The darkest day of Joe Biden’s presidency
A frantic, somber day in the West Wing as attacks in Kabul resulted in the death of at least 12 U.S. service members. An already perilous withdrawal of U.S. personnel and allies from Afghanistan turned into something much darker on Thursday as the kind of catastrophe President Joe Biden had been war…
Afghan takeover reminds Europe: It has no unified refugee plan
The mere prospect of Afghan migrants heading to Europe’s shores is forcing the Continent to confront its Achilles’ heel: It has never settled a bitter dispute over how to handle asylum seekers. Six years ago, the European Union descended into in-fighting as it struggled to process asylum seekers fle…
America’s New Great-Power Strategy
States had a grand strategy focused on containing the power of the Soviet Union. Yet by the 1990s, following the Soviet Union’s collapse, America had been deprived of that pole star. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, US President George W. Bush’s administration tried to fill the void …
Reforming global fossil fuel subsidies: How the United States can restart international cooperation
Globally, governments spend more than $500 billion on subsidies for fossil fuels that contribute to inefficiency, inequity, and negative externalities. Despite this obvious problem, efforts at reforming fossil fuel subsidies across the world have been piecemeal. If countries are to achieve the decar…
In Bitcoin We Trust?
LONDON – Many regard the market for Bitcoin – the world’s leading cryptocurrency – as a game of winners and losers played out among hedge funds, amateur investors, geeks, and criminals. The huge risk inherent in a highly volatile anonymous digital currency is best left to those who understand the ga…
Congo’s latest killer is the climate crisis. Inaction is unthinkable
For thousands of years, Lake Tanganyika was an exquisite sight that soothed and supported generations of Congolese people. Those living by its shores in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have snoozed in hammocks under the tropical sun, watching their children splash in Africa’s …
Macron and Le Pen lose out as French voters shun local elections
Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally both failed to garner expected support in French regional elections that saw an unprecedented rate of abstention. The president and his government failed to mobilise supporters, with an estimated 68% of voters shunning the…
Biden Can Keep the Two-State Solution Alive
President Joe Biden and his team came into office understandably hoping to deprioritize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They saw Washington-led negotiations as a trap that had ensnared previous U.S. administrations, and the prospects for progress looked bleaker than ever. But some issues can’t be …
Modern Factors Determining the Future of Healthcare
Being one of the most turbulent years in the last few decades, 2020 brought life changing events on a global scale. The outcome is still uncertain, but the implementation of some old-new solution to the functioning models in various industries seems very likely. Notably, in healthcare, the change mi…
The Logic of Effective Climate Action
BERKELEY – In his classic book, The Logic of Collective Action, the late great Mancur Olson explained that the hardest policies to implement are those with diffuse benefits and concentrated costs. Olson’s argument was straightforward: individuals bearing the costs will vigorously oppose the policy, …