Patrick Lawrence

Patrick Lawrence is a longtime columnist, essayist, critic, and lecturer. He was a correspondent abroad (writing as Patrick L. Smith) for many years, chiefly for the Far Eastern Economic Review, the International Herald Tribune, and The New Yorker, and chiefly in Asia. His most recent books are Somebody Else’s Century: East and West in a Post-Western World (Pantheon) and Time No Longer: America After the American Century (Yale). His next book is tentatively titled After Exceptionalism. His website is patricklawrence.us.

October 9, 2026

History/Human Rights/Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s Forgotten Clerical Toll: 724 Buddhist Monks and Clerics Killed

During Sri Lanka’s second JVP insurrection, 41 Buddhist monks and two Catholic priests were reportedly killed by the JVP’s armed wing, while government security forces and paramilitary groups were blamed for the

Editorials

Navi Pillay’s Nobel Peace Prize and the Unfinished Struggle for Justice

Navi Pillay’s 2026 Nobel Peace Prize celebrates a lifetime of challenging impunity and defending human dignity. Yet her legacy also raises difficult questions about accountability, political power and the credibility of international institutions, reminding the world that peace requires more

October 9, 2026

Mercedes Workers’ Leader Warns Cost-Cutting Threats Risk Undermining Trust

Business

Mercedes-Benz workers’ representative Ergun Lümali has warned that threats of factory closures and demands for employee concessions risk damaging trust between management and the

BaFin Fines Volkswagen €1.2 Million Over Financial Disclosure Breach

Business

Volkswagen has been fined €1.2 million by Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) for failing to meet mandatory financial disclosure requirements after issuing an

After Nasrallah: What His Death Means for Netanyahu’s Future

October 1, 2024

Israel

You have probably heard by now, or heard about, Bibi Netanyahu’s viciously vituperative hate speech before the U.N. General Assembly last Friday. The Israeli prime minister let it be known he hates more or

Psychosis and Its Consequences

September 20, 2023

Columns

Remember that startling remark Karl Rove made while serving as an adviser to George W. Bush? It was October 2004, the so-called war on terror was going full tilt, and Rove was

Europe: Shrinking Within

October 24, 2022

Defence/Diplomacy/Geopolitics/United States

Absolutely remarkable, Western media’s determination to ignore the recent Baltic Sea detonations, which knocked out the Nord Stream I and II gas pipelines. A major piece of Europe’s energy infrastructure, the joint