President Vladimir Putin worked hard to bring the 2018 FIFA World Cup to Russia, but now that the spectacle is underway, his influence has waned. He cannot control the referees or the performance of Russia’s national team, the Sbornaya, which is ranked 70th in the world -- the lowest-seeded team in the tournament. But he has far more control over how the tournament is covered, at least by Russian media.In the World Press Freedom Index, compiled each year by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Russi

June 29, 2018

Nowadays, Britain’s words and actions on the world stage are so at odds with its values that one must wonder what has happened to the country. Since the June 2016 Brexit referendum, British foreign policy seems to have all but collapsed -- and even to have disowned its past and its governing ideas. Worse, this has coincided with the emergence of US President Donald Trump’s erratic administration, which is pursuing goals that are completely detached from those of Britain -- and of Europe generall

June 28, 2018

If an alien landed in Rome today, he would think Matteo Salvini was running Italy. The leader of the right-wing League has seized the center stage of Italian politics, even though he is merely deputy prime minister, interior minister and head of the junior party in its governing coalition.　Five Star, the League’s senior partner in the new populist administration, is entirely to blame for this. The movement has been outmaneuvered comprehensively since Italy’s government was formed three weeks ago

June 28, 2018

As one Trump administration trade policy backfires, another looks set to.　On Monday, Harley-Davidson said it would shift some production out of the US in order to mitigate the impact of European Union tariffs targeting its motorcycles. Those penalties -- which Harley-Davidson estimates may cost it as much as $100 million annually -- were in response to US levies on steel and aluminum imported from the EU. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department is reportedly planning to aim a bazooka at a Chinese tak

June 28, 2018

Japan, many people believe, is a country of rigid, traditional gender norms, where men work and women are homemakers. But this stereotype is passe. Despite the continued prevalence of traditional gender roles in television shows, Japanese culture has undergone a sea change -- most women now have jobs.　Japan isn’t alone. In recent years, female labor force participation has been rising across almost all industrialized countries. There’s at least one big exception, though -- the US.　The decline of

June 27, 2018

The existence of a vibrant political culture and strong opposition to the political monopoly of the country’s long-term ruler were what separated Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey from Vladimir Putin’s Russia. After Erdogan’s victory in Sunday’s hotly contested presidential and parliamentary elections, however, these differences are likely to be eroded as Turkey sinks into an Islamic version of Putinism.　It wasn’t a particularly impressive victory: Erdogan won the presidential election with about 52

June 27, 2018

Since Jan. 1, when China stopped accepting the rich world’s recyclable plastic waste, it’s gotten a ton of criticism for worsening the already deep crisis of ocean plastic pollution. But China isn’t the only culprit here. This is a crisis made -- and growing worse -- throughout developing Asia.Just eight countries in the region are responsible for about 63 percent of total plastic waste flowing into the oceans. Little of that junk has been exported by rich economies. Instead, it’s almost solely

June 27, 2018

When Chilean screen actress Daniela Vega flew to Los Angeles for the Academy Awards ceremony last March, Hollywood glory wasn’t the only thing on her mind. In a matter of days, Vega would become an international celebrity for her role in the Oscar-winning “A Fantastic Woman” (best foreign picture), a fraught love story about a transgender singer and the social barriers and obscurantism she confronts. But first she had to face a little obscurantism herself.　“I have a passport with a name that has

June 26, 2018

The deservedly big news splashing us all in the face lately has been about the children being ripped away from their illegal-immigrant parents at the US-Mexico border. Many Americans are horrified, which is far from what seems the mostly lackadaisical, yawning reaction to a similar, far more terrifying issue, one in which tens of millions of children live without their father. There are horrible consequences, one of which is too often suicide.　Killing ourselves has been another big news story la

June 26, 2018

Let’s play a game by pretending we are North Koreans. Let’s pretend that we are really serious about complete denuclearization. I know no one believes the idea but let’s give it a run anyway. Who knows? We might learn something from the exercise.Let’s say our ultimate goal as North Koreans is to be relieved of crippling sanctions that prevent us from developing our country economically. The bulk of these sanctions are, of course, imposed or led by the United States. Former President Barack Obama

June 26, 2018

President Donald Trump, it is clear, presides over a regime of untruth and personally inhabits a realm of fantasy. But some of his critics have fallen prey to illusions of their own about the US and the world before Trump.　Take, for instance, Trump’s cruel disregard for the suffering of children caught up in his crackdown on immigration. It provoked many to charge him with violating “American values.” Such condemnation obscures the fact that the US was, from the late 19th century onwards, the in

June 25, 2018