All The Monitor's View
- Is progress on race still possible?
The US midterm election was filled with racial issues, another example to the world of how to confront a difficult topic. At least one country, Tunisia, has decided progress on race is possible.
- A record in ‘diversity’ of candidates
The field in the 2018 elections shows progress in backgrounds of candidates but at least one contest for Congress shows that diversity can mean more than race or gender.
- Peace waves in East Africa
The ‘love can win’ diplomacy of Ethiopia’s new leader has brought startling results in the region, notably in the reunion of South Sudan’s top two rivals.
- Oman’s guiding hand in a churning Mideast
A region so in flux needs an honest broker like tiny Oman that can listen and mediate with selfless interest.
- Disarming terrorists like the Pittsburgh shooter before they act
A decade of efforts to guide terrorists or would-be terrorists away from violence is showing some success, if the approach is based on offering a good alternative.
- A different Mexico as a US partner on migration
The caravan of migrants from Central America poses less of a threat than an opportunity for US-Mexican cooperation.
- A better way to view the migrant caravan
Missing in the dire depictions of Central American migrants is the steady progress in their countries to deal with a root cause for the exodus.
- Political violence and its antidote
Pipe bombs in the US, politicians killed in South Africa, a candidate stabbed in Brazil. Democracies must find answers to political violence. One country, Kenya, is well down that path.
- A soft way to reform global trade
With China and the US jeopardizing the rulebook for international commerce, a group of 13 ‘middle power’ nations tries to mediate reforms for the global trading agency.
- Keeping Italy in Europe’s nest
For the first time, EU leaders rebuked a member state, Italy, for spending profligacy. To solve the crisis and keep the eurozone from failing, both sides need to look at recoveries in nearby economies.
- Why a nuclear-arms pact can save Europe
Russia and Trump challenge a 1987 treaty on short-range nuclear-tipped missiles. They need to listen to the person who signed the pact to understand its larger purpose.
- Identity politics on the ropes in Iraq?
In forming a new government, a prime minister-designate tries to take Iraq beyond a quota system for sharing power by religion and ethnicity. Young Iraqis seek a broader identity.
- Afghans choose ballots over bombs
Popular support for Saturday’s election reflects the spirit of a post-2001 generation eager for clean, no-Taliban governance.
- Helping Saudis be led by truth, not fear
The best response to the disappearance of a Saudi dissident is to invite transparency in the investigation.
- To fight corruption, Kenyans study integrity
The country’s anti-corruption body, alarmed at a rise in bribery, starts a Bible-based campaign to educate people on their role in standing up to corruption.
- A lesson from the Sears bankruptcy
The retailer largely defined an identity for Americans as consumers while not investing enough in local communities that thrive on the social bonding of local commerce.
- Better alerts to feed a hungry world
To end famine by 2030, more nations should use artificial intelligence to track data from areas in a drought or a conflict zone.
- Brazil alters a 'destiny' of corruption
The Oct. 7 election not only ousted many corrupt incumbents, it showed Brazilians reject a presumed ‘culture of corruption’ in favor of equality before the law and clean governance.
- Why Apollo missions still inspire
The 50th anniversary of the first moon mission and a new movie on Neil Armstrong are good reasons to recall how this cosmic venture lifted humanity.
- A Nobel for ennobling ingenuity
Paul Romer, a winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for economics, showed how societies that manage a sustaining flow of new ideas can sustain long-term economic growth.