Don’t ask why US acted against China’s Huawei. Ask: why now?

Anyone who thought last Saturday’s agreement between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to suspend punitive tariff...

Nikki Haley’s swansong at the UN was an embarrassment

The 6 December was the first anniversary of US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and that...

Macron's European army has arrived. It goes by the name Gilets Jaunes

I am writing these words in a hotel room in central Paris in the aftermath of a day of rage, unleashed by the self-styled gilets jaunes (yellow...

Alfa Šarec: Nova normalnost?

V intervjuju za Siol je predsednik vlade Marjan Šarec dokončno dokazal, kar smo slutili zadnje tri plus tri mesece, ko je sestavljal in sestavil...

Britský pat

Podľa prieskumu spoločnosti ComRes ani jeden postoj jasne neprevažuje. Briti sú proti zotrvaniu v EÚ a zároveň sú aj proti druhému...

More data exposing the U.S. income stagnation myth

WASHINGTON – We in the media have a problem. Actually, it’s a big problem for all of us. We have become addicted to the notion that, except for...

Japan, look in the mirror called Germany

An inconspicuous but professional article on Germany scared me last week. Written by Oliver Nachtwey, a University of Basel sociology professor, it...

All art is political – maybe more so in Hong Kong

They say all art is political. In Hong Kong, that often takes on a different meaning. Two recent incidents in the local art scene raise questions...

S. Korean security law fades amid detente

SEOUL (Reuters) — In downtown Seoul, some 40 young South Koreans last month braved early winter chills to show their support for a planned visit...

No sign of political reform in China since 'Charter 08'

It's been ten years since several hundred prominent Chinese intellectuals signed a manifesto calling for democracy and rule of law. But since then,...

Right time for China to recommit to its reform agenda

Some day, we will look back on the current trade war between the United States and China and wonder how we did this to ourselves. China’s retreat...

In the streets at least, the Italian left is still strong

Commentary. This was the opposition in its best form, featuring a cross-section of all categories, with participants both young and old, fueled by...

El eterno retorno de la doctrina Monroe

En tanto asumía que América Latina y el Caribe no albergaban ya amenazas significativas de seguridad para los Estados Unidos, en 2013 el entonces...

Who is Peter Comey and Why it Matters

On December 7 after weeks of legal resistance, former FBI Director James Comey was forced to appear at a closed-door hearing convened by...

Perpetrator of brazen bonuses theft a mystery 50 years on

On a rainy December morning in 1968, a bank’s cash transport car carrying about 300 million yen in bonuses for employees of Toshiba Corp.’s...

Another Brexit referendum is a terrible idea

In the “careful what you wish for” stakes, few issues rank higher than the plan for a second referendum by those in the UK hoping for a reversal...

Forget ‘America first’, it’s time for a ‘China first’ stimulus

It has all been a chimera. Markets are waking up to a bad dream and this is where the nightmare begins. Chaos is taking hold and markets are...

Haaretz Cartoon

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G20 Summit More a Farce: How Many Bottles Will Stay On The Wall?

The G20 Summit in Argentina was, like the rest, a farce. Throughout history, people of influence have developed alternative structures to find ways...

Save the planet and grow profits: How corporate green bonds are a win-win

OVER the last five years, green bond issuance has been booming. Although conceived in 2007, the market really took off in 2014 when US$37 billion...

The Photo That Encapsulates the Horror of Live Animal Transport to Israel

JoAnne McArthur is a Canadian photographer who’s won many awards for documenting the relationship between humans and animals. Half a year ago she...

Cybercrime cost Hong Kong businesses a whole lot more this year

According to latest reports, in the first nine months of this year, Hong Kong's residents and companies sustained more than 9,000 cyberattacks and...

New Zealand grapples with China’s influence and intimidation

FUKUOKA – In April 2010, there was a scandal over the Confucius Institute at Osaka Sangyo University in Osaka. During meetings discussing a...

Re-Reading George H.W. Bush’s Lips

CAMBRIDGE – When President George H.W. Bush was laid to rest last week, the encomiums appropriately remarked on his general decency and...

The Basic Law may be a child of China’s constitution, but it has come of age

Three hundred Hong Kong schoolchildren gathered last week for a law lecture with a difference. The city’s leader also attended the class, along...

The Photo That Encapsulates the Horror of the Live Transport of Animals to Israel

A rare moment in which two calves cling to each other in a world that’s only waiting for the moment in which it’s profitable to end their lives...

US sanctions against Iran purely political

Behind the facade of legality, America’s sanction laws are usually no more than the conduct of foreign policy by other means. When it comes to...

Indonesia: How empowering the disabled drives economic growth

Benefiting from the country’s development is every citizen’s right. And it is also a duty of the government to include all elements of the...

Could the Huawei arrest threaten Trump’s trade truce?

THE arrest of one of the world’s biggest tech top executives is certainly newsworthy in itself and has understandably grabbed headlines across...

Theresa May’s desperate Brexit deal should be put to the people

Theresa May made an extraordinary appeal this month: Britain’s prime minister wrote to the people of the UK, appealing to them to support the...

The phony America-China truce

BEIJING – On Dec. 1 in Buenos Aires, U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed on a 90-day moratorium on...

U.S. has Huawei in cuffs; China has U.S. in chains

NEW YORK – Imagine you’re a product engineer for a U.S. device brand based in China. You’ve had to submit your passport for annual visa...

US-China trade war threatens to derail emerging economies

Ending Wartime Sexual Violence

BERLIN/ZURICH – On December 10, Denis Mukwege, a physician from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nadia Murad, an Iraqi Yazidi survivor of...

Twilight zone

By John Burton The nuclear talks with North Korea have fallen into a twilight zone ― a state of suspended animation ― six months after U.S....

Huawei, Patrick Ho cases just more bargaining chips for Trump’s trade war

Xu Yanjun, alleged by the US government to be a spy working for the Chinese Ministry of State Security, was extradited from Brussels and is...

'Islamic human rights' is a false path

Religious interpretations are slowing down the implementation of the UN human rights charter, which marks its 70th anniversary today. The UN is...

In Katowice, a peaceful parade to save the planet

Reportage. Around the world on Saturday, people marched in defense of the planet. In Poland, home to this year’s COP24 climate conference the...

Se activa la protesta contra la violencia de género en el mundo árabe

Los feminicidios, una de las manifestaciones más extremas de la violencia de género, han dejado de ser en muchas partes crímenes ignorados...

Where are the Gilets Jaunes in the Arab world?

The Paris demonstrations by the Gilets Jaunes — yellow vests — movement have grabbed public attention around the world, and have spread to...

Honest debate needed about legacy of Israel’s expulsion of the Palestinians – Ken Livingstone

Israel is just under a year away from its next election. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, came close to being forced out of office last...

The World Has Failed Children in Conflict Zones

LONDON – This Human Rights Day (December 10) marks the 70th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of the Universal...

How ‘disruption’ under Trump may benefit global trade

In 2018, trade, more than any other policy area, was “disrupted”. What used to be an archaic, technical and – let’s face it – boring array...

Pact with long-term effects

The UN migration pact is not legally binding, we are told. But declarations of intent can become international standards, as proved by the UN’s...

What it means to be a women's rights activist in Saudi Arabia

I first met Eman Al Nafjan in October 2006, just before she took up blogging and activism. At that time she was still working as an English...

Forget Danny Danon’s spin at the UN, Israel has neither the legal nor the moral high ground

In the wake of the UN General Assembly rejection of the US-drafted resolution condemning the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement and some of...

Marc Lamont Hill and the Israeli lobby on US campuses

Marc Lamont Hill, a CNN commentator and professor of media studies at Temple University, was fired by the US cable network shortly after delivering...

A mother is not a burden to society. When will Hong Kong realise that?

Hong Kong women and their willingness, or otherwise, to reproduce have been making headlines recently. Apparently, some 15 per cent are...

Students need a say in setting school rules on smartphone use

Although many children own smartphones, it is not necessarily solely up to teachers and parents to think about how they should get along without...

Israeli Zeitgeist - Tyranny of the Majority - Threatens Democracy in Haifa

The leader of the Hadash party on the Haifa city council, Raja Zaatry, is slated to be appointed deputy mayor. Interior Minister Arye Dery...

Jerusalem, Unite

Uniting Jerusalem can be viewed as part of the relationship between Jews and Arabs throughout Israel; Success in Jerusalem will lead to success...

Why you should buy an IBS-made home

BUYING a home before the housing project is complete can be risky business. The post Why you should buy an IBS-made home appeared first on Asian...

Betting on Dystopia

CAMBRIDGE – With the price of Bitcoin down 80% from its peak a year ago, and the larger cryptocurrency market in systemic collapse, has “peak...

List do Marrákeša

Akýkoľvek pohľad na migráciu, ktorý sa neprotiví základným ľudským právam a medzinárodným konvenciám, je legitímny. Dokiaľ bude...

US Farm Bill should give the impetus for global dog meat ban

I heard a heart-warming dog-related story the other day. A businessman chartered a private jet to transport his three sick dogs back to Hong Kong...

Who is responsible?

Reading sometimes becomes very tiring. Nazım Beratlı is a Turkish Cypriot medical doctor, journalist, author, researcher and historian. Most of...

Britain must now pay the price for the tantrum it called ‘referendum’

Thirty months ago, in the surreal and depressing wake of the June 23， 2016 Brexit referendum, I wrote here in the South China Morning Post about the...

Why the world needs an immediate ban on new fossil fuel development

A first and necessary step to limiting global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius is a complete ban on any new fossil fuel development, anywhere on...

In Palestine, it’s freedom for all or freedom for none 

The Trump administration’s failure to secure a UN resolution condemning Hamas and other resistance factions was welcomed by Palestinians as a...

While the Arab world looks the other way, Israel’s Judaisation of Jerusalem is ongoing

The pace of Judaisation in occupied Jerusalem has increased since the US Embassy was moved from Tel Aviv to the city in May. This was accompanied...

Anglo-Saxon “Eyes” are Fixed on Countering China

In spite in a number of signals that the Trump administration has made over the months to indicate that it is prepared to try to take China down...

Legal clouds over Trump grow with new disclosures

The more that special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors reveal, the darker grow the legal clouds over President Donald Trump. Trump's...

Chips in the fryer

Gastronomic gifts

Gift-giving season is in! When December comes, a weird kind of anxiety begins in my family. What to do for Weihnachten? Shall we lift the gift...

Everlasting true love really does exist, and here’s how to find it

Everyone yearns for everlasting true love, but most people who can’t find it just give up and settle for less or stay single. They say it is better...

Kushner and MbS’ relationship sets Trump’s MidEast policy

The reason why the US has become so close to Saudi Arabia is due to the friendship cultivated between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Jared...

Why is “Intelligence” the Mother of All Stupidity?

When listening to political leaders in the West, particularly when describing Syria or “Palestinian terrorists” or the threat from Russia and...

Iran's government cannot afford to ignore Khuzestan anymore

Over the past few months, two events occupied the headlines in Iran: the deadly  paramilitary attack  on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz,...

Národná hanba

Negatíva však jednoznačne prevažujú: vlaky na Slovensku v lepšom prípade „iba meškajú“, v horšom horia, pričom hovoriť o kultúre...

More sex in driverless cars?

By Chang Se-moon Will sex be more common in driverless cars? At least some studies speculate that to be the case, suggesting the likelihood that...

Russia-Ukraine conflict requires restraint

A recent escalation of tension sparked by Russia’s seizure of three Ukrainian ships and arrests of their crew reminded the world of a conflict it...

In current political climate, selling Hong Kong to Americans no easy task

There was an interesting aside when the South China Morning Post received a media leadership award in Washington last week from the US-China Policy...

If 5 Stars wants to save money, manifesto can’t help them

Commentary. While we are indeed heretics, and we’re certainly of the left, our way is as close to St. Francis’s vow of poverty as it comes....

Haaretz Cartoon

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What would Adam Smith say about the rush to stop coal power?

Adam Smith famously said that “I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.” Nowhere is the merit of...

A spectre of collapse or a vision of hope in the New Year

There was a “ghost at the feast “when G20 leaders met in Buenos Aires for their recent summit. While the key leaders postured and played politics,...

True leaders fight prejudice for social progress. So why not in Hong Kong?

Politicians try to be popular; leaders try to do the right thing. I cannot help but dwell on this saying as celebrations of the 70th anniversary of...

Last analog president

By Jason Lim George H.W. Bush was my first president as an adult, and I wasn't impressed. It felt like we were getting the second fiddle to the...

Americans Salute Bush Forty-One

The father of former president George Bush, former President George H.W. Bush, lived to the ripe old age of ninety-four, and is eulogized as an (...

Balíčky ako reštart?

Z hľadiska najsilnejšej vládnej strany však podobné vyhlásenia v tejto chvíli znamenajú čosi iné. Sociálne darčeky nemusia byť...

The Sinister Message Behind Hanukkah Songs

Hanukkah songs: A joyous call by the entire family for a jihadist religious war

The “Punishing Truth” About Donald Trump’s Policies

Before long the world will act typically numb when President Donald Trump announces a “hit” on a prominent public figure via his Twitter account....

We are still waiting for the Douma Four to come back

Today marks five years since my close friends and relatives, Razan Zaitouneh and Wael Hamada, were abducted along with Samira al-Khalil and Nazem...

Forget the ‘truce’, the Trump-Xi rivalry is just getting started

A tariff war truce, declared by President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping at the end of their summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last...

Obstacles to progress in North Korean denuclearisation remain formidable

Nobody was surprised when, on November 16, the ruling Workers Party of Korea announced that Kim Jong-un had “supervised a newly developed...

Aquarius forced to quit migrant rescues: ‘This is a dark day’

Interview. Il manifesto interviewed the Doctors Without Borders spokesman in Italy, Marco Bertotto. ‘The Italian government is behaving like a...

Can Macron survive France's 'yellow vest' revolution?

Nicole Barthelemy, the quiet, gracious owner of one of Paris’s premier cheese shops on the Rue de Grenelle, told me this week, with real panic in...