Spewing particles into the skies to block sunlight, releasing chemicals into the oceans to encourage plankton growth and carbon absorption, are just two examples of how geoengineering technologies might ease impacts of climate change. The interventions, still being tested, would be temporary and...
SINGAPORE: Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines exploded in 1991 with terrifying effects. It was the second-largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century and by far the biggest in a densely populated area.
Advanced warning saved thousands of lives...
Fort McMurray, built around Canada’s oil sands industry, is engulfed by wildfires, prompting evacuation of the almost 90,000 residents. Thousands of homes were destroyed with damages already estimated at near $1 billion. The tragedy, suggests economist Todd Hirsch, offers a reminder on social...
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Todd Hirsch is the Calgary-based chief economist of ATB Financial and author of The Boiling Frog Dilemma: Saving Canada from Economic Decline.
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made the decision to present terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and Iraq as a linked triple threat. Susan Moeller, professor of media and international affairs at the University of...
White House press room: The US media listened too much to the White House and ignored independent experts.
WASHINGTON: Although Americans were already shivering from frissons of fear provoked by the post -...
The European Union has a lingering problem with some members taking on excessive debt. In turn, economic woes fuel resentment against more disciplined members, suggesting that some loans could go unpaid. “The danger emanating from the current, out-of-control situation doesn't just come from...
A sizable number of Europeans have protested immigration in general and specifically the arrival of thousands of refugees from Syria, Iraq and other conflict zones. Concerns run high about security, competition for jobs and a changing culture, and some countries have erected barriers in response....
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Despite the spread of disease and exploitation, the rise of global forces has not been all bad for the estimated 350 million indigenous people around the world, says Foreign Policy editor Moises Naim. In fact, in can also empower them. Across Latin America, Naim says, "constitutional changes...
At a recent gathering attended by various Latin American heads of state, new Brazilian President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva commented that his supporters, the workers of Brazil, had waited for decades to influence...
The coronavirus and economic challenges notwithstanding, China’s leaders are ambitious, determined to be second to none. For now, the Chinese Communist Party is intent to avoid the fate of the Soviet Union, which rose in December 1922 and fell in December 1991. Modern China, impoverished in 1949,...
Watchful leadership: Party Secretary General Xi Jinping reviews troops in Tiananmen Square and a multitude of CCTV cameras keep a watchful eye
STOCKHOLM: China has entered a “third era” with President Xi Jinping placing himself in the same firmament...
With globalization, most anticipate an inter-connected world with greater understanding of multiple cultures more than ever before. Author Martin Jacques argues that this assumption is at odds with the tone of globalization, based on a “one-size-fits-all” model of western cultural imperialism....
I have just read Ruth Benedict's “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword.” It is a classic. Published in 1947, it analyses the nature of Japanese culture. Almost 60 years and many books later, it remains a seminal work. Like...
