Subterms
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, health-care systems around the world are left strained. The outbreak continues to throttle the efficiency of many health-care sectors, pushing some to the brink. While deficiencies within public health systems are exposed, other viral enemies have come to the fore — racism, bigotry and xenophobia. The spike in discrimination cases […] More
As the world continues to grapple with the implications of the COVID-19 crisis, including mass infection and death, a global economic downturn and the stigmatization of minority communities, the rush to reopen and “get back to work” weighs hard on world leaders. Along with vaccine development, contact tracing has been touted as a necessary tool […] More
Many world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have drawn parallels between war and the coronavirus pandemic. So, should the frontline workers leading the response be called “warriors”? Health care workers, farmers, grocery store clerks, police officers, journalists and others who are toiling hard in this time of crisis deserve our utmost respect. Our enemy, […] More
Although other nations, such as New Zealand, have received kudos for their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, one country that has not received the praise it is due from the international media brigade is Tunisia. The small North African country with a fragile economy has achieved a result that many countries, including the UK, should take note […] More
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprisingly participated in the virtual Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in May for the first time since he took office in 2014. Modi had skipped the 2016 and 2019 NAM summits, but his attendance in 2020 could signal a revival of this once-important alliance. The NAM, a Cold War-era grouping of […] More
We may not like what President Donald Trump is saying about the World Health Organization (WHO), China and the world at large. In fact, we do not like it at all, but Trump has a point, and acknowledging it would empower us to address him in earnest, with honesty and efficiency. The world is led […] More
Switzerland poses a fascinating puzzle to anyone interested in contemporary politics. It has a confederate system, which accords a great deal of autonomy and independence to its constituent units, the cantons. Its consociational system is based on consensual decisions, and its extreme system of direct democracy allows Swiss citizens to vote in a slew of […] More
In 1968, German mathematician Dietrich Braess made a rather fascinating observation. When you added an additional road between points A and B, it slowed traffic down rather than speed it up. The Braess paradox, as it is now called, is a counterintuitive observation that has been studied and expanded for over half a century, with […] More
