Opinion
An Education Crisis for All Monday, July 15th, 2019
Aichetou, a 14-year-old girl, lives on the outskirts of Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, in Africa’s Sahel region. Every day, she makes a difficult trek through the sand to get to a school with no drinking water or sanitation, where she barely learns, owing to a lack of textbooks and..
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Boris Johnson and the Threat to British Soft Power
Since the United Kingdom’s Department of International Development (DFID) was created 22 years ago, it has lifted millions out of poverty, sent millions of children to school, and saved millions of lives through vaccination programs and other innovative initiatives. Most recently, it has been a..
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The Resigning Ambassador: Sir Kim Darroch on Donald Trump Saturday, July 13th, 2019
Rarely do ambassadors resign after an intense self-assessment of worth. Diplomatic immunity does not merely extend to protecting the official from the reach of local laws; it encourages a degree of freedom in engaging as a country’s representative. Sir Kim Darroch, as UK ambassador to the United..
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What America Needs to Understand About Capitalism Friday, July 12th, 2019
The candidates in the 2020 US presidential race are proposing an array of economic policies frequently described as either free-market or socialist. These labels often confuse the American public. In particular, capitalism is widely – and wrongly – understood to be synonymous with free markets...
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No Excuse for Violence Against Children Thursday, July 11th, 2019
At the World Health Assembly in May, we made the case for why governments and United Nations agencies need to spend more on measures to prevent noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), injury, and violence against children. One of us – Zoleka Mandela – spoke of losing her 13-year-old daughter to a..
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How to Regulate the Internet Wednesday, July 10th, 2019
The only topic uniting right and left in the United States these days is “techlash”: everyone seems to agree that the time has come for federal regulation of digital platforms. The question is no longer if, but how. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the highest-ranking..
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What’s Driving Populism? Tuesday, July 9th, 2019
Is it culture or economics? That question frames much of the debate about contemporary populism. Are Donald Trump’s presidency, Brexit, and the rise of right-wing nativist political parties in continental Europe the consequence of a deepening rift in values between social conservatives and social..
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Could the Democrats Blow It?
The unprecedentedly large number of candidates – 25 at last count – for the Democratic nomination to take on US President Donald Trump in 2020 has led to an awkward opening to the contest. The number of contenders will drop as the qualifications for participating in party debates tighten..
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Europe’s 5G Wake-Up Call Monday, July 8th, 2019
How times change. Not so long ago, the next big thing in telecommunications was 4G mobile networks, which promised massive data transfers and cheap voice calls. Now comes 5G, which will potentially spur all sorts of new digital innovations, thanks to its greater speed (200 times faster than 4G),..
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The Case for a World Carbon Bank
Although much derided by climate-change deniers, not least US President Donald Trump, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal hits the nail on the head with its urgent call for the United States to lead by example on global warming. But the sad truth is that, for all the needless waste produced..
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A Digital Path to Health for All Saturday, July 6th, 2019
Global leaders at the recent annual gathering of the World Health Assembly in Geneva expressed worry and optimism in almost equal measure. Delegates at the Assembly – the decision-making body of the World Health Organization – likened the scope of the world’s health crisis to that of the..
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Toward a Euro-Pacific Partnership Friday, July 5th, 2019
Thanks to the efforts of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the recent G20 summit in Osaka avoided the worst possible outcomes. That counts as a victory in the age of US President Donald Trump. Among other things, G20 leaders issued a final communiqué affirming the importance of free and open..
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How Honest Are We?
You have lost your wallet. Inside are your business cards with your email address. How likely is it that you will receive a message telling you that it has been found? If the wallet has money in it, does that improve, or reduce, the odds that you will get it back, with its contents intact? To ask..
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Going Nuclear in the Antipodes: Australia’s Megadeath Complex Thursday, July 4th, 2019
The antipodes has had a fraught relationship with the nuclear option. At the distant ends of the earth, New Zealand took a stand against the death complex, assuming the forefront of restricting the deployment of nuclear assets in its proximity. This drove Australia bonkers with moral envy and..
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The Next Phase of Trump’s Trade War with China
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping may have agreed at the G20 summit in Osaka to resume trade negotiations, but the path to ending the trade war remains far from clear. After all, the two leaders reached a similar agreement at the previous G20 summit – in Buenos Aires last..
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Cambodia Throws a Wrench into Trump’s Trade War Wednesday, July 3rd, 2019
The US Department of Homeland Security has fined several companies for evading President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports from China by rerouting them through Cambodia’s Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone. The Chinese-owned SSEZ highlights how Cambodia, acting as China’s compliant and..
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Mexico’s Migration Mistake
Last month, US President Donald Trump’s administration railroaded Mexico into agreeing to take “unprecedented steps” to curb irregular migration and human trafficking across its borders. The deal – the implementation of which will be evaluated this month – is shameful for Mexico and the..
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Facebook, Funny Money and Libra Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019
In this squalid era of compromised data and hollowed privacy, it would be fitting that the company largely responsible for such mishaps would steer another technological innovation. Distractions are needed, and while Mark Zuckerberg cannot launch missiles, as yet, he can certainly launch platforms..
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The US Is Still Needed in Syria
While the world frets about a possible conflict between the United States and Iran, the bloodshed in Syria is escalating once again. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has intensified its onslaught against the remaining opposition stronghold in Idlib Province, which is home to some three..
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The Exploitation Time Bomb Tuesday, July 16th, 2019
Since reducing inequality became an official goal of the international community, income disparities have widened. This trend, typically blamed on trade liberalization..
WHO IS CHINA TO APPOINT NEXT THE DALAI LAMA ? Monday, July 15th, 2019
A Test Match with the Taliban Monday, July 15th, 2019
The UN’s Free Speech Problem Sunday, July 14th, 2019
