In the war on disinformation, the enemy can be hard to determine. Journalists, politicians, governments, and even grandparents have been accused of enabling the spread of online falsehoods. While none of these groups is entirely innocent, the real adversary is more mundane. As Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testified late last year, social media’s own algorithms are what makes disinformation accessible. Since its launch in 2004, Facebook has grown from a students’ social net

President Joe Biden has declared fighting corruption a core national security interest, and last month, the White House released a strategy to combat corruption globally. These are welcome moves, but to effectively impede corruption around the world, America needs to take a serious look at how our government inadvertently facilitates it too. Corruption, the abuse or misuse of state resources or positions of authority for personal gain, is endemic in many countries across the globe and remains a

Amid the dynamic race to the March 9 presidential election, the fates of two women test our moral compass. One vanished soon after she appeared, and the other virtually stays on track, her mystic presence piquing voter curiosity in novel ways with potential consequences. Last month, when Cho Dong-youn joined the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s campaign committee for Lee Jae-myung as co-chair, her accomplished military career fired up my imagination. A 38-year-old retired Army major an

Recently, the American satirical film, “Don’t Look Up,” has been attracting widespread attention. It is a small wonder why. The film features a stellar cast: Meryl Streep is president of the US, and Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio play two astronomers from Michigan State University, who have found a comet big enough to destroy humanity on a direct course to earth. The two astronomers, Kate Diviasky and Randall Mindy, try to warn the US president and the media in vain. N

Can democracy be snuffed out? You bet it can. Just look at what’s happening in Hong Kong. My last visit there was at the end of 2019, right before the pandemic, during what seems in retrospect to have been the final stand of the pro-democracy movement. In those days, pop-up demonstrations were a regular event, including clashes in the streets between masked activists and police officers. The Hong Kong government was already cracking down on dissent and increasingly siding with Beijing&rs

After a half century or so in politics, Joe Biden sure didn’t need to be reminded -- by a pollster, or a political science professor or a media pundit -- of the secret of winning elections. Because this is one secret that every politico knows. Namely: A politician will never be able to convince people that their perceived problems aren’t real -- or aren’t being fixed -- if voters are sure the problem is real because they keep seeing it on the news or encountering it in their d