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Vincent Boland: Modest but significant protests pierce Xi Jinping’s aura of invincibility

As protests continue to break out across China in a population thoroughly sick of the president’s crushing zero-Covid policy, he may be turning a potential victory over the virus into a far greater defeat

Dan O’Brien: We must support Ukraine for as long as it takes and not let Putin away with his tyranny

Russia’s tactics in pursuit of its imperial objectives show Putin’s ruthlessness, yet despite growing support here for joining Nato, no senior politician appears willing to lead the country towards the European mainstream on security

Up for debate: The best from the Business Post’s columnists

Insightful and stimulating analysis of the main developments in business and politics from Elaine Byrne, Pat Rabbitte, Tony O’Brien and more

The unforgiven: Liz Cheney’s lonely fight for survival in Wyoming

The congresswoman and daughter of former US vice-president Dick Cheney is all but certain to lose her seat to a Donald Trump-backed opponent in the Republican primary this Tuesday. But in swimming pointedly against the tide of MAGA mania, is she eyeing a much bigger political prize on the horizon?

Marion McKeone: Trump sweats as his former counsel plays ball with Jan 6 committee

Pat Cipollone’s testimony on Friday about the events of the January 6 riot at the Capitol Building was delivered behind closed doors, but all the indications are that he was a co-operative witness, spelling more bad news for former US president Donald Trump

Dan O’Brien: Germany caught between Russia, China and a hard place

It is no exaggeration to say that Germany’s reputation as a reliable partner has been damaged as badly as Britain’s has been by Brexit

Hungary takes hard line on opposition to EU embargo on Russia oil imports

Country says it will withdraw veto threat on proposed ban only if its imports via pipelines are excluded from sanctions plan

Elaine Byrne: French vote tells us that politicians must pay heed to those who abstain

Emmanuel Macron’s speech following his victory over Marine Le Pen reflected an awareness of the level of democratic rejection, and there’s a lesson in that for our own politicians

Dispatch from Ukraine: ‘There’s all this movement in Kyiv, like normal, but then there’s news from elsewhere that brings us back to reality’

In his letter this week, Ukrainian sports journalist Oleksandr Proshuta contrasts the relative stabilisation of life in the capital Kyiv with the chaos unfolding elsewhere around the country

Marion McKeone: Another billionaire disrupting the political scene with LA mayor bid

Rick Caruso, a luxury property developer who claims he can solve Los Angeles’ chronic homelessness problem in 300 days, looks set to outpoll Karen Bass, a popular congresswoman with 40 years’ political experience

Lucinda Creighton: Things must change if the centre is to hold against the march of the extremes

Macron should scrape back into office, but without a major change of course by him and his centrist followers, they will be squeezed out next time round

Dispatch from Kyiv: A city thirsting for peace – and for beer

There is cautious optimism in Kyiv about the potential for peace, but most people are just happy to be able to buy alcohol again. In his weekly report from the Ukrainian capital, sports journalist Oleksandr Proshuta writes of a surreal week

Marion McKeone: Biden facing a tougher battle on the home front

For the president, the re-emergence of the US as the undisputed leader of a united liberal world order has paid little or no dividend at home

Elaine Byrne: A global realignment is happening before our eyes as China ensnares Russia in its power game

The Sino-Russia relationship, with Russia the subservient partner, is united by the belief that a strong autocracy is a bulwark against a decadent democracy

Dan O’Brien: The world faces a dangerous stand-off between democracy and autocracy

Greater European insecurity, changes to energy policy and a radical increase in political risk for businesses are among the long-term consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, regardless of when and how the conflict ends

‘Leaving was the toughest decision I have ever made in my life’: How a Ukrainian refugee escaped the hell of war

Olena Flanahan left Ukraine with her baby daughter Santa, and after a traumatic journey through three countries, is now staying in a hotel in Tralee in Co Kerry

Vincent Boland: Is China edging towards a cautious embrace of the free market?

Developments in Beijing suggest that Xi Jinping’s administration is trying to engineer the economy’s reorientation from one development model to another without derailing it entirely

Inside Ukraine: ‘Kyiv is trying to reopen. Most of the barber shops near me and the coffee shops have reopened’

In his weekly dispatch from Ukraine, sports journalist Oleksandr Proshuta reports from the capital Kyiv where the inhabitants, under constant threat of Russian shelling, are trying to find a balance between staying as safe as possible and living a normal life

'I remember thinking how hard it must be to be a refugee, now I am one’

Kyiv couple were in New York when the Russian invasion began and they decided to fly to Dublin where Krys had friends from her time working in the city between 2014 and 2019. Now all she wants to do is return home to rebuild her country

Households and firms face soaring prices for two years, ESRI to warn

The think tank has abandoned its previous forecasts for inflation to peak in the coming months, while a new review into energy security is to propose a state-owned ‘non-commercial’ LNG terminal and ways to fast-track clean energy projects