North America
Jimmy Carter Has Died at 100. His Life Is a Reminder That Losing an Election Does Not Have to Be the End of Political Relevance.
Former US President Jimmy Carter died today at his home in Plains, Georgia, aged 100, making him the longest-lived president in American history. Carter served only one term, from 1977 to 1981, and left office…
Assad Is Gone. Now Syria Has to Avoid the Mistake That Has Destroyed So Many Revolutions: Winning the War and Losing the State.
Two weeks after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government, Syria is beginning the much less dramatic and much more difficult process of determining what replaces it. Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS),…
Rich Countries Have Agreed to Provide $300 Billion a Year for Developing Countries. The Argument Is Whether That Number Is Large or Almost Meaningless.
The COP29 climate summit in Baku ended this weekend with developed countries agreeing to take the lead in mobilising at least $300 billion per year for developing countries by 2035, replacing the old $100 billion…
Trump Is Building His Second Administration. The Most Important Difference From 2016 Is That This Time He Knows Which Institutions Resisted Him.
Donald Trump’s transition back to the presidency is moving rapidly, and his first appointments already suggest that the second Trump administration may be structurally different from the first. Trump has selected figures including Marco Rubio…
Donald Trump Has Won Again. This Time, Calling 2016 an Accident Is No Longer Possible.
Donald Trump has won the 2024 United States presidential election, defeating Vice-President Kamala Harris and completing one of the most extraordinary political returns in American history. Four years after losing the presidency to Joe Biden,…
America Votes in Two Days. Whoever Wins, Nearly Half the Country May Believe Something Fundamental Has Gone Wrong.
Americans vote on Tuesday in an election that remains extraordinarily close. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are competing across a small group of battleground states that will determine whether Democrats retain the presidency or Trump…
America Is About to Start Cutting Interest Rates. The Interesting Question Is Whether the Fed Has Actually Pulled Off the Soft Landing.
The United States is approaching one of the most important monetary-policy turning points since the inflation shock began. When the Federal Reserve meets on 17–18 September, financial markets overwhelmingly expect it to cut interest rates…
Modi Went to Moscow in July and Kyiv in August. That Is Not Neutrality. It Is India Trying to Maximise Diplomatic Freedom.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kyiv on 23 August, becoming the first Indian prime minister to visit Ukraine since diplomatic relations were established between the two countries in 1992. The symbolism was unusually strong…
Venezuela Is Voting Today. The Real Test Is Not Whether Ballots Are Cast, but Whether the Government Would Accept Losing.
Venezuelans are voting today in the most consequential presidential election the country has held in years. President Nicolás Maduro, who has governed since Hugo Chávez’s death in 2013, is seeking another six-year term against Edmundo…
Joe Biden Has Left the Race. The Most Important Question Is Why It Took a Crisis for His Party to Confront the Problem.
Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election today and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris, ending an extraordinary three-week crisis inside the Democratic Party and pushing the United States into territory no major modern presidential campaign…
American Universities Are Being Tested by Gaza Protests. The Hardest Question Is Not Whether Protest Should Be Allowed, but When Institutions Should Stop It.
American universities have become one of the most visible political arenas of the Gaza war. During the past two weeks, pro-Palestinian encampments have spread across campuses demanding ceasefires, divestment from companies linked to Israel and…
China Built Electric Cars the West Wants. Now the Argument Is Whether Being Too Competitive Has Become a Trade Problem.
China’s rise in electric vehicles is becoming one of the clearest tests of whether the global economy is moving away from the free-trade consensus that shaped much of the last three decades. Chinese manufacturers such…
