By Shlomo Ben-Ami TEL AVIV—Major wars usher in new international orders. The Thirty Years’ War brought the Peace of Westphalia. The Napoleonic Wars gave rise to the Concert of Europe. World War II spurred the creation of the Bretton Woods system, decolonization, and European integration. Even the Cold War gave …
Read More »Will AI Democratize Skills?
By María Lombardi BUENOS AIRES—Recent AI advances have created widespread expectations of substantial productivity gains. Early studies, such as one showing that AI increased the productivity of customer-support agents by 15% on average (with less-experienced workers getting a much bigger boost), as well as emerging evidence of AI-driven productivity gains …
Read More »Redefining Energy Security
By Richard Haass and Carolyn Kissane NEW YORK—It is too soon to know when or how the war with Iran will end, or what its geopolitical or economic consequences will be. But one thing is already certain: What is meant by energy security must be rethought. Roughly 20% of the …
Read More »The Global AI Threat Has Arrived
S. Alex Yang and Angela Huyue Zhang LONDON/LOS ANGELES—Anthropic’s new AI model, Claude Mythos Preview, has alarmed business leaders and policymakers around the world because of its extraordinary ability to find and exploit vulnerabilities in major operating systems and web browsers. Even the Trump administration, which has feuded with Anthropic …
Read More »I Came to Bhutan: A Journey from a small town to the Heart of Nation Building; A Decade of Reflection in Bhutan
When I arrived in Bhutan during 2016, I was excited to learn more about this peaceful little town among the mountains shrouded in mist and the valleys full of beauty with a feeling of curiosity and discomfort. The experience at that time left me with a strong and lasting impression …
Read More »The Hormuz Crisis and the Fate of the Global South
By Laura Carvalho NEW YORK—The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered what the International Monetary Fund calls a “global yet asymmetric” rupture, disrupting the flow of roughly one-quarter of oil, one-fifth of liquefied natural gas, and one-third of fertilizer supplies. Energy and fertilizer prices have risen, supply chains …
Read More »On Dr. Ahmad, White Lotus, and the GST We Actually Live With
By Phub W. Dorji Let me begin with what should be an uncontroversial observation: the debate triggered by Dr. Ahmad’s article in The Bhutanese last week, is not really about GST. It is about something deeper — the growing distance between how our economic policies are designed and how ordinary …
Read More »The Road to De-Escalation With Iran
By Simon Johnson and Amir Kermani WASHINGTON, DC/BERKELEY—The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is having devastating consequences worldwide. The price of oil is up sharply, liquefied natural gas has become much more expensive in key markets, the cost of fertilizer is likely to remain high throughout the planting season, …
Read More »GST in Bhutan: Reform It Properly or Roll It Back
By Dr. Haqnawaz Ahmad Bhutan has always taken pride in pursuing economic policies that balance revenue needs with social well-being but the recent rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has triggered a question many ordinary citizens are now asking in tea shops, markets, and homes: is this policy …
Read More »Why Iran Is Beating America
By Brahma Chellaney NEW DELHI—In a rambling address to the American people on April 1, US President Donald Trump claimed that the US war against Iran has been a success, vowing to “finish the job … very fast.” It was a statement in obvious conflict with the facts. Trump is …
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The Bhutanese Leading the way.