Showing 1 - 10 of 50
Climate change discourse takes a new turn
Oped, Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 09/02/2026
» What a difference a single year makes. The once-dominant push to radically reshape society to avert climate catastrophe has collapsed. Look at Davos -- the talkfest long dominated by climate advocacy. That consensus has been abandoned by its once strongest proponents.
Three shocks that shook us in 2025
Oped, Yanis Varoufakis, Published on 24/12/2025
» This was the year that the remaining pillars of the late-20th-century order were shattered, exposing the hollow core of what passed for a global system. Three blows sufficed.
Europe must build its own cloud
News, Robin Berjon, Published on 08/11/2025
» We tend to take for granted the infrastructure on which our economies and societies run -- until something goes wrong. Just ask residents of Spain and Portugal, who were suddenly faced with a total blackout last April, when a series of cascading voltage surges shut down their electricity grids. Both Spain and Portugal are now pursuing massive investments in strengthening their grids' resilience. But citizens should not have to wait until after a disaster strikes for their leaders to commit to investing in critical infrastructure, which nowadays includes cloud services.
Floods 'a recurring nightmare'
Oped, George G van der Meulen & Chamniern Vorratnchaiphan, Published on 16/09/2025
» Thailand has faced floods for more than a century. Some years are worse than others, but the pattern is consistent. The catastrophic 2011 floods remain the most painful reminder: according to the World Bank, they caused US$46.5 billion (1.5 trillion baht) in economic losses, displaced 13 million people, and claimed approximately 800 lives. Much of the country's industrial heartland was submerged for months, severely impacting global supply chains.
A just energy blueprint for Asean
Oped, Aldilla Noor Rakhiemah & Livia Liannasari, Published on 18/08/2025
» As the global energy transition gains pace, there is a growing recognition that justice and inclusion must be at its core amid shifting trade dynamics and global trends.
The scramble for the world's critical minerals
Oped, Rabah Arezki & Rick van der Ploeg, Published on 07/08/2025
» The world's superpowers have developed a seemingly insatiable appetite for the critical minerals that are essential to the ongoing energy and digital transitions, including rare-earth metals (for semiconductors), cobalt (for batteries), and uranium (for nuclear reactors). The International Energy Agency forecasts that demand for these minerals will more than quadruple by 2040 for use in clean-energy technologies alone. But, in their race to control these vital resources, China, Europe, and the United States risk causing serious harm to the countries that possess them.
Working on our shared values
Oped, David Daly, Published on 09/05/2025
» The European Union was born from the ashes of the Second World War to break the cycle of wars between historical enemies. On May 9, 1950, French foreign minister Robert Schuman presented a historical declaration proposing to jointly manage, through a single supranational authority, the industries needed to wage war -- coal, iron, steel. The Schuman Declaration was adopted by six countries -- Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; May 9 is since considered the founding day of the EU.
Centre-left parties must regain relevance in Germany
Oped, Bartosz M Rydlinski, Published on 01/03/2025
» Germany's Social Democrats are one of the West's oldest political parties, with a legacy of advocating parliamentary democracy, opposing Nazism, and leading the modernisation of postwar Germany. In addition to many notable labour, economic, and human-rights reforms the party has implemented over the years, ex-SPD leader and West German chancellor Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik in the 1970s laid the groundwork for Germany's reunification in 1990.
Resisting digital feudalism in artificial intelligence
Oped, Mariana Mazzucato, Published on 13/02/2025
» This month's AI Action Summit in Paris comes at a critical juncture in the development of artificial intelligence. At issue is not whether Europe can compete with China and the United States in an AI arms race; it is whether Europeans can pioneer a different approach that puts public value at the centre of technological development and governance. The task is to move away from digital feudalism, the term I coined back in 2019 to describe the dominant digital platforms' model of rent extraction.
Poor grades
Postbag, Published on 15/12/2024
» Re: "SET lacks catalysts until year-end", (Business, Dec 14).