https://www.scmp.com/rss/520838/feed Cale Holmes is a production editor at the Post with journalism experience in Washington and Beijing. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Cale Holmes Cale Holmes The United Nations is broke. According to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the institution can’t pay its bills. Members, such as the US, haven’t paid their dues. The UN doesn’t just face a liquidity crisis. An old rule obliges it to pay members back for unspent money, even from dues it never received. The UN Secretariat and some major operations could close by July. The UN is far from ideal. The secretariat and agency headquarters are massive bureaucracies, the General Assembly is widely... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3343337/more-funding-un-needs-restructuring?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3343337/more-funding-un-needs-restructuring?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Feb 2026 21:30:08 +0000 Cale Holmes Cale Holmes For Cambodians who have gone for the better part of three decades without war, peace is preferred. But for many in the country, backing down isn’t an option either. That rings true for the challenges posed by the US-China rivalry, the Trump administration and the recent border skirmish with Thailand that left a Cambodian soldier dead in contested territory. Four days after the skirmish, I travelled by bus from Thailand to Cambodia. By then, both governments had agreed to resolve their border... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3314954/cambodians-dont-want-be-chess-piece-us-china-rivalry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3314954/cambodians-dont-want-be-chess-piece-us-china-rivalry?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Jun 2025 21:30:08 +0000 Standing on a chair, a can of wasabi peas in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other, my Chinese 101 professor made eye contact with me. I was enthralled by her theatrical pedagogy but, like any language learner, terrified of making mistakes. After all, my last gaffe was a class favourite and not something I was particularly proud of, despite my forays into improvisational comedy. We were learning about the ba structure, an important aspect of Mandarin that helps one describe the... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3296221/how-spring-festival-expanded-americans-notion-family?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3296221/how-spring-festival-expanded-americans-notion-family?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Jan 2025 01:30:09 +0000