World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Last February when the new Biden administration launched its promised bid for a revival of the Obama “nuke deal” with the Islamic Republic, apologists described it as an attempt at preventing another Middle Eastern war. This echoed the old mantra that in dealing with the Khomeinist regime, the…

China has two problems with opposite momentums — one of seemingly irreversible shrinkage; the other of uncontrollable sprawl. The first has been written about a lot recently: The slowing population growth that threatens the country’s economy. It’s hard for the government to convince people not to…

With his shock of uncombed blonde hair, national tour calling for a “hard” Brexit and ability to inspire confidence in ordinary people, it’s hard to overstate the impact that one person’s enthusiasm had on British public opinion toward leaving the European Union. No, not Boris Johnson. That…

Last month my home state of Virginia lifted its mask mandate, at least for fully vaccinated people and subject to some modest qualifications. My employer, a public university, followed suit. At the same time, the stores and restaurants I frequent have continued their mandates without…

Lebanon's suffering from one of the world’s three worst economic crises since the middle of the nineteenth century has not provided an incentive sufficient to compel the political clique imposing its control over the country to take steps to prevent the exacerbation of the comprehensive collapse. …

How worried should we be about the state of democracy in the US? A group of leading political scientists who study the issue say: a lot. A whole lot. In fact, they say: “our entire democracy is now at risk.” They’re correct. If they had asked me, I would’ve signed on. The problem is easy enough…

A lawsuit in Texas is challenging a hospital’s requirement that its employees get vaccinated against Covid-19 before returning to work. The case isn’t going anywhere, legally speaking. But the central claim is worth examining because it’s at the core of a lot of vaccine hesitation. The Texas…

Zoom Video Communications Inc. is becoming less exciting. That will serve the videoconferencing leader just fine. Late Tuesday, the company posted its second consecutive quarter of modest outperformance. It generated April-quarter revenue of $956 million, above the $910 million Bloomberg…

As Britain basked in a mini-heatwave over the long weekend, you could have almost forgotten there were any remaining Covid-19 restrictions on pubs and restaurants. But social distancing, mandatory table service and a ban on groups larger than six are still in place in England until June 21,…

The Palestinian cause's huge gains, manifested in shifts in global public opinion, deserve to be celebrated and inspire optimism. Optimism not only regarding the Palestinians' rights but also justice in the world we live in and its propensity for transformation. But this gain seeks Palestinian…

More than a few dystopian fantasies depict a future in which humanity’s water supply derives from recycled human waste. As Frank Herbert imagined it in his 1965 novel "Dune" — now a much-anticipated fall 2021 blockbuster — the humans inhabiting a dessicated, rainless planet must wear “stillsuits”—…

If China hopes to avert a fall in its population by raising the maximum number of children per mother from two to three, it’s going to have its work cut out. That’s because declining fertility, once started, tends to be an inexorable force that few nations have managed to arrest, let alone…