With President Rodrigo Duterte entering his lame-duck year in office, the fate of a key military pact between the Philippines and the United States will be up to whoever succeeds him in May next year. This pact, known as the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), was signed in 1998. It gives legal cover to thousands of […]

The first time I truly realized I was Uighur was just three years ago, when I saw the now-infamous viral photo of rows of Turkic men in dark blue uniforms, sitting in a concentration camp in Hotan, Xinjiang, a so-called Uighur autonomous region in China. Scanning the prisoners’ despondent faces, I was startled by their […]

I will be honest and say that I don’t know exactly how to interpret the surreal events that unfolded this week in Washington, D.C., when a mob inflamed by online memes and presidential fantasies rampaged through the halls of the U.S. Capitol. Throughout the Trump era there has been a debate among his critics about […]

To the Editor: Re “Britain Has Lost Itself,” by Peter Gumbel (Op-Ed, Jan. 2): Mr. Gumbel paints Britain’s future in very bleak terms and says he is so “alarmed by the direction in which Britain appeared to be heading” that he has sought dual British-German citizenship. I voted against Brexit and share Mr. Gumbel’s dismay […]

Five years after his death, the dystopian world that his music describes seems closer than ever. But maybe he can show us a way out of it. By Simon Critchley Mr. Critchley is a professor of philosophy and the author of “Bowie.” Everything went to pieces after David Bowie died. It’s been five years since […]

This history of the United States is rife with episodes of political violence far bloodier and more destructive than the one President Trump incited at the Capitol on Wednesday. Nevertheless, ignorance of a grisly past well documented by historians like W.E.B. DuBois, John Hope Franklin and Richard Hofstadter was painfully evident in the aftermath of […]

A wounded U.S. in turmoil By Andrea Kannapell and Melina Delkic Good morning. We’re covering the latest from Washington, a new study of in-flight coronavirus transmission and our Travel Desk’s 52 places to love (since who knows when we’ll go anywhere). As the world watches, a wounded U.S. remains in turmoil Since World War II, […]

So, is it finally OK to use the F-word? One shouldn’t use the term “fascist” lightly. It isn’t a catchall for “people you disagree with.” It isn’t even a synonym for “bad political actors.” Mitch McConnell’s brand of politics has, in my view, greatly damaged America; but cynical legislative maneuvers aren’t the same thing as […]

This article is part of the Debatable newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Wednesday, a mob of President Trump’s supporters acting at his behest — some boasting Confederate flags, nooses and a shirt that read “Camp Auschwitz” — launched a destructive assault on the Capitol that led […]

To the Editor: Re “Big Pharma Is Fooling Us,” by Stephen Buranyi (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, Dec. 17): Mr. Buranyi claims that Big Pharma staged a “public relations coup” by taking credit for vaccine breakthroughs that “wouldn’t exist without public support through every step of their development.” He argues that the companies should waive their patents. Without […]