Bruce Riedel, Al-Monitor
Saudi Arabia is playing a high-stakes game in Lebanon, seeking to punish and weaken Hezbollah and Iran. It's not clear if the Saudis have an achievable end goal in mind.
Anna Lekas Miller, Daily Beast
Berta Cáceres received many death threats crusading against the destruction of Honduras indigenous lands. Was her murder this week a botched robbery -- or something more sinister?
Rob Cameron, BBC News
As Prime Minister Robert Fico begins the difficult task of building a majority coalition, there's shock in Slovakia at the real sensation of this election: the strong showing by Marian Kotleba and his ultra-nationalist People's Party-Our Slovakia.
Timothy Garton Ash, The Spectator
The Brexit camp want to risk decades of real peace and prosperity to attain a future full of implausibly rational statesmen.
Ulrich Speck, Guardian
At the core of the debate is the meaning of borders: should they be porous or tightly controlled? Are they mainly an obstacle to the free and productive flow of ideas, people, goods and information and should therefore be largely dismantled? Or are massive borders welcome and indispensable as a protection against all kinds of real or perceived threats such as competition and terrorism?
Hanin Ghaddar, NOW
It is still immature to talk about serious dissent against Hezbollah, which is still the strongest and most credible political party there is for the Shiites. That hasn’t changed, but people are not one hundred percent compliant like they used to be. While Nasrallah pledges more fighting in Syria, Yemen and wherever they are needed in the region, more young men are coming back in coffins. The rhetoric is becoming more aggressive in Lebanon, whereas the Iranian people are starting... Читать дальше...
Marsha Lederman, Globe & Mail
Right now, the low Canadian dollar is a huge factor in this booming industry. That may not always be the case. The tax credits are an important incentive; they, in fact, helped build the industry.
Luis Alberto Moreno, Project Syndicate
Since returning to democratic rule in the 1980s and 1990s, many Latin American countries have been quietly working to strengthen their political systems’ checks and balances, from enhancing the legislature’s authority to analyze budgets and monitor spending to reinforcing the judiciary’s capacity to prosecute complex financial crimes. Several countries have recently introduced enhanced safeguards against tax evasion and money laundering. And some are trying... Читать дальше...
Lily Kuo, Quartz
Since the 1980s, more than 500 million Chinese moved from the countryside to urban centers. While Chinese cities have problems with over congestion, pollution, and shoddy construction, there’s much Africa can learn from the Asian giant. And more African architects and designers can have a hand in the design and construction of the continent’s new cities.
George Reisman, RCM
Today, investment by China and other foreign countries in the U.S. is what enables the American economy to import more than it exports. As in the case of Saudi Arabia, this investment and accompanying excess of imports over exports makes it possible for the United States to have more and better equipped factories and all other types of means of production than would otherwise be the case, and thus to have a larger number of well-paying jobs. Indirectly, even the purchase of... Читать дальше...
Nate Schenkkan, Foreign Policy
Erdogan’s animus toward Zaman has its roots in the rivalry between the president’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Gulen movement, a secretive Islamist network that once facilitated the party’s rise. Zaman has long played a key role in the far-flung Gulen business empire, and it has become an increasingly prominent voice in the chorus of Erdogan’s critics in recent years. The intensity of the bad feeling on both sides undoubtedly has much to do with the fact that they used to be allies.
Murat Yetkin, Hurriyet
The move to appoint trustees to the Zaman group came right before a key meeting between the Turkish government and the EU on March 7 in Brussels over an agreement on handling the Syrian refugees in Turkey with EU funding and reactivating Turkey-EU relations. The EU has been harshly criticized by Turkish opposition forces - and also voices in EU member states - for turning a blind eye to rights violations in Turkey in order to secure the migrants agreement.
Gabriel Pasquini, New Yorker
How did a slapstick allegory about sociopolitical witch hunts become the subject of, well, a sociopolitical witch hunt? Bad programming and cultural misunderstanding might account for some of the public reaction.
Leonid Bershidsky, BV
Russia got its chance in the early 1990s, but it was largely wasted. The first post-Soviet decade brought almost unlimited liberties, but also rampant corruption and economic decline. During the second one, the liberties gradually eroded and the economy improved thanks to high commodity prices -- a mirage, as became clear by the middle of the third decade. So is it just that Russians are not suited to building the kind of society that has ensured America's prosperity?
Michael Birnbaum, WaPo
I’m often asked whether Putin’s support is real. My strong impression is that it is, but that when people say they support Putin, they don’t mean the same thing as what an American might mean when she says she supports President Obama. More than 16 years into Putin’s rule, many Russians see him as having transcended politics, not someone who can be voted in or out of office. So when you ask someone whether they approve of Putin, that’s like asking them whether they approve of Russia. Читать дальше...
