Asia
Sri Lanka Got Rid of Its President. Now Comes the Harder Question: Who Has the Right to Replace Him?
He flew to the Maldives on Wednesday as thousands of protesters returned to the streets, then travelled onwards to Singapore. On Thursday, he submitted his resignation. Parliament formally announced it on Friday. Sri Lanka no…
Sri Lanka’s Economy Collapsed. Yesterday, Its Government Nearly Did Too.
Videos showed people walking through the presidential complex, sitting inside rooms, gathering around the grounds and swimming in the president’s pool. Elsewhere in Colombo, protesters entered other government buildings. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe announced that…
Finland and Sweden Want to Join NATO. Turkey Has Just Reminded Everyone That Alliances Are Not Democracies.
Only a few months ago, that would have seemed almost unimaginable. Both countries had spent decades outside the alliance, maintaining military non-alignment while cooperating closely with Western institutions. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed that calculation…
Imran Khan Has Been Removed. Pakistan’s Institutions May Have Just Passed a Harder Test.
Shortly after midnight, Pakistan’s National Assembly voted 174–0 in favour of the no-confidence motion against him after members of Khan’s party largely left the chamber. He becomes the first prime minister in Pakistan’s history to…
Imran Khan May Lose Power. The More Important Question Is Whether Pakistan’s Institutions Can Win.
Pakistan has spent the last week approaching what should, in principle, be a fairly ordinary event in a parliamentary democracy: a prime minister may no longer possess the confidence of parliament. The reality has become…
Myanmar’s Military Says It Will Not Negotiate. That May Be the Problem.
Myanmar’s military marked Armed Forces Day today with a parade in Naypyitaw and a message that was much more politically important than the ceremony itself. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the military coup…
Hong Kong’s Zero-COVID Strategy Worked. Then the Virus Changed.
For most of the pandemic, Hong Kong appeared to have accomplished something many Western countries could not. Through strict border controls, quarantine, contact tracing, isolation and aggressive restrictions whenever cases appeared, the city kept COVID…
Kazakhstan Looked Stable Until Last Week. Perhaps That Was the Problem.
Last Sunday, I wrote about a small protest in western Kazakhstan over the price of liquefied petroleum gas and argued that, if the demonstrations spread, the fuel price would probably turn out to be the…
A Fuel Price Has Brought Kazakhs Into the Streets. It Probably Isn’t Only About Fuel.
Residents of Zhanaozen, a city in western Kazakhstan’s oil-producing region, have begun demonstrating after the price of liquefied petroleum gas rose sharply at the beginning of the year. LPG is widely used to fuel cars…
Everyone Agrees Climate Change Is a Problem. That Is the Easy Part.
COP26 has produced an extraordinary collection of promises already. More than 100 countries have backed a pledge to reduce global methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by the end of this decade. More than…
More Than 200 People Died in Beirut. A Year Later, Lebanon Is Fighting Over Whether Anyone Can Be Held Responsible.
Approximately 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate had been stored for years at the city’s port. When it exploded, more than 200 people were killed, thousands were injured and entire neighbourhoods were devastated. The images were…
The Last American Soldier Has Left Afghanistan. So What Did Twenty Years Achieve?
There was no peace treaty. There was no victory parade. The government America spent twenty years supporting had already disappeared, the Taliban controlled Kabul, and the final days of the evacuation had been marked by…
