Opinion

The annual budget of India is often an expression of not only the economic direction of the country over the coming year, but also the political intentions of the ruling party. The 2016 budget, which was presented in the Indian parliament on Monday, however, contains more political substance than economic heft. It reveals the political thinking of the Bharatiya Janata ...

On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council voted to impose a new round of sanctions on North Korea in response to both its January 6 nuclear test and February 7 satellite launch (widely believed to double as a missile launch test). The new sanctions have been characterized by various media sources as “sweeping” and the “toughest” yet imposed because they ...

Singapore’s minister for foreign affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, spent two days in China this week, meeting with Chinese officials to set a positive tone for both the bilateral relationship and the China-ASEAN relationship. It was Balakrishnan’s first visit to China since assuming his post in October 2015. In an op-ed for China Daily, Balakrishnan cited Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime ...

We’re going to need some time to digest what happened on Tuesday night on the Republican side. Donald Trump won the most votes. He won the most states. He won the most delegates. But did he move closer to winning the nomination? That isn’t so clear. FiveThirtyEight’s delegate maven, David Wasserman, said going in that “a disappointing night for Trump ...

By 1915, the United States was the world’s richest nation — and yet, most Americans were dirt poor by today’s standards. Adjusted for inflation, men’s average wages were about a third of what full-time workers now earn. The average work week in manufacturing hovered around 50 hours, and many employees worked a half day on Saturday. Less than a third ...

Controversy is raging in the UK over whether to ‘stay’ or ‘leave’ the European Union (EU) membership, with each camp stuck to its own guns. The ‘stay’ campaign received a significant boost from G20 finance chiefs who warned last week that the departure of the UK from the EU could harm the global economy. And as the debate spirals, it ...

Singapore’s minister for foreign affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, spent two days in China this week, meeting with Chinese officials to set a positive tone for both the bilateral relationship and the China-ASEAN relationship. It was Balakrishnan’s first visit to China since assuming his post in October 2015. In an op-ed for China Daily, Balakrishnan cited Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime ...

“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” represents the new conventional wisdom for some journalists appraising the current state of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Rejected in Mexico due to domestic party politics, whipsawed in Sri Lanka by changes in government, obstructed by protests in Myanmar, scuppered by the U.S. Committee on ...

Australia is in the midst of evaluating its strategic partner for SEA1000, the Future Submarine Project. As Andrew Davies, director of the Australia Strategic Policy Institute, wrote, this is a “wonderful case study of defense acquisition” spanning “every aspect of defense decision-making from long-term strategic crystal ball gazing, including the possible impact of future technologies, through military strategy development and ...

Donald Trump’s distinctive rhetorical style — think of a drunk with a bullhorn reading aloud James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake” under water — poses an almost insuperable challenge to people whose painful duty is to try to extract clarity from his effusions. For example, last week, during a long stream of semi-consciousness in Fort Worth, this man who as president would ...