Argument
An expert’s point of view on a current event.
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House Speaker Paul Ryan listens to US President-elect Donald Trump speak to the press at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on November 10, 2016. / AFP / NICHOLAS KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images) Can the GOP Stomach Trump’s Economic Plan?
Republicans are running a united government, but are deeply divided over the new administration’s stated priorities.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he delivers a speech on December 20, 2016 in Istanbul, during the opening cerenomy of the Avrasya (Eurasia) Tunnel, the first ever road tunnel underneath the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul from Europe to Asia and the latest project in the Erdogan's plan of transforming Turkey's infrastructure. Turkey in October 2013 opened the Marmaray rail tunnel underneath the iconic waterway, the first link beneath the waters that divide Europe and Asia. But the new Avrasya (Eurasia) Tunnel is the first tunnel for cars underneath the Bosphorus and aims to relieve congestion in the traffic-clogged Turkish megacity. Other schemes, which Erdogan boasts are his "crazy projects", include a gigantic third airport for Istanbul, the first ever bridge across the Dardanelles straits and even a Suez-style shipping canal for Istanbul. / AFP / OZAN KOSE (Photo credit should read OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images) Stop Victim-Blaming Erdogan for ISIS
Turkey deserves the world’s sympathy, not scorn, for becoming the Islamic State’s next big target.
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LAGOS, NIGERIA - SEPTEMBER 12: Muslims perform the Eid Al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) prayer at Center mosque in Lagos, Nigeria on September 12, 2016. Muslims worldwide celebrate Eid Al-Adha, to commemorate the holy Prophet Ibrahims (Prophet Abraham) readiness to sacrifice his son as a sign of his obedience to God, during which they sacrifice permissible animals, generally goats, sheep, and cows. Eid-al Adha is the one of two most important holidays in the Islamic calendar, with prayers and the ritual sacrifice of animals. (Photo by Sodiq Adelakun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) Only Religion Can Defuse Nigeria’s Demographic Time Bomb
Rapid population growth isn’t an economic opportunity — it’s a looming disaster that politicians are powerless to stop.
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A Chinese worker fixes pipes at a construction site in the capital Khartoum on February 2, 2012. Africa, where China has emerged as a major funder of infrastructure projects, is growing particularly attractive for migrant workers seeking to earn good money, but the work does not go without its share of risks, as was illustrated last week by the abduction of the road-builders in Sudan and the technicians and engineers working for a military-owned cement factory in Egypt. AFP PHOTO/ASHRAF SHAZLY (Photo credit should read ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images) China’s New Silk Road Is Getting Muddy
The 'One Road, One Belt' initiative looks good on paper, but could become a costly mess on the ground.
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Boys pose with placards as they take part in a peace rally on November 18, 2016, in the northern part of Nicosia, in the self proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Crunch UN-backed Cyprus reunification talks in Switzerland resume on November 20 with hopes that a breakthrough can be achieved this time around. Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and his Turkish-Cypriot counterpart Mustafa Akinci agreed to resume their discussions in the Swiss resort of Mont Pelerin for a crucial deal on territory. / AFP / Birol BEBEK (Photo credit should read BIROL BEBEK/AFP/Getty Images) The First Good News of 2017 Might Come from … Cyprus?
Economics, geopolitics, and a transitioning American administration have combined to produce a potential breakthrough in one of the longest running frozen conflicts in Europe.
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TOKYO, JAPAN - DECEMBER 30: Vendor try to sell his goods as japanese people prepare to celebrate the New Year at Yameyoko-cho and Uechu, the most famous and the oldest New Year Tokyo Markets, in Tokyo, Japan on December 30, 2015. (Photo by David Mareuil/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) Abe Wants to Be the Last Free Trade Samurai
Tokyo's ready to pick up the banner of the TPP abandoned by Trump -- if China lets it.
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A Pakistani resident reads a newspaper with coverage of Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, in Islamabad on November 10, 2016. / AFP / AAMIR QURESHI (Photo credit should read AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images) Pakistan Needs a Dose of Trump’s Madman Diplomacy
The next president’s erratic blustering might be just crazy enough to work in Islamabad.
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TOPSHOT - Republican presidential elect Donald Trump speaks during election night at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York on November 9, 2016. / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) How Trump Can Play Nice With Russia, Without Selling Out America
There’s no one playbook for dealing with Moscow. But if Trump doesn’t figure out which his is, before shooting from the hip, it could be deadly.
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Cambodian protesters burn Vietnamese flags during a protest in front of the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh on October 8, 2014. Cambodian protesters demanded Vietnam to recognise that Kampuchea Krom, which is now a part of Vietnam, is Cambodia's former territory. AFP PHOTO/ TANG CHHIN SOTHY (Photo credit should read TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images) Cambodia Wants China as Its Neighborhood Bully
Phnom Penh's pivot toward Beijing has less to do with the United States than hatred for Vietnam.
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UNSPECIFIED, UNSPECIFIED - JANUARY 07: A U.S. Air Force pilot (L), and a censor operator (R), prepare to launch a MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), from a ground control station at a secret air base in the Persian Gulf region on January 7, 2016. The U.S. military and coalition forces use the base, located in an undisclosed location, to launch drone airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, as well as transport cargo and troops supporting Operation Inherent Resolve. The Predators at the base are operated and maintained by the 46th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, currently attached to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) Can Trump Unravel Obama’s Rules of War?
The codification of the use of legal force against terrorist targets has been a pillar of the Obama administration. Walking a new tough line might not be so easy.
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TOPSHOT - US President Barack Obama leaves after an event celebrating the Villanova Wildcats men's basketball 2016 NCAA championship win in the East Room of the White House May 31, 2016 in Washington, DC. / AFP / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) Barack Obama’s Shaky Legacy on Human Rights
For all his promises — and a Nobel Peace Prize — the Obama presidency delivered more hope than change.
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A Syrian man carries two girls covered with dust following a reported air strike by government forces on July 9, 2014 in the northern city of Aleppo. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, by May some 2,000 civilians including 500 children had been killed in the daily air strikes, which rights groups have condemned as a "war crime" for failing to discriminate between military and civilian targets. AFP PHOTO /AMC/ZEIN AL-RIFAI (Photo credit should read ZEIN AL-RIFAI/AFP/Getty Images) Aleppo’s Survivors Have Nowhere to Go
They managed to escape a hellish warzone, but are now trapped in purgatory.
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xi_trump Trump and Xi Need a Timeout
A mutually agreed-upon diplomatic break would allow both leaders to focus on making their countries great again.
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A security officer assists former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea at the tribunal in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh on February 4, 2008. Nuon Chea sought to delay his first public hearing before Cambodia's genocide tribunal, saying that he needed his foreign lawyer to appeal his detention by the court. AFP PHOTO / POOL/ CHOR SOKOUNTHEA (Photo credit should read CHOR SOKOUNTHEA/AFP/Getty Images) Cambodians Need Somebody to Speak for Their Ghosts
The U.N. tribunal that just upheld Khmer Rouge convictions is slow, biased -- and entirely indispensable.
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gettyimages-494175740crop Poland Was Never as Democratic as It Looked
The EU’s membership conditions only dressed up illiberal societies in democrats' clothing. Now we’re seeing the fallout.
