World News Insights: Opinion Articles

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…

Higher education in the US has been heading for a shakeout for a long time, and now it has come. Universities are facing a big, long-lasting funding crunch as demand for undergraduate education looks unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels anytime soon. That means schools need to find new ways to…

Water has been generating conflicts and controversies in the US for centuries, but the American West could be heading toward the most severe water shortages and skirmishes in the nation’s history. The latest clash broke out this month along California's border with Oregon in the Klamath River…

Before thousands descended on St. Petersburg for Russia’s annual economic forum this month, the local governor boasted to radio listeners that no one had held a similar-scale event since the pandemic struck. A few days later, President Vladimir Putin told the audience that his country was in a…