• 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

  Brexit parade is in the EU's favour

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 03/05/2017

  » Leaked details of a dinner conversation between UK Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker suggest that the Brexit talks won't just be contentious -- they'll be brutal. At this point, the perception helps Ms May as much as it does the EU leaders. After the June election in the UK, however, Ms May will be at a disadvantage.

• 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

  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

  The cyber whodunnit and the global blame game

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 21/12/2017

  » The US government has officially attributed to North Korea the WannaCry ransomware attack, which encrypted hundreds of thousands of computer drives around the world in May, 2017. And yet as with a series of other highly public cyberattack attributions, little evidence for the claim was made public. It's time for the cybersecurity world to follow the advice of the Rand Corporation and set up an unbiased international consortium that would seek to attribute attacks based on a common set of rules.

• OPINION

  Coup against Mugabe is really nothing to celebrate

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 17/11/2017

  » As leader of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe has survived longer than Stalin in the Soviet Union and Mao in China. If it's coming to an end -- which seems likely given his apparent inability to emerge from house arrest after the military took charge -- it's worth reflecting on the mistakes he made to end such a remarkable run.

• OPINION

  How to stick it to Europe: scrap Brexit

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 06/12/2018

  » The top European court now is highly likely to rule that the UK can cancel Brexit unilaterally. For all the domestic political hurdles such a move would face, it's intriguing to ponder how Europe would take it if the UK did cancel Brexit, and what the consequences would be for the European Union.

• OPINION

  The year of the woeful world leaders

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 28/12/2018

  » The dictionaries have decided on their 2018 words of the year. Oxford picked "toxic". Merriam-Webster went for "justice". Collins chose "single-use". However, I'd zero in on "misgovernment". Surely, 2018 saw a number of countries misruled by the worst crop of world leaders in recent memory.

• OPINION

  Google breakup would fit the EU's logic

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 24/04/2018

  » On Thursday, the European Parliament backed the idea of breaking up Google. It doesn't have the power to do it, but the legislators' decision is a notable part of a backlash against the remedial action Google took after the European Commission fined it US$2.95 billion for abusing its dominant position in shopping search. That backlash could lead to dire consequences for the search giant.

• OPINION

  Stock market is a lot like bitcoin now

  News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 08/02/2018

  » Just as President Donald Trump had nothing to do with the stock market's rise, despite the almost 60 boastful tweets he has posted about it since being elected, he has nothing to do with the recent stock crash. Instead, praise the machines -- and blame them, too.

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