The Intelligence from The Economist
Episodes
You put your left side in: Germany’s shake-about
25 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A three-way coalition has struck a deal to govern. We ask who’s who among top ministers and what’s what on the newly centre-left agenda. A shortag...
America’s sneezing: diagnosing global inflation
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Prices are up all over, especially in America. But whether the world’s largest economy is part of the problem or just suffering the same symptoms wi...
New bid on the bloc: Europe and vaccine mandates
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A Delta wave is driving restrictions and restrictions are driving unrest. Vaccine mandates like that enacted by Austria may be the only way to end the...
Left, right and no centre: Chile’s elections
22 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The presidential election will now go to a run-off—between candidates of political extremes. We ask how that polarisation will affect promised const...
State of profusion: governments just keep growing
19 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some factors that drive relentless growth in state spending are eternal; some are getting stronger. Our correspondent outlines a big-government future...
Georgia undermined: protests and a hunger strike
18 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mikheil Saakashvili, a former president, is seven weeks into a hunger strike and protests supporting him are proliferating. We ask where the country i...
Defrost setting: the Xi-Biden summit
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The meeting between superpower presidents was cordial and careful, but it will take far more than a video call to smooth such frosty relations. Europe...
White flagged: Cuba’s muted protests
16 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
White roses, white sheets hung from homes, even white t-shirts: a movement’s symbolic colour was not much in evidence after officials quashed nation...
Peronists’ peril: Argentina’s elections
15 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The ruling party got a pasting at the polls, owing in part to a reeling economy. We ask what the opposition’s gains mean for the country. The practi...
The heat is on: COP26’s final hours
12 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The climate summit in Glasgow is in its last official day, but looks sure to overrun as negotiators thrash out an agreement. When the talking’s over...
Putin’s defiers: repression in Russia
11 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the economy has deteriorated and the internet has bypassed television, persecution of opponents has become the president’s main tool of political...
Trouble at the border: Belarus and the EU
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Around 2,000 people from the Middle East are at the European Union’s eastern frontier. Alexander Lukashenko, the autocratic Belarusian president, pr...
Dream on: Biden and social mobility
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Americans born at the bottom of the economic ladder find it harder than past generations—or their peers abroad—to climb to the top. The president ...
Control the past: rewriting Chinese history
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over four days in Beijing, the political and military elite are meeting to recast the past. The revised version will depict Xi Jinping as a giant of t...
Tigrayans turn the tables: Ethiopia’s war
05 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Few imagined when Ethiopia’s civil war began a year ago that the capital, Addis Ababa, would come under threat from Tigrayan rebels. We explain why ...
Covering the ground: trees and COP26
04 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At the global climate summit, more than 100 countries have promised to end deforestation by 2030. Similar promises have been made before, but might th...
Power failure: South Africa’s ANC stumbles
03 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For the first time since the end of white rule, South Africa’s governing African National Congress is set to win less than half the vote, albeit in ...
The Floyd factor: American police reform
02 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More than a year after George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis policeman, the city votes on an overhaul of its force. We examine America’s shifti...
Cool heads needed: COP26 begins
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
World leaders are gathering in Glasgow for the UN climate summit. Can they agree on the path to meeting the goals set in Paris six years ago, to stabi...
Going critical: Iran’s nuclear programme
29 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Islamic Republic is closer than ever to a bomb’s worth of fissile material. Talks with America and other countries will resume next month, but h...
Competitive spirit: tech after the pandemic
28 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After a year of breakneck growth, the big five tech companies—Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft—are coming back down to earth. We lo...
Winter is coming: Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis
27 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Two months after the Taliban’s victory, civilians face a looming disaster. Will Western governments dig their heels in, or turn the aid taps back on...
Trouble in Khartoum: Sudan’s coup
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Just as the country was moving towards democracy, its generals have overthrown the civilians—again. We look at what sparked the unrest, and why coup...
You shall not pass: standardising vaccine passports
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Covid certificates are a global mess, with countries operating a patchwork of incompatible systems. We look at why it’s so difficult to standardise ...
Flu into a rage: Brazil’s Bolsonaro inquiry
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Jair Bolsonaro’s early dismissal of the pandemic as “a little flu” presaged a calamitous handling of the crisis. We ask how a congress...
States of emergency: Nigeria
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Criminal gangs in north-western states, jihadists in the north-east, a rebellion in the south-east: kidnappers, warlords and cattle rustlers are makin...
Gas-trick distress: a visit to Ukraine
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Russia continues to pile pressure on the country, and will soon have the power to cut off its natural gas. Our correspondent pays a visit to find how ...
Meeting them where they are: a British MP’s murder
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sir David Amess was killed doing what he loved: speaking directly with voters. We examine the dangers inherent in the “constituency surgeries” tha...
Chinese draggin’: growth slows
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A paltry GDP rise is down to the pandemic, power and property. We ask what growing pains President Xi Jinping will endure in the name of economic refo...
Port, and a storm: sectarian violence in Lebanon
15 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The effort to investigate last year’s port explosion in Beirut has fired up political and religious tensions—resulting in Lebanon’s worst violen...
For watt it’s worth: energy markets’ squeeze
14 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A fossil-fuel scramble reveals energy markets in desperate need of a redesign. We examine what must be done to secure a renewable future. Throngs of H...
Keep your friends close: Pakistan’s shifting role
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the Taliban’s closest ally, the country bears a big responsibility for Afghanistan’s fate. We examine its diplomatic risks and opportunities. M...
Exit Poles? A bold challenge to the EU
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After a court ruling in Poland that is an affront to a core European Union principle, Poles hit the streets—fearing a “Pol-exit” they do not wan...
Zero-to-some game: Asia-Pacific covid-19 plans crack
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Where governments enacted zero-tolerance coronavirus strategies, numbers indeed stayed low. That was before the Delta variant. We ask how countries ca...
Strait of tension: Chinese jets test Taiwan
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
China has sent more than 100 planes to probe Taiwan’s air-defence zone. We explain why Beijing has chosen this moment to send a message across the s...
How to lose friends and alienate people: Ethiopia’s civil war
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Abiy Ahmed is sworn in again as prime minister, even as continuing strife increases the country’s isolation. Our correspondent witnesses the gruesom...
Ticker shock: London’s wheezing stockmarket
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A global financial centre must move with the times, and—so far—London has not. Our correspondent lays out the causes of the malaise, and how to fi...
When it goes dark: Facebook’s terrible week
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Yesterday’s global outage is not even the worst of it: today’s congressional testimony will examine a whistleblower’s allegations that the compa...
Docket launch: a new term for America’s Supreme Court
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The court will be tackling just about every judicial and social flashpoint in the country during the term that starts today; our correspondent lays ou...
The courage of two convictions: Nicolas Sarkozy
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The first conviction of France’s former president shocked the nation; the second confirms for citizens that, these days, politicians will be held to...
Nobody’s fuel: Britain’s shortages
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From chicken to petrol, Britons are facing long queues and bare shelves. We ask about the multifarious reasons behind the shortfalls, and how long the...
Suga-free Diet: Japan’s next leader
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The ruling party’s choice for its president—a shoo-in for prime minister—seems to overlook the people’s will. We ask how Kishida Fumio is like...
A run for its money: funding crunches in Congress
28 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
America’s crash of deadlines carries risks for the government’s budget and just possibly its sovereign debt, and threatens Joe Biden’s presidenc...
Colour schemes: Germany’s coming coalition
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The country heads for a three-party government after a nail-biting election. We cut through the flurry of letters and colours to ask what is likely to...
Clubs seal: China’s view as alliances multiply
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Leaders of “the Quad” are meeting in person for the first time; drama from the AUKUS alliance still simmers. Our Beijing bureau chief discusses ho...
Same assembly, rewired: the United Nations meets
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The annual United Nations General Assembly is more than just worthy pledges and fancy dinners; we ask where the tensions and the opportunities lie thi...
The homes stretch: Evergrande
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
China’s property behemoth has slammed up against new rules on its giant debt pile. We ask what wider risks it now poses as a cash crunch bites. Brit...
Running to stand still: Canada’s election
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remains in power after Monday’s election, but he emerges without the majority he wanted, and with his soft power damag...
Potemkin polls: Russia’s elections
20 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The winner of Russia’s elections was not in doubt. Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia, came out on top. But despite the ballot stuffing and rep...
Sub plot: the AUKUS alliance
17 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The alliance between America, Britain and Australia has enormous significance, most of all for its nuclear-submarine provisions. We look at the global...
Shake, rattle the roles: Britain’s cabinet reshuffle
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has re-allocated a number of key government posts. We ask how the changes reflect his political standing and what they me...
Hunger gains: Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Economic collapse and halting international aid following the Taliban’s takeover have compounded shortages that were already deepening; we examine t...
Percent of the governed: California’s recall vote
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Governor Gavin Newsom is fighting off a bid to remove him that puts the world’s fifth-largest economy and, possibly, control of the Senate in play f...
Getting their vax up: America’s vaccine mandates
13 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Joe Biden’s requirements for employers to insist on vaccinations are a bold move amid flatlining inoculation rates. But will they work? Fo...
From the ground up: New York after 9/11
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The horrors of 20 years ago spurred an ambitious transformation, not just at the site of the attacks but across the city’s five boroughs. We visit w...
Putsch back: Africa’s latest coup in Guinea
09 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It is unclear whether better governance lies ahead after a military takeover; what is certain is that Africa’s unwelcome trend of defenestrations ha...
The call before the storm? Brazil’s protests
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tens of thousands of people aligned with President Jair Bolsonaro held protests—at his direction. Yet the numbers are increasingly aligned against h...
Bitcoin of the realm: El Salvador’s experiment
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Nayib Bukele thinks obliging businesses to take the cryptocurrency will help with remittances, inclusion and foreign investment. So far, few...
Heartbeat of the matter: Texas’s draconian abortion law
06 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Supreme Court’s surprise decision to let the country’s harshest “heartbeat bill” stand bodes ill for the landmark Roe v Wade decision; we ...
Taking the fifth: Venezuela’s talks
03 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Four previous resolution meetings involving President Nicolás Maduro have changed little. This time international backing and aligned incentives migh...
Reeling and dealing: how to engage the Taliban
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In some ways America has more leverage now that its forces have left; we ask how diplomatic and aid efforts should proceed in order to protect ordinar...
Out for blood: the Theranos trial
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Elizabeth Holmes founded a big blood-testing startup; her claims were founded on very little. As her trial begins we ask how the company got so far be...
CDU later? Germany’s topsy-turvy election
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The party of Angela Merkel, the outgoing chancellor, is flailing in polls. We ask why the race has been so unpredictable and what outcomes now seem pr...
Banks note: the Jackson Hole meeting
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The message for central bankers at the annual jamboree: relax a bit about inflation and be loud and clear about plans to stanch the cash being pumped ...
The terror of their ways: Kabul and global jihadism
27 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The suicide-bombings that have killed scores of people signal how the Taliban will struggle to rule Afghanistan; meanwhile the rest of the world’s j...
To all, appearances: Israel’s PM in Washington
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Naftali Bennett’s first face-to-face meeting with President Joe Biden will look calm and co-operative. But in time, sharp differences will strain th...
Delta‘s force: Australia’s covid plans crumble
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For a while, closed borders and strict contact-tracing held the coronavirus at bay. What lessons to take now the Delta variant has broken through in t...
How you like them: Apple’s decade under Tim Cook
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The tech firm has ballooned under his leadership, but Mr Cook’s next ten years will not be as rosy as the first. We ask how he can maintain Apple’...
Annexed question, please: Ukraine’s summit on Crimea
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to draw attention to Russia’s continued occupation of Crimea, and its failure to look after the region’s citize...
Value-free investing: China and Afghanistan
20 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Taliban’s takeover is a boon for China’s propaganda machine: America is tired, its policies disastrous, its values a distraction. Meanwhile Ch...
Fits and starts: SARS-CoV-2’s origin
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the end, the World Health Organisation’s report in March revealed little. We ask why the coronavirus origin story is so crucial, and whether Chin...
Stymie a river: the American West dries up
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The first-ever water shortage declared for the Colorado River is just one sign of troubles to come; as the climate changes, century-old water habits a...
It rains, it pours: Haiti’s tragedy compounds
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A president’s assassination, a cratered economy and now this: a tropical depression that will hamper rescue efforts after a massive earthquake. The ...
Nothing to break the fall: Afghanistan
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The fall of Kabul, the capital, sealed the country’s fate: after 20 years, the Taliban are back in charge—a fearsome outcome for its people and fo...
Thicket and boarding pass: travel’s tangle of rules
13 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Restrictions are opaque, fickle and often illiberal—and it is not even clear how much they help curb the coronavirus. Chinese officials want to boos...
Bridges and divides: America’s infrastructure push
12 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Senate has passed the first part of President Joe Biden’s mammoth plan, which is now tied to a far more ambitious part two. We examine their pro...
Blazed and confused: Turkey’s raging fires
11 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Across the Mediterranean and beyond, flames are consuming the landscape. Our correspondent says Turkey’s government helped make the country a tinder...
Shots or fired: America’s vaccine mandates
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Inoculation or testing requirements are spreading nearly as fast as the Delta variant. But it is not clear they will actually drive more people to get...
Hot prospects: a sobering IPCC report
09 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The UN climate body’s latest doorstopper report is unequivocal: climate change is human-caused, and already here—and 1.5°C of warming is looking ...
Coming in harder: Iran’s new president
06 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ebrahim Raisi takes office as the country is blamed for multiple attacks in the region; a more mistrustful, hardline and aggressive regime awaits. Our...
No consent of the governed: Andrew Cuomo on the brink
05 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After a damning report into sexual-harassment allegations, support for New York’s governor has cratered. He is hanging on—for now. LinkedIn seems ...
No port, still a storm: Lebanon a year after the blast
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The explosion at Beirut’s port was a symptom, not a cause, of the country’s malaise. We find more questions than answers about the blast and a pol...
Block off the old chips? Nvidia’s fraught merger
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The semiconductor giant wants to acquire ARM—a British firm that is more complement than competitor—but regulators may balk. We look at what’s a...
No-sanctuary cities: the Taliban’s latest surge
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sweeping rural gains made as American forces have slipped out are now giving way to bids for urban areas; an enormous, symbolic victory for the insurg...
Neither borrower nor renter be: America’s coming foreclosures
30 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
America’s pandemic-driven measures granting relief on mortgages and rent arrears will soon expire, and millions of people are in danger of losing th...
Good news, ad news: Facebook’s big bucks and bets
29 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The social-media behemoth revealed huge profits and stressed even bigger plans: to become an e-commerce giant and a hub for digital creators, and to p...
Borderline disorder: the UN’s refugee treaty at 70
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An international convention devised after the second world war is ill-suited to the refugee crises of today—and countries are increasingly unwilling...
Alight in Tunisia: a democracy in crisis
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The president has sacked the prime minister and suspended parliament. It is clear that the country needed a shake-up in its hidebound politics—but i...
The blonde leading: Britain’s two years under Boris Johnson
26 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the country tests a bold reopening strategy in the face of the Delta variant, our political editor charitably characterises the prime minister’s ...
A dangerous games? A muted start to the Olympics
23 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tokyo is under a state of emergency; covid-19 cases are piling up. But for Japan, a super-spreader event is just one of the potential costs of this ye...
Three-degree burn: the warmer world that awaits
22 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It seems ever more certain that global temperatures will sail past limits set in the Paris Agreement. We examine what a world warmed by 3°C would—o...
Changing horses mid-streaming? Netflix’s next act
21 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the face of it, the streaming giant’s quarterly results were lacklustre. But our media editor explains why its international growth looks promisi...
Joint pain: a rare rebuke of China’s hackers
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The European Union, NATO and the “Five Eyes” intelligence partners have all joined America in accusing China’s government of involvement in hack...
In a flash: floods devastate Europe
19 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Disaster-recovery efforts continue, even as heavy rains continue in many places. The tragedy brings climate change to the fore, with political implica...
A pounder of a quarter: American banks report
16 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bank bosses are jubilant: revenues were down but profits way up. We look at the pandemic-driven reasons behind the windfall, and ask how long their in...
Loot cause: South Africa’s unrest
15 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Widespread looting and the worst violence since apartheid continue, exposing ethnic divisions and the persistent influence of Jacob Zuma, a former pre...
Texas hold-’em-up: a voting-rights standoff
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The state’s Democratic lawmakers have fled to Washington, stymieing a voting-rights bill. We examine the growing state-level, bare-knuckle fights on...
Flight attendance: airlines after the pandemic
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Which carriers will thrive? Long-haulers or short-hoppers? The no-frills or the glitzy? The bailed-out or the muddled-through? Our industry editor sca...
Hasta la victoria, hambre: rare protests rock Cuba
12 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Food shortages are nothing new. But it has been decades since shelves have been so empty—and since Cubans took to the streets in such numbers. Richa...
A decade decayed: South Sudan
09 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The world’s youngest state was born amid boundless optimism. But poverty is still endemic and ethnic tensions still rule politics; what hope for its...