Showing 1 - 10 of 22
New debate format
Oped, Postbag, Published on 23/01/2026
» Re: "Academics sound alarm ahead of poll", (BP, Jan 14). A one-on-one debate format between political parties would greatly help us decide who we want to solve basic structural problems in our economy, society and justice system -- and the media should play a key role in arranging such a debate and setting the theme.
The next war comes to a city near you
Oped, Joe Mathews, Published on 03/07/2025
» I was to visit Ukraine this week, but didn't make the trip. Because the same war I would have seen there had already come to Los Angeles.
The conflict in Syria is not quite over yet
Oped, John J. Metzler, Published on 26/12/2024
» The extraordinary and fast-moving events in Syria have gripped the world. What was viewed as a forgotten, forsaken and frozen conflict churning on for nearly 14 years, has suddenly jumped into the headlines to round out this tumultuous year.
Chronicling the crumbling of the House of Assad
Oped, Shlomo Ben-Ami, Published on 14/12/2024
» The swift collapse, after 54 years, of Syria's al-Assad dynasty has just transformed the Middle East's geopolitical landscape. The lightning offensive by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militia took all of Syria's neighbours -- and everyone else -- by surprise. The news that President Bashar al-Assad had fled to Russia confirms the one binding truth about wars: unintended consequences can extend far beyond the theatre of battle.
The popular decimation of India's democracy
Oped, Pranab Bardhan, Published on 18/05/2024
» India's ongoing parliamentary election, in which nearly a billion people casting their votes over a six-week period, should represent an extraordinary exercise of democracy. The bleak reality, however, is that the election appears poised to consolidate a decade-long process of democratic decay, which has included the decimation of liberal institutions and practices and weakening of political competition. After all, the leader who has presided over this process -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- remains wildly popular.
Govt, BoT spat may not be economic
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 09/05/2024
» The row between the government and the Bank of Thailand (BoT) over its "high" interest rate is all over the news. Many have started questioning the appropriateness of the central bank's independence.
How elections bring about a cycle of devaluation
Oped, Jeffrey Frankel, Published on 01/05/2024
» The proposition that major currency devaluations are more likely to come immediately after, rather than before, an election is being tested anew. In the biggest voting year in history, the implications could be far-reaching.
Cluster bomb shame
Oped, Postbag, Published on 18/07/2023
» Re: "Zelensky bags US cluster bombs, Erdogan Nato nod", (BP, July 9). Mine clearance is still ongoing on Thailand's borders and in neighbouring countries. People are still born with physical defects over 50 years after the Vietnam conflict due to Agent Orange and losing limbs and lives due to land mines.
Why Turkey's Erdogan continues to be triumphant
Oped, Daron Acemoglu, Published on 20/05/2023
» It is hard not to be disappointed about the outcome of the first round of Turkey's presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday. In a campaign defined by the aftermath of February's huge earthquake, mounting economic problems and deepening corruption, hopes were high that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian 20-year rule would end. Some polls suggested that the six-party opposition led by the centre-left Kemal Kilicdaroglu, from the Republican People's Party (CHP), would be able to win a majority or, at the very least, enter the second round with an advantage over Mr Erdogan.
Turkey and its hundred-year culture war
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 12/05/2023
» Turkey's elections are fairly free, and there is going to be one this Sunday. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been in power for two decades, and he should really lose by a landslide. Imagine what the United States would be like if Donald Trump had been in power for 20 years, and that's what Turkey looks like today.