia came in eighth out of 194 states in this year’s Global Cybersecurity Index…

There are two methods and readings for assessing the current state of affairs in the Arab Levant, especially regarding the Palestinian cause. On the surface, they are contradictory, but they are both valid and can be, in all likelihood, combined into a single assessment. The former emphasizes…

For reasons of geography, culture and commerce, no region of the world matters more to the US than Latin America. But because the US has long been such a dominant presence there, the region receives comparatively little attention from Washington — until something goes seriously wrong. That’s why…

In the mid-2000s, I spent two years as senior military assistant to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, acting essentially as his military gatekeeper and translating his orders to the US military via the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Before joining his team, I had been a Navy one-star admiral and…

Singapore says it wants to back away from strict rules to combat Covid-19 and the curbs on commercial and social life that come with them. The reality on the ground shows a lack of conviction. Singapore returned to a lockdown-like state in mid-May as the number of unlinked infections started…

The dilemma is almost as old as vaccines: Can the state coerce citizens to get jabbed in the interests of public health? What about other institutions, such as schools, universities or employers? And if they can mandate shots, should they? Even with the more familiar vaccines against smallpox,…

Facebook Inc. investors celebrated the social media giant’s court victory on Monday in two major antitrust lawsuits by driving the company’s market value above $1 trillion for the first time. But a closer look at the judge’s decision reveals it may just delay the eventual reckoning. It is not an …

“I just want my life back,” said the singer Britney Spears on Wednesday. In 2008, Ms. Spears’s father was granted a conservatorship over her because of concerns about her mental health. According to her testimony last week, the arrangement has been used to force her to go on tour, to undergo…

Judging from the patriotic floral arrangements sprawling over city squares, preparations for the 100th birthday of China’s Communist Party are over the top. Most of the population of 1.4 billion are focused on the big fireworks displays and extravagant parades. But investors, financial bloggers and…

One of the world’s largest financiers of fossil fuels just bought a company that oversees 1.7 million acres of forest in the US, Chile and New Zealand. Is that enough to make it green? The rest of Wall Street may hope so, but the reality is uncertain. Earlier this month, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s …

Why does Iran insist on holding presidential elections while the world watches these elections being rigged on a daily basis during the weeks that precede the day of the vote? The elections’ results were determined weeks before they were held, not because of overwhelming popular support for then…