Showing 1 - 10 of 117
Berlin bathers demand lifting of swimming ban in Spree river
AFP, Published on 13/08/2025
» BERLIN - Hundreds of Berliners gathered to take a dip in the Spree river Tuesday to protest a 100-year-old ban on swimming in the city's main waterway.
How to try and negotiate with Donald Trump
Oped, Koichi Hamada, Published on 16/07/2025
» Since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, it has been virtually impossible to keep up with all the extreme measures, incendiary rhetoric, personnel changes, policy reversals, and breaches of rules and norms, from intelligence leaks to defiance of court orders. That is by design: like European fascists in the twentieth century, Mr Trump knows that it is far easier to manipulate and suppress an overwhelmed, divided, and disoriented public than an informed, engaged, and assured one.
Protectionism will not protect
Oped, Published on 16/05/2025
» As many Global North countries turn inwards, foreign assistance has become an easy target. The decimation of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has dominated headlines, but the United Kingdom and many European countries have also cut their foreign-aid budgets. Policymakers in these countries view this spending as a form of charity and think that bolstering their economic and military might can deliver more benefits for more people.
Why global governance is failing badly
Oped, Published on 14/03/2025
» The United Nations was established in 1945, succeeding the failed League of Nations, to pull humanity back from the brink of self-destruction. It was a bold experiment in collective security, designed to prevent another world war and manage conflicts through diplomacy rather than violence.
Make America Great Again heads to Panama
Oped, Published on 04/01/2025
» US President-elect Donald Trump clearly does not intend to pursue a "good neighbour" policy. He has been mocking Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by calling him "governor" while proclaiming that a country of 40 million people should become the 51st US state. His first telephone conversation with Mexico's new president, Claudia Scheinbaum, had to be followed by Ms Scheinbaum politely saying that she had agreed to none of the terms Mr Trump claimed that she had.
India needs big businesses to break through
News, Published on 02/09/2024
» At a time of growing doubts about China's economic prospects, India's rise has been attracting increasing attention, with some predicting that the country will become the developing world's next economic superstar. Whether you believe India can be the "next China", however, may depend on whether you subscribe more to "young" or "old" Schumpeterian logic.
Are all of us ready for AI creative destruction?
Oped, Published on 24/04/2024
» The ancient Chinese concept of yin and yang attests to humans' tendency to see patterns of interlocked opposites in the world around us, a predilection that has lent itself to various theories of natural cycles in social and economic phenomena. Just as the great medieval Arab philosopher Ibn Khaldun saw the path of an empire's eventual collapse imprinted in its ascent, the twentieth-century economist Nikolai Kondratiev postulated that the modern global economy moves in "long wave" super-cycles.
RBSO Honors International Women's Day with Musical Celebration
Published on 08/03/2024
» The Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra Foundation, in collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Ministry of Culture – Department of Cultural Promotion, and B. Grimm Group Ltd., is set to perform a concert at 7:30 pm on the 9th of March at the Thailand Cultural Centre to mark this auspicious occasion, honouring Her Royal Highness Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. International Women's Day is a day dedicated to recognizing women for their achievements. HRH has long been passionate about the arts and culture, and the RBSO acknowledges the positive contributions she has made to the Thai people through social and cultural development. Additionally, in celebration of International Women's Day, the RBSO soloist Leticia Moreno will perform on the 1762 Nicola Gagliano violin accompanied by Chloé Dufresne. The Embassy of France in Bangkok is supporting this concert featuring the invited French conductor.
Tackling populism at its roots
News, Published on 10/01/2024
» As Western democracies become increasingly polarised, rural and small-town voters are regularly pitted against their counterparts in larger urban centres. While this is not a new phenomenon -- and certainly not the only factor affecting voting patterns -- the rural-urban divide is a significant driver of today's culture wars. This dynamic, which economist Andres Rodriguez-Pose evocatively described as the "revenge of the places that don't matter", suggests that the ongoing populist surge largely reflects geographic disparities.
Debtors rock but creditors may not roll
Oped, Published on 26/12/2023
» In its latest World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that a rising share of countries -- 56% of low-income countries and 25% of emerging markets -- are "in or at high levels of debt distress".