Opinion

  The pattern is a familiar one. In February, the Malaysian government proposed allowing 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers into the country to seek employment. A popular backlash ensued and the government quickly backtracked, imposing a moratorium on hiring foreign workers of all kinds, which still stands. In advanced economies, where this kind of back-and-forth is common, that might be the …

Authoritarianism, always latent in progressivism, is becoming explicit. Progressivism’s determination to regulate thought by regulating speech is apparent in the campaign by 16 states’ attorneys general and those of the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, none Republican, to criminalize scepticism about the supposedly “settled” conclusions of climate science. Four core tenets of progressivism are: First, history has a …

  The 7th session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ministerial Conference on Food Security and Agricultural Development and the inaugural General Assembly of the Islamic Organisation for Food Security (IOFS) to be held in Astana will throw spotlight on food security. Starting Tuesday, the conference will delve into the current state of agriculture and food security in the …

  Sara Hsu SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS China has faced a steel glut since 2014, when a real estate and debt shock forced demand for construction materials into a nosedive. China has been trying to cope with excess inventories both by cutting capacity in the sector and by reducing existing stocks of steel. China’s leadership is now encouraging steel overcapacity …

  Asia needs to craft regional rules and norms to defuse lingering tensions and safeguard the stability which has undergirded its prosperity, Singapore’s defense minister stressed at a security conference in Malaysia this week. In his address at the 4th Putrajaya Forum in Kuala Lumpur – a biennial defense meeting – Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said that ASEAN must …

  Discussions of a possible U.K. exit from the European Union often center on how the move would affect the U.K. itself. It’s only natural, since British voters are the ones who will make the decision, and they care mainly about their own country. There are two sides to any divorce, however, and the relatively passive partner — in this …

  Why has a promising idea put forth by South Korean President Park Geun-hye – a five-party (U.S., China, ROK, Japan, Russia) diplomatic process for Northeast Asia – received so little regional support? After what appears an inflection point in the region (North Korea’s back-to-back nuclear and ICBM missile tests kicking off 2016) all seem to recognize the new level …

The Obama administration has a new economic worry: competition or, allegedly, the lack of it. America’s businesses, the indictment goes, merge too often, innovate too little and bilk consumers too much. The open question is whether this argument is shrewd politics, shrewd economics — or both. No doubt, the politics are enticing. In this election season, criticizing big, impersonal firms …

  Revelations of global auto-emissions cheating demonstrate how difficult it would be to rein in global warming. Embarrassingly, the cheating reports continued to stream in, while the world leaders were gathering in New York on Friday to sign the landmark Paris Climate Accord. It is but a paradox that such scandals come from major auto companies in the developed countries …

  Edward Niedermeyer After a 17-year-old Texas woman became the 10th American killed by exploding Takata airbags last month, it was revealed that while the vehicle had been recalled, it had never been taken in for repair. This is tragic but not surprising: Only about a third of the nearly 29 million recalled Takata airbags have actually been replaced. This …