World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Will banking meet the sorry fate of newspapers? With the tech industry creeping up on licensed deposit-taking institutions in India, it’s time to take the question seriously. Alphabet Inc.’s Google already provides one of the two most popular payment wallets in the country. But now Google Pay…

There’s some reporting that former President Donald Trump may announce soon that he’s running for the White House again. What — if anything — should we make of that? Early candidacy announcements are usually a sign of weakness. Longshots announce early, and begin campaigning early, because they…

The highly anticipated US jobs report for August should make us feel sorry for those having to navigate through the flood of economic data, be they analysts or, more importantly, policy makers. With another set of data subject to divergent interpretations, the post-pandemic economic landscape…

It’s time for Apple Inc. to get off its easy-money addiction and go for a bigger score: developing its own search engine. For years, the smartphone maker has benefited financially from a lucrative deal in which Alphabet Inc.’s Google paid Apple billions of dollars to be the default search engine…

If former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had been representing his country at the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership, would he have taken the step taken by his successor, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian? In all likelihood, the logical answer would be, no. This is the assumed…

On the morning of Sunday August 15, around 200 of the forces of the special guard of the President of Afghanistan went to the Ministry of Defense. They were there to prepare things for a visit by President Ashraf Ghani. Shortly before, then-defense minister, General Bismillah Mohammadi, had…

Covid-19 vaccines were supposed to be a golden diplomatic opportunity for great powers and aspiring rivals to woo friends — and even enemies — in need. It isn’t going to plan. Russia was the first to approve a vaccine and the most enthusiastic marketer, but has fallen far short of its hyperbolic…

In March, a Chinese military satellite appeared to spontaneously disintegrate in orbit, leaving a trail of debris high above the Earth. If China knew anything, it wasn’t saying. Did the propulsion system explode? Was there a collision with some of the space junk that’s accumulating in orbit? Or did…

To a large extent, the US departure from Afghanistan is similar to its departure from Iraq: after years of military presence, not much of a maintainable legacy is left behind. The fate of Kabul is largely similar to the fate of Mosul, where ISIS overtook the city and much of the Iraqi Army’s…

A month ago I thought I was a cynic about our 20-year war in Afghanistan. Today, after watching our stumbling withdrawal and the swift collapse of practically everything we fought for, my main feeling is that I wasn’t cynical enough. My cynicism consisted of the belief that the American effort…

As of this Thursday, September 2, 389 days have gone since Lebanon last had a government. The August 4 Beirut blast had toppled Hassan Diab's government by the tenth of that month. And those who were designated to form an alternative government have been made to fail: Mustapha Adib and Saad al…

On August 31, President Joe Biden addressed the American public and the world at large, and remarked that having withdrawn troops the night before, we had ended the war in Afghanistan. The decision to disengage he said, was “the best decision for America” and going forward, US foreign policy would…