World News Insights: Opinion Articles

The jump in US consumer prices as the economy began reopening this spring — they rose 4.2% over the 12 months ending in April — has prompted a lot of historical comparisons to the bad old inflationary days of the 1970s. If we’re going to do historical comparisons, though, why stop at the 1970s?…

Wealthy Swedes were among the first to warn that the pandemic would bring crippling social and economic costs. When Covid-19 struck, industrialist Jacob Wallenberg staunchly opposed draconian lockdowns, fearing devastating unemployment and social unrest. That chimed with the Swedish government’s…

On Feb. 18, 1522, a secondhand clothing merchant named Geronimo Bambarara in the crowded Rialto district of Venice came up with a new way of clearing out stock. Instead of selling his goods directly for money, he decided to enter customers in a draw. In exchange for a 1 lira ticket, they might…

We have something new in US politics: a pretender. Former President Donald Trump is still claiming that he really won the election, and is now saying he’ll be “reinstated” to office by August, after an audit of some kind provides proof of voter fraud. Some of his supporters are egging him on;…

President Joe Biden’s blacklist on investment in Chinese companies offers the kind of compromise that could help steady relations, though it likely won’t be enough to inspire Beijing to reciprocate and cool tensions. In releasing an update Thursday to his predecessor’s Executive Order 13959,…

Undoubtedly an expansive question, the future of the Gulf Cooperation Council stands in front of two readings; the first a rational, objective reading with a scientific methodology and data, thereby reflecting reality regardless of the status or sensitivity of the issue. Another reading could more…

High winds have ravaged Iraq for the past 40 years. Wars, persecution, economic sanctions, terrorism and internal strife have threatened its stability and disrupted the well-being of its citizens. However, the most serious future threat facing us is climate change, its economic impact and…

The predicaments that have beleaguered some of the major global oil companies – in courts and within their own boardrooms – have proven beyond doubt that they will no longer be able to ignore the facts of science, rule of law and the pressure of public opinion. The recent developments also…

India’s internet future — free and open, or stymied and controlled — may be decided by a 224-page lawsuit filed by WhatsApp last week. Saying that it wanted to curb fake news, revenge porn and other ills, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government introduced new rules in February that would…

Zoom Video Communications Inc., maker of the ubiquitous videoconferencing tool that made a global pandemic less isolating, just reported another quarter of explosive growth. While its business may not continue to soar quite so much, Zoom is well positioned, appears to have a loyal fan base and…

Ever since President Joe Biden ordered US intelligence agencies to investigate reports that the Covid-19 virus might have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, commentators have argued over what difference it makes if the theory turns out to be right. Here’s why the answer matters: The discovery…

At the end of the fifth round of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear deal in Vienna between the P4+1 countries and Iran, the parties to the deal hadn’t concluded an agreement. But they preferred not to admit this round’s failure and chose to spread the rumor of a positive climate. For its part,…