Opinion

At a cafe a few blocks from the old KGB headquarters at Lubyanka Square, investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov tries to explain the murky world of Russian intelligence that’s now the focus of a US criminal investigation into the hacking of the 2016 campaign. Big events in today’s Russia often aren’t the product of broad strategy, argues Soldatov, but rather are ...

There was a flicker of anticipation last year when an Indian borrower issued the first masala bond, a local-currency note sold outside the country. Gadfly expressed the hope that, once a thorny tax issue was sorted, the securities would go on to become the Indian version of dim sum debt, which has played a large role in internationalizing the Chinese ...

There is only one acceptable response to Wednesday’s deadly terrorist attacks in Iran: swift and unequivocal condemnation of the perpetrators, and condolences to the victims. By joining the other world leaders who have offered their sympathy, US President Donald Trump can reaffirm both America’s standing in the community of nations and its determination to defeat terrorism, whatever and wherever its ...

At a time when the UK’s most pressing need is for competent leadership, it’s saddled with two of the most bungling party leaders in living memory. Even a well-run government would struggle to control the short-term damage likely to be inflicted by Brexit. Whatever happens in Thursday’s vote, there’s no prospect of a well-run government by Friday. On this evidence, ...

As soon as Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change, eyes turned eastward. Even as the US reneges on its promises, the argument now goes, China and India will show leadership instead; they at least are committed to low-carbon growth. I wouldn’t be so sure, at least where India is concerned. It is true that ...

The entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley are undoubtedly finding many ways to make the world a better place — with tunnels, flying cars, interplanetary travel. Yet I can’t help noticing a growing divide between the problems people have and the problems tech companies are willing or able to solve. This divide has two sources. The first is related to inequality: When ...

Despite record highs in the markets, bad news about consumers has been relentless: malls are closing; consumers have accumulated too much debt; incomes are stagnant. None of this bodes well for future consumer spending and economic growth. This is the established narrative — fairly straightforward, based on well-understood data. I suspect it is also wrong. What if something else entirely ...

When the next financial crisis hits — an event that may be years or decades away — we will learn whether this Congress and the president drew the right lessons from the 2008-09 financial crisis. Congress is arguing over whether government can avoid ‘bailouts’ of large financial institutions and still prevent a full-blown crisis. With all of President Trump’s trials ...

Nyl Patangan, a nursing graduate from the Philippines, left his native land in search of a better life. Now working in a Chicago hospital after a stint in Dubai, he’s supporting his parents back home and is buying his mother a Toyota Vios. A recent study by the Asian Development Bank shows that the number of immigrants with university degrees ...

Some government traditions with no legal basis — pardoning turkeys, for example — are silly but harmless. Others are not. Among them is an arcane, century-old practice known as “blue-slipping,” under which a single senator can block a president’s judicial nominee. The country would be better off without it. When the president sends a candidate for the federal bench to ...