Opinion

On Thursday, Myanmar’s parliament met to put forward presidential candidates four months after opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) swept historic elections in the country. Under Myanmar’s complicated selection process, the country’s next president is chosen from among three vice-presidents elected by its parliament or Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, with one candidate from the lower house (Pyithu …

Currency depreciation is not always bad for a country’s economy, but after a series of stock market crashes this past summer, the Chinese economy seems to be going down on what many experts perceive to be a spiral of decline. Many wealthy Chinese people have been going out of their way to move their financial assets abroad, aiming to get …

When Ieng Ty first stepped onto Otres beach in southern Cambodia, it was empty. He stood for a while, looking over translucent green waters to the hazy blue sky. Behind him, scrubby trees swayed in the firm breeze. An upsetting memory surfaced and, for a second, the surf sounded like the raspy breath of those people he’d seen starve in …

Is the American economy stronger than we think? Perhaps. A persisting puzzle about its recent performance is the stark contrast between growth of jobs (which has been unexpectedly robust) and the growth of the economy’s output (which has been unexpectedly weak). How could a struggling economy produce so many jobs? The puzzle would disappear if the economy’s output is consistently …

The EU-Turkey’s draft deal seems practical as it could stop smugglers from exploiting desperate refugees, and stem the flow of migrants to Greece, which has no capacity to accommodate them. Yet, the pact has come under fire from the UN and rights groups. The EU consensus shows European leaders are resolved to give a window of opportunity for refugees through …

Announced in 2013 on a stage at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the land-based portion of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative (the Silk Road Economic Belt) traces a line through Central Asia. The Chinese are far from the first to brand cross-regional trade visions under the Silk Road banner — although, as several speakers …

Hillary Clinton’s performance in the debate in Florida on Wednesday was, as usual, a professional effort. She’s good at this, and she hit her marks repeatedly. But she also reminded me of one worry I have about her as president. Clinton had a good day in Michigan and Mississippi on Tuesday. That’s right: A good day. She received more votes …

Japanese policymakers expressed diplomatic interest in the Arctic – a region rapidly being transformed by climate change –as early as 2009, when the country officially submitted an application to become a Permanent Observer in the Arctic Council. Japan’s bid (supported by, surprise, Russia), was approved in May 2013, along with China and South Korea’s. This instance of Russo-Japanese cooperation, particularly …

Five years ago, a magnitude nine earthquake off the east coast of Japan triggered a tsunami that killed almost 20,000 people and led to meltdowns and release of radioactive material at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The disaster inflicted nearly half a trillion dollars in economic losses and caused the shutdown of more than 50 nuclear reactors, depriving Japan …

U.S. Special Operations Forces working with a widening array of partners are slowly tightening their squeeze on IS fighters in eastern Syria — moving toward an eventual assault on the extremists’ self-declared capital of Raqqa. The Pentagon’s top priority in the campaign against the IS remains disrupting external operations against potential targets in the U.S. or elsewhere. Sources say that …