According to conventional wisdom, US President-elect Biden will find himself immediately paralyzed because Republicans will follow the same obstructionist playbook they used to sabotage Barack Obama’s administration. But there are five new features of US political dynamics that this argument has overlooked.
It is now more clear than ever that Europe must take its security, broadly understood, into its own hands. Doing so will not only secure the European Union’s proper place on the world stage, but will also ensure a healthy transatlantic partnership in the years ahead.
Read MoreAmerica has been drifting away from Europe for decades. A Biden presidency cannot change this. Europe must come to terms with the currents, not just the personalities, determining its future.
Read MoreResearch suggests that US President Donald Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 election could be a psychological strategy, deftly executed by a master manipulator. If so, the president may be paving the way to persuading large numbers of Americans to reject the legitimacy of his defeat.
Read MoreWe live in a world of the improbable. Black swans, fat tails, Brexit and Donald Trump remind us that the improbable is possible, sometimes even likely. The same is true when it comes to inflation.
Read MoreWith rapid globalization and technological innovation have come profound new risks not just to individuals and countries, but to humanity's survival. The current stage in our history demands an entirely new ethical perspective, one that requires an ability to think in species-level terms.
Read MoreLike in an avalanche involving a group of skiers where each has their own interpretation of the risk, there is no correct ‘moral’ stance when it comes to the pandemic. Amidst the complexity of trying to predict a disaster, we each bring our own assessment of the risk. But, democracy demands that even though we may disagree, we still see each other as worthy of respect.
Read MoreWhen I was a young Marine in Vietnam, during a time of deep internal division in America, about half the country’s people said they trusted their fellow Americans.
Read MoreHistory repeats itself. This idea, first floated by the Greek Hellenistic historian Polybius about 2000 years ago, gives us some hope for life after COVID-19.
Read More“This is not a discrete one-off episode,” Wellcome Trust head Jeremy Farrar has warned. “This is now an endemic human infection.”
Read MoreMany countries are now under lockdown to lower the growth rate of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Given the astronomical costs of such efforts to “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 infections, policymakers are under growing pressure to “reopen the economy.”
Read MoreAnyone speculating on what the world will look like when we emerge from Covid-19 lockdown, would do well to heed the famous quip about prediction being difficult, especially about the future.
Read MoreWe step out of our homes today, onto the street and into our surroundings, just as we used to. But the space we considered outdoors has a different set of rules of engagement.
Read MoreThe COVID-19 pandemic is a shock of unprecedented magnitude and uncertain duration. The consequences have been catastrophic.
Read MoreWhat’s the plan?
Without a credible plan, the nation will be in fear and chaos for a long time.
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