Emmanuel Macron is the largest political force in Europe today, but he is a force now hemmed in, constrained, trapped. The hurricane of his success last year – the defeat of the far-right Marine Le Pen, the sweeping assembly victory of his newly-minted party, La République En Marche!, made him imperial in his power. That… Read more »
- Comment 0
The real China challenge: Managing its decline
In 2009, The Economist wrote about an up-and-coming global power: Brazil. Its economy, the magazine suggested, would soon overtake that of France or the UK as the world’s fifth largest. São Paulo would be the world’s fifth-richest city. Vast new reserves of offshore oil would provide an added boost, complemented by the country’s robust and… Read more »
- Comment 1
Here’s what Trump needs to do at the G20
Last year’s G20 is remembered for the moment when Donald Trump flew off in a huff, leaving differences on issues like climate change unresolved. This year, few Western leaders are likely to have any grand illusions when they arrive in Buenos Aires for this weekend’s 2018 summit. For many, it seems, the US president is… Read more »
- Comment 0
The depravity of climate-change denial
The Trump administration is, it goes without saying, deeply anti-science. In fact, it is anti-objective reality. But its control of the government remains limited; it didn’t extend far enough to prevent the release of the latest National Climate Assessment, which details current and expected future impacts of global warming on the United States. True, the… Read more »
- Comment 0
In Azov Sea, Putin plays a deadly Ukraine game
When Vladimir Putin opened a new bridge linking Crimea to the rest of Russia across the Azov Sea in May, Russian officials said it was intended to integrate the disputed peninsula – seized by Moscow from Ukraine in 2014 – into Russia’s transport infrastructure. By limiting ships transiting the Kerch Strait beneath the giant central… Read more »
- Comment 0
What the mid-term results mean
When the counting is over, it was spin time in Washington as both Republicans and Democrats claimed they were the victors as they plot the course towards the next presidential election in two years. But who really won the midterms? Jubilant Democrats were celebrating their new control of the House with full powers to investigate… Read more »