World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Inflation is coming. Or wait, it’s already here. Bond investors are looking at the 4.2% annual rate that US consumer prices jumped to in April and wondering if it’s all because of depressed levels from last year. Could it be that the Federal Reserve is wrong about higher prices being transitory? …

Andy Mukherjee

One can hardly blame people for being worried about the new Covid-19 vaccines when there are so many anecdotal reports of weird side effects — including women experiencing disturbing changes in their menstrual cycles. Reports of early and unusually heavy periods or other irregularities were…

Faye Flam

Complacency, populism and poor infrastructure fueled a devastating second wave of Covid-19 in India, a disaster that has infected millions and wrought havoc well beyond its borders thanks to a new, more contagious variant. But none of those failings are unique to the country. So why are we not…

Clara Ferreira Marques

Perhaps the worst thing anyone in the upper echelons of government can do is fail to distinguish between their personal opinions and convictions and between those of their country, creating a great deal of confusion. Why are some Lebanese so keen on ruining their country's relationship with its…

Zuhair Al-Harthi

Early in the 20th century, it was not uncommon for children to suffer the agonies of infectious diseases or witness family members who did. Children got terribly sick and died at home. Their survivors — including some of our grandparents and great-grandparents — were intimately acquainted with the…

Nina Burleigh

If you oppose war crimes only by your enemies, it’s not clear that you actually oppose war crimes. That’s a thought worth wrestling with as many experts suggest that both Hamas and Israel were engaged in crimes of war in the Gaza conflict. For the same reason that we deplore Hamas’s shelling of…

Nicholas Kristof

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet met this week to debate whether to approve the terms of a free-trade agreement with Australia. What, you might wonder, could be less controversial? After all, there’s nothing more Brexity than free trade. In a set-piece speech in early 2020, Johnson…

Therese Raphael

The Covid-19 pandemic seems to be ending almost as abruptly as it began. Across the US, states are dropping restrictions on business activity and people are resuming normal lives. Throughout the pandemic, there’s been evidence that remote work has increased the productivity of some workers and…

Michael R. Strain

All eyes are on the Iranian Guardian Council, which decides which candidates are qualified to continue the presidential race. Its 12 members will draw the contours of the next Iranian president, leaving the electorate with a pseudo-superficial right to vote only after the Council had determined…

Mustafa Fahs

Within days the all-powerful Council of the guardians of the Constitution is expected to publish the list of “approved candidates” for next month’s presidential election in the Islamic Republic in Iran. According to official reports a total of 592 men and one woman have filled the forms for…

Amir Taheri

Queen Elizabeth had a problem, and it was not Meghan and Harry. This was the first Queen Elizabeth, who ruled from 1558 to 1603. Her problem was Spain. The Catholic Spanish Empire continually threated Protestant England, using vast resources flowing into the Spanish coffers from the colonies in the…

James Stavridis

There are more than 10 effective Covid-19 vaccines in use around the world, so it's easy to forget those still in development. That's a mistake. These candidates may be taking longer to arrive, but they're essential to the pandemic fight. Most of the world is still unvaccinated, keeping the virus…

Max Nisen