Showing 1 - 10 of 67
Is the Iran war America's Suez or its Gallipoli?
Oped, Yanis Varoufakis, Published on 21/04/2026
» When Egypt closed the Suez Canal for five months in 1956, it triggered events that shrunk the global standing of Britain's pound sterling, inaugurated the petrodollar age, and demonstrated how a small country can inflict serious damage upon the economic power that had subjugated it decades earlier.
Trump goes off-script, US gone rogue
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 27/03/2026
» It was not supposed to work like this. "America First" and "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) were supposed to be about an inward turn to repair, replenish and rebuild an externally overstretched and internally weakened country, weighed down by unnecessary global entanglements, unsustainable national debt, and unimpeded mass migration. It seemed for a time that the MAGA movement to prioritise America above and beyond the international system and its constituent parts had found its final prophet in President Donald J Trump. But now, somehow, President Trump has betrayed the movement that has carried him to office by waging a disastrous war on Iran in cooperation with Israel.
How world's super-rich are rewriting the rules
Oped, Joseph E Stiglitz & Jayati Ghosh, Published on 13/02/2026
» Ongoing efforts to derail multilateral tax cooperation lie at the heart of a global programme to replace democratic governance with coercive rule by the extremely wealthy -- or what we call 21st-century Caesarism. Any strategy to counter this programme, therefore, must recognise that taxing extreme wealth is essential to saving democracy.
Parroting lies
Oped, Postbag, Published on 28/11/2025
» Re: "Rising heat needs urgent response", (Opinion, Nov 24). After repeating the obligatory but egregiously false lie that this year was the hottest on record, the UN climate alarmists claim, "By 2060, under a high-emissions scenario, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mongolia, Myanmar, Turkey and Uzbekistan could lose more than 70% of their glacier mass. These phenomena also add to sea-level rise, raising existential risks for some countries in the Pacific."
VAT hikes alone won't narrow deficit
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 27/11/2025
» This article is not meant to attack Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas’s Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) for the fiscal years from 2026 to 2030. It is meant to emphasise the fragility of a Thai fiscal position that requires multiple revenue enhancement measures.
Courts are shaping climate action
Oped, Francesca Mascha Klein & Laura Schäfer, Published on 03/11/2025
» Amid rising geopolitical tensions, pressure to comply with climate obligations increasingly comes from courts. Earlier this year, both the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) issued landmark advisory opinions affirming that countries must address climate change, and that failure to do so may carry serious legal consequences.
Reform lending laws
Oped, Postbag, Published on 03/09/2025
» Re: "Buy now, bankrupt later", (Business, Sept 1). Little is ever said about the so-called many (often SET-listed) prolific finance companies here, which charge very high interest rates, levy late fees very quickly, and impose other strict rules that are often, may we say, not very consumer-finance friendly.
A new agenda for climate-resilient development
Oped, Saliem Fakir, Published on 01/08/2025
» Mitigating the worst effects of climate change requires reconciling ambition and justice. But achieving both a just energy transition and ambitious global climate action depends on trade rules that foster equitable development. To facilitate the shift to low-carbon economies, developing countries must have reliable access to green technologies, investments, and international markets.
Trump is trying to build a far-right international
Oped, Jan-Werner Mueller, Published on 30/07/2025
» Until recently, the spectre of an international far-right alliance of populist parties in democracies around the world has been just that: any appearance of cooperation was a form of self-promotion, rather than an expression of true solidarity. Few far-right figures have made any sacrifices for one another or seriously interfered in other countries' internal affairs to prop up allies. And efforts to unite the far right in the European Parliament have fallen dismally short.
Will Indonesia regret its trade deal with Trump?
Oped, Lili Yan Ing, Published on 23/07/2025
» Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true. That ancient proverb comes to mind when considering the eagerness of America's trade partners around the world to negotiate deals with US President Donald Trump's administration. Four countries already have, with Indonesia the latest to do so -- and possibly the first to regret it.