Showing 1 - 10 of 16
Solving the conflict in Myanmar
News, Charles Petrie, Published on 15/09/2025
» The Myanmar military has recently launched a new offensive in different parts of the country, determined to claw back territory it has steadily lost since the coup of Feb 1, 2021. These operations, though at times tactically successful, are being carried out through brute force: airstrikes, mortar attacks, and the increasing use of drones. Entire areas are being destroyed. What will follow is not liberation, but military occupation. But how viable and effective will be the administrative structures that the generals will impose to govern these shattered spaces?
The crisis in West's AI industry needs attention
News, Charles Ferguson, Published on 10/02/2025
» The release of the Chinese DeepSeek-R1 large language model, with its impressive capabilities and low development cost, shocked financial markets and led to claims of a "Sputnik moment" in artificial intelligence. But a powerful, innovative Chinese model achieving parity with US products should come as no surprise. It is the predictable result of a major US and Western policy failure, for which the AI industry itself bears much of the blame.
Supporting Ukraine is in Donald Trump's interest
Oped, Michael Froman & Charles A Kupchan, Published on 02/01/2025
» Even before taking office, Donald Trump has launched a diplomatic effort to end Russia's war against Ukraine, calling for an "immediate ceasefire" after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris in early December.
New IMF debt deal needs a rejig
Oped, C P Chandrasekhar & Martín Guzmán & Jayati Ghosh & Charles Abugre, Published on 03/10/2024
» Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka's president, recently lost his re-election bid after voters overwhelmingly rejected the debt-restructuring deals he negotiated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other creditors. Instead, Sri Lankans elected Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the left-wing National People's Power (NPP) alliance and a vocal critic of IMF-imposed austerity measures, who has vowed to renegotiate the country's agreement with the fund.
Is AI a curse or a blessing for education?
Oped, Matthew Robert Ferguson, Published on 17/08/2024
» My collegiate rowing coach at the University of Western Ontario was an eccentric West German named Dr Volker Nolte, a stocky and imposing figure who was only funny when he didn't mean to be. He was a biomechanics wizard, obsessing over the countervailing forces of the rower and shell, currents and winds, blades and water. In the early 80s, as part of his doctoral research, he designed a sliding rigger that moved along the hull of the boat on slides in tandem with the rower, which, when compared to a fixed rigger, effectively doubled the force and propulsion of every stroke. It made second-tier rowers competitive with the best in the world.
When do we die? Disputing the definition of death
Oped, Peter Singer & Charles Camosy, Published on 14/11/2023
» 'What is it you don't understand? She's dead, dead, dead." That is how David Durand, Chief Medical Officer of Oakland's Children's Hospital, attempted to convince the family of Jahi McMath that the standard medical tests for brain death had shown that their teenage daughter was no longer alive.
Climate change is killing our summer
News, Niall Ferguson, Published on 31/07/2023
» Most of us have an idea of summer in our heads. It generally involves beaches. Americans head to their coasts -- avoiding only fog-shrouded San Francisco -- and Europeans to the Mediterranean or Aegean. We all strip down to near nakedness and sit around in the sun, occasionally frolicking in the ocean waves. We aim to return home tanned and toned. If you come from another planet and don't know what I am talking about, watch the Barbie trailer.
Local community key to delivering Myanmar aid
Oped, Charles Petrie, Published on 11/05/2023
» Last month, I undertook a 10-day trip along the Thai-Myanmar border. In part its purpose was to explore further the nature and workings of the local governance structures which Scott Guggenheim and I had argued needed to be supported by the international community in our piece entitled "Taking risk and supporting local governance", published in the Bangkok Post on March 24.
Teacher's role in a world with ChatGPT
Oped, Matthew Robert Ferguson, Published on 08/03/2023
» Fundamentally, I see my role as an educator as to find creative ways to nurture the development and resilience of the human brain. Yes, I teach subjects, and there's content knowledge that I impart to my students. But at its root, pedagogy is about the process of teaching and learning, and not about filling an empty vessel.
Confronting tragic fragmentation
Oped, Charles Petrie, Published on 06/12/2022
» As much as Russia's invasion of Ukraine created a "before and after" reality in western politics, the Feb 1, 2021, coup has also created such a new reality for Myanmar. The coup was a massive miscalculation by the senior general of Myanmar. Almost two years into the conflict, it is clear that the military has lost control of much of the country, and it has lost much, if not all, of the international credibility it had the day before the coup was launched. The coup also triggered the emergence of new forms of resistance with the People's Defence Forces. But new forms of violence have also come to the fore, with retaliatory killings of individuals introducing new levels of fear.