Argument

An expert’s point of view on a current event.

  • Kazem Gharib Abadi, Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, gives a press conference after the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors meeting in Vienna on July 10.
    Kazem Gharib Abadi, Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, gives a press conference after the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors meeting in Vienna on July 10.

    Iran’s Breach Too Far

    Thanks to its advances in nuclear technology, the country may be closer to a bomb than ever.

  • Workers install electric wires at the Khazir refugee camp west of Erbil on Nov. 21, 2016.
    Workers install electric wires at the Khazir refugee camp west of Erbil on Nov. 21, 2016.

    How to Keep the Lights on in Kurdistan

    Caught between the United States and Iran, Iraq is facing deep energy insecurity. In Kurdistan, the solution may be solar power.

  • Liu Yifei  in Disney’s live-action Mulan.
    Liu Yifei in Disney’s live-action Mulan.

    Let a Thousand Mulans Bloom

    The upcoming Disney film is already a cultural battleground. But China’s most famous heroine thrives in many tellings.

  • Syrian youths walk past a billboard showing a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wearing sunglasses while dressed in a Field Marshal's camouflage fatigues, on display in the centre of the capital Damascus on July 9, 2018, with a caption below reading in Arabic: "If the country's dust speaks, it will say Bashar al-Assad."
    Syrian youths walk past a billboard showing a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wearing sunglasses while dressed in a Field Marshal's camouflage fatigues, on display in the centre of the capital Damascus on July 9, 2018, with a caption below reading in Arabic: "If the country's dust speaks, it will say Bashar al-Assad."

    Assad Hasn’t Won Anything

    After years of bloody warfare, it’s time to recognize what the Syrian dictator rules over: a chronically violent and chaotic failed state.

  • A scene from season 1 of HBO’s 'Chernobyl.'
    A scene from season 1 of HBO’s 'Chernobyl.'

    ‘Chernobyl’ Shows How the Soviets Squashed Scientists

    The brutal legacy of industrialization left the “scientific-technical intelligentsia” in the cold.

  • Saudi officials welcome then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in Riyadh on October 27, 2011, upon his arrival with a U.S. delegation.
    Saudi officials welcome then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in Riyadh on October 27, 2011, upon his arrival with a U.S. delegation.

    Can’t Buy Mohammed bin Salman Love

    After years of denouncing Obama and cozying up to Trump, Saudi Arabia is trying to resurrect its influence among Democrats in advance of the 2020 election. It won’t work.

Loading graphics