America’s Unholy Crusade Against China
Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered an anti-China speech that was extremist, simplistic, and dangerous. If biblical literalists like Pompeo remain in power past November, they could well bring the world to the brink of a war that they expect and perhaps even seek. NEW YORK – Many wh…
A Crash in the Dollar Is Coming
The world is having serious doubts about the once widely accepted presumption of American exceptionalism. The era of the U.S. dollar’s “exorbitant privilege” as the world’s primary reserve currency is coming to an end. Then French Finance Minister Valery Giscard d’Estaing coined that phrase in the 1…
Revisiting the White Swans of 2020
At the start of the year, when COVID-19 was barely on anyone’s radar outside of China, the global economy was entering a fraught phase, facing a range of potentially devastating tail risks. And though the pandemic has since turned the world on its head, all of these threats remain – and some have be…
Emerging Economies Should Build Back Greener
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to stop and think about our impact on the planet, and to imagine the kind of world we want. There is still time for governments to plan for a green recovery, which would also help many of them address existing structural problems. WASHINGTON, DC – While lockdowns …
Why Putin wants Scottish independence
The Russia report was supposed to prove once and for all that the Kremlin rigged the EU referendum, Boris Johnson is an FSB asset and Dominic Cummings a bot operated from Saint Petersburg. Anything but the glum reality that the Leave campaign was more effective than its rival. That is not to say Vla…
A Just Post-Pandemic Transition
Just as unbridled climate change will do serious damage to the economy and its workers – not least by exacerbating natural disasters and contributing to pandemics – so, too, will failure to improve human-capital management and safeguard workers’ wellbeing. That is why both climate action and social …
EU looks to target Big Tech in trade war with America
Europe is ready to get creative to win the next bout of trade war against America. The EU is preparing a law that could allow its executive body, the European Commission, to hit back against U.S. tariffs by imposing sanctions on the intellectual property of companies such as Amazon, Google and Faceb…
Germany’s Altmaier defends Berlin’s muted response to China’s crackdown in Hong Kong
BERLIN — German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier defended Berlin’s refusal to take a tougher line on China’s crackdown in Hong Kong, saying those in favor of a more strident response were ignoring the economic consequences of confronting Beijing. Critics argue that Berlin is following a cynical cours…
The dictatorship next door: Why Serbia’s regime threatens Europe’s credibility
Many European governments and institutions continue to tolerate the regime of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić despite its descent into autocracy, writes Vuk Jeremić. Vuk Jeremić is the president of Serbia’s opposition People’s Party, a liberal-conservative political party, having formerly served …
The Lancet COVID-19 Commission
The COVID-19 pandemic confronts the world with urgent and unsolved challenges. The pandemic marks the third deadly outbreak due to a coronavirus after severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003 and Middle East respiratory syndrome in 2012.1, 2 In the absence of effective testing and contact tra…