As the war between Israel and Hamas enters its third week, US President Joe Biden is walking a tightrope and trying to accomplish three objectives simultaneously: ensure Israel has everything it needs to defend itself in what Israeli defense officials admit will be a long and grueling campaign; remind the Israelis that civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip should be kept to an absolute minimum; and prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from spiraling into a regional conflagration. It’s the geo

Following the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank this month, the Middle East is teetering on the edge of a major conflict, and the rest of the world continues to fracture along new economic and geopolitical lines. Rarely have the shortcomings of world leaders and existing institutional arrangements been so glaringly obvious. The IMF’s governing body could not even agree on a final communique. True, the World Bank, under its new leadership, has committe

The COVID pandemic seemed to worsen teens’ and adolescents’ mental health, according to several recent studies. But now, new research shows a reason for hope: Telehealth seems to be giving many more kids access to support. That’s a win worth celebrating. And it should push us to ensure virtual care is more permanently and equitably integrated into mental health services for minors. The worrisome gap between kids who need help and those who get it predates the pandemic. For exam

Three futuristic Hollywood thrillers, “Doom,” “Dune” and “Heart of Stone,” illuminate compelling issues we are now facing due to our problematic politicians. In “Doom,” which is set in 2046, an unknown creature attacks researchers at the Union Aerospace Corporation on Mars. Eight marines, including team leader, Sergeant “Sarge” Mahonin, and John “Reaper” Grimm, arrive at the research facility to eliminate the unidentified as

On Oct. 28-29, Japan will host the G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Osaka. The primary focus of the gathering will be improving supply-chain resilience and strengthening export controls on critical minerals and technologies. But China’s “economic coercion,” particularly the widespread disruption caused by its non-transparent and market-distorting industrial policies, is also expected to be high on the agenda. Since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, China has rep

After the invasion of southern Israel by Hamas militants, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday vowed to destroy Hamas. “We are fighting a cruel enemy, worse than ISIS,” Netanyahu said, comparing Hamas with the Islamic State group, which was largely defeated by US, Iraqi and Kurdish forces in 2017. On the same day, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant went further, stating, “We will wipe this thing called Hamas, ISIS-Gaza, off the face of the Earth. It will ce

Ten years ago this November, the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held its Third Plenum, outlining a series of far-reaching reforms designed to sustain China’s rapid economic growth. Around that time, a naive extrapolation based on the difference in growth rates between China and the United States suggested that China’s GDP would overtake America’s by 2021. Some speculated that this could happen as early as 2019. These predictions have been far off t

In October 2020, the world was still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. The more contagious delta strain was spreading, and fear was ever-present. Positive news from vaccine trials offered some hope that illness and death would be reduced and that the world would soon return to normal. By 2022, the pandemic had subsided, but normal did not return as Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, igniting the bloodiest war in Europe since the end of World War II in 1945. A series of surprise