Latest in Opinion Highlight
Latest in Opinion
Arab Spring, Western Fall
By Shlomo Ben Ami TEL AVIV: The old vocation of what Rudyard Kipling called the “White Man’s Burden” — the driving idea behind the West’s quest for global hegemony from the days of imperial expansion in the nineteenth century to the current, pathetically inconclusive, Libyan intervention — has clearly run out of steam. Politically and …
Reforming Arab police
By Joseph Braude CASABLANCA, Morocco: In much of the Arab world, police are commonly regarded as agents of repression. Hopes for democracy in countries like Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere require that police take on a new role as guardians of the rule of law. That means upholding the principle that everyone, even the head of …
To repay or not to repay debts?
By Jean Pisani-Ferry BRUSSELS: For months now, a fight over sovereign-debt restructuring has been raging between those who insist that Greece must continue to honor its signature and those for whom the country’s debt should be partly canceled. As is often the case in Europe, the crossfire of contradictory official and non-official statements has been …
Confessions of a financial deregulator
By Bradford DeLong BERKELEY: Back in the late 1990s, in America at least, two schools of thought pushed for more financial deregulation — that is, for repealing the legal separation of investment banking from commercial banking, relaxing banks’ capital requirements, and encouraging more aggressive creation and use of derivatives. If deregulation looks like such a …
Europe’s Ukrainian test
By F. Stephen Larrabee and Taras Kuzio WASHINGTON, DC: The recent start of the trial in Kyiv of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the leaders of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution, on charges of abuse of power raises grave concerns about President Viktor Yankovych’s commitment to democracy and the rule of law. In reality, …
Is pornography driving men crazy?
By Naomi Wolf NEW YORK: It is hard to ignore how many highly visible men in recent years (indeed, months) have behaved in sexually self-destructive ways. Some powerful men have long been sexually voracious; unlike today, though, they were far more discreet and generally used much better judgment in order to cover their tracks. Of …
The Israeli uprising
By Naava Mashiah GENEVA: “What Israel now needs is an uprising.” This is the comment I heard on the side-lines of the discussions at a conference called “Enriching the Economic Future of the Middle East VI” that took place in mid-May in Qatar. Over 600 participants from 80 counties gathered to discuss the implications of …
Religion, revolution and two languages
By Dr. William Vendley The elderly Venerable Tep Vong, the Supreme Patriarch of the Buddhist community in Cambodia, traveled to Jaffna in Sri Lanka in the midst of the recent civil war. In a broken city under siege, he joined others — Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christians — to try to bring a peaceful end to …
Ending nuclear evil
By Desmond Tutu CAPE TOWN: Eliminating nuclear weapons is the democratic wish of the world’s people. Yet no nuclear-armed country currently appears to be preparing for a future without these terrifying devices. In fact, all are squandering billions of dollars on modernization of their nuclear forces, making a mockery of United Nations disarmament pledges. If we …
What’s happening to the US economy?
By Martin Feldstein CAMBRIDGE: The American economy has recently slowed dramatically, and the probability of another economic downturn increases with each new round of data. This is a sharp change from the economic situation at the end of last year — and represents a return to the very weak pace of expansion since the recovery began …
A victim of terrorism speaks out
By Bushra Mohsen ANTIOCH, Tennessee: When I recall my life — which I once thought would be normal, as most people assume theirs will be — I tend to divide it into three stages. One of those is the most traumatic, leaving deep wounds that have never ceased to cause me pain and suffering: the death …
Goose bumps, whoppers and polliwogs
By Philip Whitfield Cairo: Through the ages revolutionaries have pondered if lying is acceptable. What would your Mum say to the murderer banging on the door yelling: Is your son home? Latin scholars might suggest: Non est hit, meaning he is not here with me, squirming out of a catch question because Johnny’s eating lunch on …
Too Much Information
By Gareth Evans CANBERRA: As a British court weighs whether Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden, and American prosecutors weigh the criminal charges they will file against Private Bradley Manning, the alleged major source for the disclosures by Assange’s WikiLeaks, global debate continues on whether such revelations do more good than harm. But, too often, …
A Europe of women?
By Dominique Moisi PARIS: Are women in Europe on the verge of becoming an engine for political change? In economic-development circles, experience and common sense suggest that progress, accountability, and hard work start with and depend on women. Micro-credits, for example, are much more efficient when women receive and repay them. Perhaps because they bear children …
Tut-tut Tut doomed or entombed?
By Philip Whitfield CAIRO: Belt tightening isn’t enough. Beggars can’t be choosers, they say when the kitty’s dwindling. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are funding feeding fellahin fuul. Egypt could weigh up some assets worth more than their weight in gold: Tutankhamun? Instead of borrowing into oblivion, turn the tables on the foreign bankers rubbing their hands …
Religion and public space
By Virginie Guiraudon Religious intolerance is a daily reality in Europe. Mainly targeted at Muslims, attacks on religious pluralism focus on refusing to share public space with non-majority religions or only tolerating practices seen as “secular.” The key voices of intolerance are neither marginal nor can they be dismissed as old-style far-right activists. They are today …
The unraveling of Europe’s peace
By Fabrizio Tassinari COPENHAGEN: The European Commission recently unveiled long-awaited measures to bring neighboring countries in the Mediterranean and the former Soviet Union closer to Europe. On the same day, another department of the same Commission presented proposals aimed at curbing visa-waiver programs for some non-European nationals. Few missed the irony of formulating two plans that …
Making the Facebook revolution work for Israelis and Palestinians
By Rami Mehdawi RAMALLAH, West Bank: A few months ago I was standing at the Qalandia checkpoint near Ramallah, waiting for an Israeli journalist from Israel’s Channel One Television who was scheduled to interview me about the Facebook revolution. The wait was long. She on one side, and I on the other. In the end the …
Ban Ki-moon and the age of sustainable development
By Jeffrey Sachs NEW YORK: The world can breathe easier with the reelection this month of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to a second term in office. In a fractious world, global unity is especially vital. During the past five years, Ban Ki-moon has embodied that unity, both in his unique personal diplomacy and in his …
NATO must prevail
By Christopher Hill DENVER: US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ recent prognosis of a “dim” and “dismal” future for NATO has triggered much debate, but it could well prove optimistic. June, it turns out, marks another milestone on the alliance’s uncertain path: its operation in Libya has now surpassed in length the one in Kosovo 12 …
The many faces of Muslim American women
By Bethsaida Nieves MADISON, Wisconsin: What does it mean to be a Muslim woman in America today? In “I Speak for Myself”, 40 Muslim American women share their experiences of growing up in America. Their personal narratives of struggles and triumphs remind us that we share much more in the journey of life than we often …
The great organ bazaar
By Susanne Lundin LUND, SWEDEN: The Web site 88DB.com Philippines is an active online portal that allows service providers and consumers to find and interact with each other. Naoval, an Indonesian man with “AB blood type, no drugs and no alcohol,” wants to sell his kidney. Another man says, “I am a Filipino. I am willing …
Why free trade matters
By Jagdish Bhagwati NEW YORK: Contrary to what skeptics often assert, the case for free trade is robust. It extends not just to overall prosperity (or “aggregate GNP”), but also to distributional outcomes, which makes the free-trade argument morally compelling as well. The link between trade openness and economic prosperity is strong and suggestive. For example, …
Scientific Europe’s imperative
By Helga Nowotny VIENNA: On June 29, the European Commission will present its budget proposal for the next multi-year period, which begins in 2014. It will include items such as the common agricultural policy, regional structural funds, and research and innovation. But how does the European Union envisage using these investments to shape its future? The …
Engaged Saudi youth create positive change
By Lulua Asaad VIENNA: When we read or watch news about the Middle East and North Africa what we hear are politicians gathering to talk about the economy, employment rates or education; or an analyst breaking down headline news stories. What we don’t usually hear about are youth coming together hand-in-hand — regardless of their differences, …
Search for justice continues
By Ghassan Khatib Several important dates have been observed in recent weeks. In one, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became refugees when Israel was created, their lives and futures altered in a way that was catastrophic for the Palestinian nation. The second date that recently passed was the occasion of Israel’s occupation of the rest of …
Free speech under siege
LONDON: Recently, at a literary festival in Britain, I found myself on a panel discussing free speech. For liberals, free speech is a key index of freedom. Democracies stand for free speech; dictatorships suppress it. When we in the West look outward, this remains our view. We condemn governments that silence, imprison, and even …
What we can learn from A Gay Girl in Damascus
By Nada Akl LONDON: The elaborate fiction that was the blog “A Gay Girl in Damascus” by the fictional character Amina Abdullah Arraf Al-Omari left many feeling frustrated, betrayed or outraged. However, beyond the deception there is also a lesson to be learned about Western perception of the Middle East. The real story is not about …
Pulling the plug on Lukashenko
By Mitchell Orenstein WASHINGTON, DC: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is a master of political survival. But, following a recent 64 percent devaluation of the currency, the clock appears to be running out on his prolonged misrule. Lukashenko was forced by the removal of Russian oil-price subsidies in 2009 to beg, borrow, or steal enough funds to …
Religion and the public sphere in India
By Christophe Jaffrelot In contrast to most South Asian countries, modern India has always been officially “secular”, a word the country inscribed in its Constitution in 1976. Secularism, here, is not synonymous with the French “laïcité”, which demands strong separation of religion and the state. India’s secularism does not require exclusion of religion from the public …