• OPINION

  Modern world leaders are just walking cliches

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 30/07/2019

  » One of the most striking things about Boris Johnson, who became UK prime minister, is how precisely he fits the stereotype of the eccentric upper-class Brit. With his elevation, Britain joins several major nations led by people who embody their national stereotypes and not the best of them at that. However, it could be argued that it's leaders defying such cliches who take their countries forward.

• OPINION

  Deeper malicious intent seen in 'public' cyberwar

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 16/01/2017

  » Compared with the alleged Russian hacks of the Democratic National Committee and other US targets, another important cyber theft that has also been tentatively attributed to Russia is getting far less attention. The revelations are much less titillating than those that have made headlines recently -- they aren't even understandable to most people -- but they may be part of the same cyberwar, one whose rules seem to be changing.

• OPINION

  US intelligence got the wrong cyber bear

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 04/01/2017

  » The "Russian hacking" story in the US has gone too far. That it's not based on any solid public evidence, and that reports of it are often so overblown as to miss the mark, is only a problem to those who worry about disinformation campaigns, propaganda and journalistic standards -- a small segment of the general public. But the recent US government report that purports to substantiate technical details of recent hacks by Russian intelligence is off the mark and has the potential to do real damage to far more people and organisations.

• OPINION

  US-EU trade negotiations getting hung up on politics

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 31/08/2016

  » Germany's vice-chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, says talks about a major trade deal between the European Union and the US have failed, though "nobody is really admitting it". That statement should be taken with a grain of salt, but the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) appears to be doomed, at least until after elections in the US and major European countries.

• OPINION

  Why Putin won't admit the truth about Russia doping

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 21/07/2016

  » Russian President Vladimir Putin is changing his tune about the doping scandal that has engulfed Russian Olympic and paralympic athletes. As proof mounts that the use of performance-enhancing drugs is a state-sponsored system in Russia, Mr Putin appears less and less willing to cooperate with international sports organisations and increasingly inclined to complain about political conspiracies against his country.

• OPINION

  Merkel, Juncker fight the dreamers

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 08/07/2016

  » It is increasingly clear that the European Union (EU) is about to waste the crisis brought on by the UK's withdrawal vote. The leaders of the nation states have no stomach for any meaningful reform of EU institutions, the bureaucrats in Brussels are forced to take a back seat, and federalist dreamers are unceremoniously shunted aside.

• OPINION

  Politicians should be keeping their money at home

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 07/04/2016

  » Ramon Fonseca, a founding partner of Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian offshore incorporator that has suffered the biggest leak of privileged information in history, has told Financial Times that the investigations stemming from the leak are an attack on the basic human right to privacy. Dmitri Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, described them as an attack on his boss ahead of the 2018 presidential election. The investigative journalists themselves see their effort as a strike against corruption and money-laundering. So what purpose do the Panama Papers investigations really serve?

• OPINION

  David Bowie, artist and visionary businessman

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 13/01/2016

  » David Bowie was that rare kind of rock star, you didn't have to like his music to admire him. Bowie was a business visionary like the ones who shaped Silicon Valley who just didn't see the point of building companies. He was his own greatest product. 

• OPINION

  Violence takes root in our words

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 14/12/2015

  » The Oxford Dictionaries' selection for the 2015 Word of the Year -- the "Face with Tears of Joy" emoji -- suggests that UK linguists live in a rather carefree world. In other countries, the selections were not as upbeat.

• OPINION

  Return of Adolf Hitler makes for uneasy comedy

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 10/11/2015

  » The movie He's Back, a comedy that revolves around the return of Adolf Hitler to modern-day Germany, is a huge hit. There may be more than meets the eye to this success, however. 

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