Tuesday , 16 December 2025

Opinion

Australia, Russia, and a rules-based order in Asia

  This year’s Shangri-La Dialogue clearly showed that Asia has not become safer over the last year and is unlikely to become any safer in the near future. Quite the contrary, the security threats at hand may well extend far into the next decades, making the Asian Century not one of economic dynamism, but of political squabbles. Just this week, …

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European Union’s big post-Britain opportunity

  An overwhelming majority of respondents in a recent Pew Research poll, 70 percent, believe that Britain leaving the EU would be bad for Europe. It’s not that hard, however, to make the opposite case — that Brexit would open up opportunities that would drive the bloc’s popularity back up in the remaining member states. Will Britain Leave the EU? …

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Robots look like China’s latest investment bubble

  Adam Minter The story first turned up in mid-May: Foxconn, Apple’s favorite manufacturer, was replacing 60,000 of its workers with robots. Everyone from the BBC to Apple fan sites soon reported the ground-shifting news. There was just one problem: It was mostly false. Last weekend, a Foxconn spokesperson told Chinese media that the company hadn’t laid off anyone, much …

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As South China Sea verdict nears, Washington must stand with Manila

  J. Randy Forbes SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS With tensions rising in the South China Sea, the United States’ alliance with the Philippines may be approaching one of its most important moments in its 65-year history. Over the past few years, the world has watched as China has steadily worked to achieve de facto control of the islands and waters …

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The Omani back channel to Iran

WASHINGTON One of the mysteries of Campaign 2016 is why the Iran nuclear deal has vanished as an issue. But a new book reveals some startling details about how the diplomacy with Tehran began in secret, long before reformers took power there, and the crucial role played by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The diplomatic narrative is laid out …

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Clinton, Trump ready for final showdown

  Once more history is being scripted in the US election. Eight years ago, an African American young Senator, Barrack Obama, cruised to the Oval House. Now Hillary Clinton claimed victory on Tuesday over rival Bernie Sanders in the Democratic White House nomination race. If she defeats Donald Trump in November, Clinton will become the first female president of America. …

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How a data revolution can solve plane mysteries

    Adam Minter When Air France Flight 447 crashed in the Atlantic in 2009, it took two years and more than $25 million before investigators found it. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in 2014 and still hasn’t turned up. EgyptAir 804, lost on May 19, is somewhere on the bottom of the Mediterranean, but until investigators can dredge up …

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Trump’s wasting time trying to save factories

    Listening to our political leaders, you’d think everyone on the planet works in a factory. Donald Trump wants to stop China and Mexico from “taking our jobs” by preventing factories from moving there — and he’s willing to launch a trade war to do so. Michael Short, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, recently claimed that a …

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Staying afloat: The future of Melanesian economies

  Securing long-term economic viability remains a challenge for the Melanesian states, with geographic isolation, climate change, natural disasters, and aid dependency presenting significant problems for these relatively young countries. Vanuatu has a population of 270,000 and a GDP of $771 million. Designing an economy that is capable of supporting some 83 islands who mainly practice subsistence farming is a …

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US tech has disrupted global tax systems

  Greece, that hotbed of worst economic practices, has provided a perfect illustration of one of the biggest problems facing governments: In a world that’s increasingly unified by technology, the fiscal systems are still designed for 20th-century business models. The Sharing Economy A series of tax hikes went into effect on June 1 in Greece, including a one percentage point …

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