A virtual unknown to most of the world a few days ago, Belarusian sprinter Kristina Timanovskaya is now at the center of an Olympic drama that has spilled over into the realm of geopolitics.
Category: Ideas
EU membership is not in line with Poland’s values, say the current ruling party. Will that mean Poland’s Exit (Polexit) from the European Union? Everything is riding on where the long-serving conservative government of PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński will do as they run counter to popular opinion on the EU question.
Why must I feel like a washed-up nobody just because I have no need for a new “data plan”? All I want to do is make (and pay for) a simple phone call.
Due to climate change and pollution, entire neighborhoods and cities on the continent are destined to vanish. A new vision of African urbanism is needed to replace the illusion of the “city without limits.”
-OpEd- “Do you get how big this is? It’s been two hours now…” No, I didn’t get how big it was. Mostly, I was amazed that Daniel was both speaking in full sentences and making eye contact — I’d only ever seen him muted and bent over his computer screen scrolling through graphs and columns. […]
When it comes to food, the fears linked to globalization must be put into perspective. They must also be weighed against the negative effects that Belgian protectionism could have on our economy.
A stand-up comedian in China recently used the term “single panic” to describe fears among women about being alone, and the words have since resonated in online discussions. The “panic” is a product, the female comedian pointed out, of pressure and prejudices in Chinese society against single women. The only way for single women to […]
BERLIN – Now, in the opera, there are Black people portraying Germanic gods, Russians appearing as Chinese people, and Don Giovanni may even be played by a trans woman. If ethnically correct casts are required to be politically correct, this would mean the end for many classics and several would become unemployed. Trinidadian-born soprano Jeanine […]
Keen to revive the 2015 nuclear pact, Washington and its allies are turning a blind eye to what’s really taking place in the Islamic Republic.
The pandemic has exacerbated tensions within the petroleum cartel, eroded Saudi Arabia’s hegemony, and led to shifting internal alliances. An era may be over.
From global politics to the pandemic, problems abound for the Tokyo Games. Next year, when Beijing hosts the Winter Olympics, things could get messier still.
Op-Ed INDIA — I don’t watch many Netflix programs, but a series recommended by my cousin has struck me like a bolt of lightning. Called How to Become a Tyrant, it presents what it calls “a playbook for absolute power.” Much of it is tongue-in-cheek, yet it’s based on the actual tactics and strategies used by Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong, Muammar Gaddafi, Kim Il-sung, Idi Amin and Saddam Hussein. So if you take it seriously, it tells you what you must do if you aspire to be India’s tanashah. And the remarkable thing is it feels uncannily like […]
North Africa correspondent Frédéric Bobin analyzes Tunisian President Kais Saied’s recent decision to suspend parliament and sack Prime Minister Mechichi and what it means for the legacy of the Arab Spring — for Tunisia and for the region.
Mexico’s socialist president is determined to restore a ‘strong’ presidency he believes will put things right in Mexico. To many, he is starting to look like another tropical dictator of sort.
Germany and the U.S. have agreed on a compromise to complete the gas pipeline — or rather, the Americans have submitted to Angela Merkel, who in turn had a farewell gift for Russia.
If someone is unhappy, that’s one thing. But if a city is unhappy, that means something very different.
The EU parliament has passed a resolution that condemns Hungary’s anti-LGBT law and could allow them to initiate legal action against the Hungarian government. The potentially life-threatening consequences of the law are already clear.
A new high-end food retailer, Gourmet, is helping reshape Egypt’s supermarket industry.
Aspects of discredited Israeli policies are being imitated in a country half a continent away.
The Northeast is the Chinese equivalent to Greece …
Cuba’s dissident artists are challenging not just the communist state’s repression, but also its claim to be the socio-cultural guide for the nation.
As the first coronavirus wave finally abated late last spring, experts warned us that the pandemic was far from over. Second and third (and more) waves were likely, and new restrictions would be necessary to limit the death toll. There was only one sure way out of these pandemic times, a vaccine, which could take […]
The Russian president’s article on the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union can be read on multiple levels. But one thing is sure, his mind is fixed on the future.
The arch-conservative Ibrahim Raisi’s election to the Iranian presidency is pushing its regime closer to Russia and farther from the West — and leaving a big question mark on relations with China.
BERLIN — It was late May, as 10,000 spectators arrived at Barthélemy Boganda Stadium in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, for a special film premiere. There was a red carpet for the VIPs arriving for the film “Tourist” — a feature that glorifies the use of Russian mercenaries, who heroically defend the […]
Was this the last media ready to take on the regime in Bejing?
In the latest Palestinian uprising, the greatest accomplishment has been to demonstrate the actuality of liberation.
Heated debate over an ‘Islam Map’ is drawing new attention to the center-right government’s aggressive policy, which some in Germany now see as a model.
The Euro 2021 Football competition is a reminder that European integration can take many forms.
Think about what other *advice the government is giving people…
On the Internet, Russian trolls are attacking the top candidate of the German Greens in the worst possible way. Attacks on Annalena Baerbock and other Green politicians also come from Turkey. Behind this is the concern about a green foreign policy.
Argentine President Fernández’s suggestion that Argentines were more European than others from the region was a sorry bid to ingratiate himself with Europe — and so typically Latin American.
The U.S. president is taking a leadership role among western democracies that was sorely missed. But these complicated times also call for a Europe that does more than just cheer from the sidelines.
Nine months after the military installed a new interim leader, a young colonel has again taken over the country in what looks like pure power play. But it may not be so simple, and Malians and international allies alike worry about what happens next.
Peru’s two presidential candidates are far from reassuring in their democratic commitments, but in a country that fought a civil war with Maoists, the communist-style Pedro Castillo may be the bigger threat.
Staying updated with the news has become a way to pass time, but there are real effects on the health of the polity.
Western media like to run headlines warning of a “new Cold War” every time a new conflict or act of repression occurs in post-Soviet authoritarian, But Belarus’ brazen intercepting of a Ryanair jet is something that never would have happened on either sid
Even as other Muslim leaders were treading more carefully on the Palestinian question, Turkey’s leader knows no better way to express his global ambitions than a frontal assault on Israel.
From Malaysia, where she now lives, writer Mythily Nair laments the cold attitutes of some fellow diaspora members toward the catastrophic second wave washing over India right now.
Proposed Italian legislation to punish public acts of homophobia continues to be blocked by both the Catholic Church and right-wing politicians. But the country’s most popular rapper has entered the debate.