Internationally Speaking

Commentary, Current Affairs, Internationally Speaking, Op-Eds, Opinion

When Machines Wage War, Who Remembers?
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Gladys Koh (26A01B)

For all of its devastation, war has a way of forcing invention.

A century ago, when the first tanks rolled over the mire of the First World War, soldiers recoiled with horror. They called them “metal monsters”—unfamiliar machines grinding through the trenches like something half alive.  While some soldiers fled amidst a spray of successive gunfire, others stood frozen, trapped in the shadow of impending doom. 

The first tanks used in World War I. Image credit: Imperial War Museums

But the scenes before our eyes have shifted today. 

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Commentary, Internationally Speaking

“You Need To Know The Truth”: Lim Bo Seng Memorial Lecture 2025
Reading Time: 8 minutes

By Kunchur Bharat (26A01B)

Cast your mind back to your lower secondary History lessons for a moment. The phrases “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”, “banana money”, and “did not ATQ” may bring back horrific memories of poring over stacks of notes, trying to cram every last detail into your brain, or sacrificing legibility for speed as you raced against the clock to finish the Source-Based Case Study. 

Or, perhaps, the dread that set in as you weighed two conflicting interpretations and wondered which was the “correct” one? Indeed, history is written (and taught and examined) by the victors — so what do the losers have to say? And why are they worth listening to, if at all?

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Humour, Internationally Speaking, Op-Eds, Opinion

The Top 3 Ways to Kill the Environment 
Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Cheah Zong Heng (24S06P)

Bored of all the talk over the “Climate Emergency”? Secretly hoping for the destruction of Earth’s climate? Or perhaps you are an aspiring shrewd businessman who wants to continue profiteering from fossil fuels? 

This article, unlike the many others that harp on the urgency of climate change, is just for you.

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Commentary, Internationally Speaking, Op-Eds

Questioning Mr. Mohan’s Questioning

Reading Time: 11 minutesBy Varun Karthik (19S06A)

If the name Darrion Mohan sounds familiar, it should. The Oxford undergraduate student questioned Malaysia’s Godfather Dr Tun Mahathir at an Oxford Union event where Mahathir was invited to speak. The exchange that the not-too-old-Boy had with Dr Mahathir over the geo-political bickering between Singapore and Malaysia — a mainstay of Dr M’s legislative agenda — went viral back home in Singapore.

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Commentary, Internationally Speaking, Op-Eds

The Midterms, Discourse and Singapore

Reading Time: 12 minutesBy Varun Karthik (19S06A)

PW Oral Presentations were at full throttle on November 6th. The first few victims had already gone through the ordeal while the rest braced themselves for their impending doom. Throw in Deepavali and the nail-biting Arsenal vs Liverpool match that had just ended, and you might be excused for forgetting that the ‘leader of the free world’ returned to the polls on November 6th.

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