The Intelligence from The Economist
Episodes
Watts the problem: Texas’s energy failings
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Crippling blackouts can be explained in part by the state’s unique energy market, but the disaster exposes wider failures that must be confronted am...
The next of 1,000 cuts: Hong Kong activists on trial
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It is not violent young protesters in the dock: the accused are the architects of the territory’s democracy. Our correspondent examines the city’s...
Desert stands: France in the Sahel
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Terror groups and separatists run riot in the sprawling region, and France has had some success in keeping the peace. But how, and when, to draw down ...
No Capitol punishment: Trump’s acquittal
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump was all but certain to be cleared in his Senate trial, and so it went. But the few Republican votes to convict are telling. What next for...
Exit-stage plight: Brexit’s costs come due
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Stock-trading is shifting to the continent; businesses are bound up in red tape; border issues are still simmering. There is far more than mere “tee...
The coup is on the other foot: Myanmar
11 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A power-grab by the army’s commander, Min Aung Hlaing, is not turning out to be easy: the greatest protest movement in a generation is gathering ste...
Like hell out of a bat: SARS-CoV-2’s origin
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The World Health Organisation unveiled preliminary findings, suggesting the coronavirus probably jumped to humans via an intermediary animal and all b...
Very long covid: the lasting risks to Africa
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
So far it seems the continent has weathered the pandemic well. But current numbers mask a future reckoning that is likely to have dire human and econo...
The art of the done deal: Trump on trial, again
08 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump will make history, but its outcome is assured. We ask what the proceedings say about the Republican Party...
Ballot bonanza: Latin America’s year of elections
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ecuador’s elections on Sunday kick off a packed year of polls in the region. Democracy’s foothold in South America looks assured; in Central Ameri...
Cheques notes: getting America’s stimulus right
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Congress is on the cusp of pushing through a $1.9trn stimulus bill. But would it be money well spent? We examine the economics. Nearly half of India’...
Rise above the cloud: Amazon’s new chief executive
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jeff Bezos is relinquishing the reins—partly—of the firm he founded. We take a look at Andy Jassy, who will replace him as chief executive at a pr...
As a general rules: Myanmar’s coup
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The army already had plenty of political power, but following a landslide election loss it dramatically seized more. After five years of democracy, wi...
More needles in the haystack: vaccine candidates proliferate
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
That a coronavirus vaccine could be developed in a year is astonishing—and promising candidates just keep coming. How will the virus’s variants ch...
Tug of warheads: the nuclear order
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Successful arms-control diplomacy has kept proliferation at bay for decades. But many states now have nuclear ambitions; we look at an increasingly wo...
Conte’s inferno: political crisis in Italy
28 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The president is scrambling to pull together a workable government following Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s resignation—and the instability has b...
Vials and tribulations: the EU’s vaccine push
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The European Union’s vaccine rollout was slow and fragmented even before pharma companies warned of supply shortfalls; we ask what’s gone wrong. A...
Party down: Vietnam’s Communist leaders meet
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At this week’s five-yearly congress there will be pride in the handling of the pandemic—but broader discontent and mounting protests should worry ...
Vlad tidings: demonstrations across Russia
25 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny—and an exposé he released alleging deep corruption—fuelled vast weekend protests, chipping away at Pr...
Biting the hands that would feed: Ethiopia
22 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There are signs that the federal government is obstructing humanitarian aid to the war-torn region of Tigray, putting millions of civilians at risk of...
Much to repair: Biden’s first day on the job
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The watchword was unity as Joe Biden took office—he struck a calming tone and got immediately to work. We analyse the gargantuan tasks that lie ahea...
Costly disbelief: covid-19 ravages Brazil again
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Desperate scenes in the city of Manaus may foretell a dire wave throughout the country. A misguided sense of “herd immunity” has worsened matters,...
Hell no, we won’t grow: Indian farmers’ mass protests
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hundreds of thousands of farmers have participated in protests around Delhi, demonstrating against laws that they say threaten their livelihoods. We a...
Landed, in trouble: Alexei Navalny returns to Russia
18 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The opposition leader was detained as soon as he arrived—but President Vladimir Putin has no good options for dealing with his most vocal opponent. ...
Bold Wine in new battles: Uganda’s election
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After a violent campaign in which the opposition candidate Bobi Wine was extensively intimidated, authorities imposed an internet blackout. President ...
Two-timer: Trump impeached, again
14 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some House Republicans broke ranks, joining Democrats to hand President Donald Trump an ignominious distinction. Our deputy editor lays out why the Se...
Trial ensnarer: human-rights law’s new tool
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
War criminals and their ilk often evade justice solely because of squabbling over who can be tried where. But a rise in “universal jurisdiction” t...
You don’t say: tech’s Trump bans
12 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Moves to shutter the president’s accounts and to crimp corners of the internet given to right-wing extremism raise thorny questions, both about free...
Wrest wing: the bid to oust Trump
11 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today Democratic lawmakers will begin attempts to remove President Donald Trump. It could fail, or be delayed—or Republicans could see a political o...
The longer arm of the law: Hong Kong
08 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A national-security law imposed by Beijing had not, until this week, bared its teeth; the arrests of dozens of pro-democracy figures reveals how much ...
Riot act: Biden confirmed amid chaos
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After previously unthinkable scenes played out in Washington’s legislature, we ask what the violence will mean for the president, Republican lawmake...
Run-off, their feat: Georgia’s Senate races
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Democrats look set to win both the run-off elections that will determine control of the Senate—and how President-elect Joe Biden will be able to gov...
Stresses of strains: emerging coronavirus variants
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It is no surprise that more-transmissible coronavirus variants are cropping up. We ask how worrisome the strains found in Britain and South Africa are...
Arms within reach: Israel's vaccination lead
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Aggressive purchasing, solid logistics and a competitive health-care system have led to a world-beating rate of immunisation—but, as ever, politics ...
Isle talk to EU later: a vote on a scant Brexit deal
30 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s parliament will vote today on its last-gasp agreement with the European Union. But that will only mark the start of more negotiations for ...
Cheques, imbalances: America’s fraught stimulus
29 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After months of deadlock, a covid-19 relief package has passed, but the battles continue. We ask how things got so dire and what President-elect Joe B...
Going around the bloc: Europe’s vaccination push
28 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The first inoculations are happening across the continent as part of a co-ordinated push—but levels of both supply and uptake remain uncertain. Our ...
Old acquaintance not forgot: the notable deaths of 2020
23 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a year marked by more than a million and a half deaths, mortality has rarely been so front of mind. Our obituary editor looks back through the nota...
Bubbles in the market: Mexico’s Coca-Cola obsession
22 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, the country has been an almighty consumer of the fizzy drink. But amid a woeful covid-19 situation politicians are highlighting the healt...
Get the lead out: Zambia’s toxic mine
21 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A site that closed more than a quarter-century ago is still slowly poisoning the residents of Kabwe with lead; a class-action lawsuit is at last seeki...
Rehousing project: Bangladesh’s Rohingya
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The country’s refugee camps are packed and squalid, so the government is moving perhaps 100,000 Rohingya Muslims to a tiny island. Will life for the...
And then, winter: ten years after the Arab Spring
17 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A revolutionary conflagration a decade ago has almost entirely flickered out. We ask what happened to all the optimism and why real change has been so...
This market went a little piggy: a capital-raising frenzy
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Astonishingly, companies have raised more capital this year than ever before. We ask how capital markets shook free amid the pandemic—and what will ...
Joe, College: Biden’s victory affirmed
15 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
America’s by-the-book electoral-college vote calmed concerns about another Trump-camp bid to overturn the election—but that is not to say the ruct...
So long, and we’re keeping all the fish: Brexit
14 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s divorce from the European Union still hinges on sticky matters of fishing rights and the enforcement of fair competition, and time is rapi...
Taking the temperature: a climate chat with the UN chief
11 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ahead of a weekend meeting to assess and bolster the Paris Agreement, our correspondent speaks with Antonio Guterres about his reasons for cautious op...
If you already joined ‘em, beat ‘em: Facebook gets sued
10 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
American regulators have put mergers that they approved years ago at the heart of antitrust lawsuits—a tricky bid to curb the social-media giant’s...
Laïcité, égalité, fraternité? France’s secularism bill
09 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
President Emmanuel Macron’s draft bill walks a fine line balancing the country’s foundational secularism and worries about Islamist terrorism. Ami...
Granting immunity: America weighs vaccine approval
08 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As Britons receive the first doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, authorities in America are meeting this week to authorise its emergency use. We ...
Fairly unusual: Ghana’s elections
07 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a region racked by dodgy polls, the country looks to continue a trend of uncontested handovers of power. That is not to say, however, that there ar...
Intensive scare: covid-19 ravages America
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Numbers of cases, hospitalisations and deaths are rocketing across the country. We examine the situation in the Midwest, as a microcosm of a wider unf...
Your planet, or mines? Kicking the coal habit
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the West market forces are squeezing coal—even as its use rises in Asia. We examine how the world can wean itself off the dirtiest fossil fuel. S...
Trans formative: a landmark children’s-rights ruling
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s High Court has ruled that puberty blockers for children with gender dysphoria have been dispensed too readily, fuelling a debate that will...
Nuclear-war head: assassination in Iran
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The killing of the country’s top nuclear scientist comes at a tricky time: violent retribution may threaten hoped-for diplomacy with the incoming Am...
No show of force: France’s controversial police-protection bill
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Protesters are raging against a proposed bill that would outlaw posting videos of alleged police brutality—just as two videos expose more such viole...
One party to rule them all? India’s fraying democracy
27 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many of the country’s institutions are being slowly hobbled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government; we ask whether the world’s largest dem...
At his majesty, displeasure: Thailand’s anti-monarchy push
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A long string of pro-democracy protests are railing more and more against the king himself—and the protesters are younger and more fearless than eve...
Tigray area: Ethiopia’s deadly standoff
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The northern region’s surrounded forces are ignoring Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s deadline to disarm. More regions are being drawn in—and a confl...
What funds we’ll have: green venture capital
24 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The boom-and-bust of environmental-technology investing has settled out, and money is flooding in—both individual and institutional. We examine the ...
Playing his Trump cards: Biden’s China policy
23 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The tone of America’s president-elect on China changed markedly through the campaign; his policies, at least at the outset, may differ little from t...
Undercut a deal: the threat to Afghan peace
20 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Peace talks continue in Doha but on the ground the Taliban are consolidating control. America’s rush to withdraw its forces could undo the good work...
Quit it cold, Turkey: policy tightens at last
19 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Now that the economic reins have been taken back from the president’s son-in-law, the country is making the right policy noises—and just in time. ...
Concession stand: Trump’s intransigence
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
America’s outgoing president is sticking with an insidious fiction, lashing out at those who deny it. That frustrates a stable handover of power—a...
Out on a LegCo: Hong Kong under pressure
17 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Following a purge based on a harsh new security law, the territory’s Legislative Council lacks a single opposition voice. That will make the work of...
Disrupter, disrupted: Britain’s government
16 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The chief aide to the prime minister had been a driving force in policy but a dividing force in government. What will happen now that he has stood dow...
Going to cede: Armenia and Azerbaijan
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The longest-running conflict in the Caucasus could well be over. We examine a peace deal that benefits outside powers and chips away at regional ident...
Sahel of a mess: France’s impossible peacekeeping mission
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jihadism is growing in a continent-wide strip of Africa, and the riskiest operations to contain it fall to French troops. Our correspondent witnesses ...
We’ll again have Paris: Biden’s ambitious climate plans
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign had the environment front and centre. We analyse his pledges—and his prospects for implementing them. As the ...
Nine out of ten, doctors say: a promising coronavirus vaccine
10 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A vaccine claimed to be 90% effective represents an enormous achievement. We discuss what questions remain and the regulatory and distribution challen...
Brought to heal: Biden’s chance to unite America
09 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
President Donald Trump will go, but Trumpism will remain. Our editor-in-chief considers how President-elect Biden can repair the divided country he wi...
Abiy damned: Ethiopia’s looming civil war
06 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has taken drastic steps to quieten a state stacked with trained militias. The conflict could draw in more states—or the wh...
The lawyers of diminishing returns: America’s election
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As President Donald Trump’s re-election path slims, his pledges to fight the results in court are multiplying. We look at the cases that may eventua...
Tally forth: America’s elections
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The outcome remains unclear as vote-counting continues. We look at some of the surprise results, ask what happens next and examine how The Economist’...
Poles’ position: an abortion-law backlash
03 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Poland already had some of the strictest laws on terminations, but the ruling party’s bid to tighten them further has sparked national outrage. We l...
Lock step: England to shut down, again
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Prime Minister Boris Johnson all but ruled out a second lockdown, but his hand has been forced by England’s caseload. What are the political costs o...
Net losses: plunder of the oceans
30 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The staggering extent of illegal fishing, and its human and environmental costs, are only just becoming clear. We ask how to put a shadowy industry on...
What Xi said: China’s five-year plan
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The party’s Fifth Plenum sets out a five-year vision; we mine the plan for clues about how China views itself in the world—and how long Xi Jinping...
Stumbling bloc: Europe’s second wave
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Across the continent, covid-19 cases are rising steeply and containment measures are still divergent. We look at the challenges of finding policies th...
Chagrin, and Barrett: America’s Supreme Court
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation marks the first time since the 1930s the court has leaned so conservative, and has stoked another partisan battle t...
Coming write-up: Chile votes to overhaul its constitution
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The country has roundly rejected its dictatorship-era charter and mapped out how to fashion a new one. What do Chileans stand to gain—and to lose? R...
Civil proceedings: America's presidential debate
23 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
America’s final presidential debate had less noise and more substance. But polls seem immovable and nearly 50m Americans have already voted; will th...
Pandemic power-grabs: autocrats’ covid opportunism
22 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As it has with so many other trends, the pandemic has hastened the decline of democracy and human rights; covid-19 provides autocrats with perfect cov...
Secular-stand nation: terror in France
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The brutal murder of a schoolteacher comes amid warnings of mounting Islamism in the country. The attack will only harden resolve for a secular societ...
The persecution of a people: China’s repression of the Uyghurs
20 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Reporting by The Economist reveals deepening efforts by Chinese authorities not just to imprison the Muslim-minority people but also to reduce their n...
Loved Labour’s won: landslide in New Zealand
19 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After a term spent steering the country through crises, Jacinda Ardern has led her Labour party to a thumping victory; what will they do with their hi...
Más MAS? Bolivia’s election
16 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After last year’s vote was marred by fraud allegations, the electorate is split ahead of Sunday’s poll: will the country return the socialist MAS ...
A close-it call: Nigeria’s uprising
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Angry protests following an alleged police killing continue, even after a hated police unit was shuttered. That exposes far-deeper discontent. Banks’...
Scared strait: Taiwan
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rhetoric and sabre-rattling from mainland China are rapidly ramping up; we examine the risk of an invasion that would have global consequences. A deci...
Food chain broken: famine in Yemen
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The country yet again faces widespread starvation as a civil war grinds on, and both sides are to blame for the misery visited upon civilians. With th...
In their own Swede time: pandemic pragmatism
12 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
By the numbers to date, Sweden's light-touch covid-19 measures may not seem successful. But its pragmatism takes an instructively long view of the pan...
Buy the way? Kyrgyzstan’s post-election chaos
09 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Citizens are furious after a poll seemingly tainted by vote-buying; its annulment leaves a power vacuum that may yet draw in China and Russia. An auth...
More-civil discourse: Pence and Harris debate
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
That a housefly could steal the show at America’s only vice-presidential debate is telling, but a discussion with more substance than bombast was a ...
Clerical era: Iraq in a hard place
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A pilgrimage that is sure to become a covid-19 hotspot is a sign of how much the country’s government is losing legitimacy to its clergymen and trib...
Sailing into the wind: Boris Johnson
06 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Britain’s prime minister will outline big wind-energy plans at his party’s annual conference, even as the pandemic and Brexit blow his government ...
Ill-disposed: Trump’s hospital stay
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Amid a flurry of conflicting information over the weekend, details of Donald Trump’s progress and prognosis remain worryingly unclear. How will this...
In Syria’s trouble: an embattled despot digs in
02 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Unexpected defeats at rebels’ hands, a cratered economy, a hungry citizenry and a runaway covid-19 epidemic: can anything unseat Bashar al-Assad? Wh...
Enclave on edge: Armenia and Azerbaijan
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The region of Nagorno-Karabakh has been the subject of dispute and skirmishes for decades—but the current conflict threatens to draw in both Turkey ...
Shoutshow: Trump and Biden clash
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
America’s first presidential debate was unmitigated chaos, revealing little more than the rancour between the candidates. In Chicago a newish musica...
No-tax-and-spend policy: Trump’s tax returns
29 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Just ahead of the first presidential debate, a trove of tax documents suggests the president has some staggeringly loss-making businesses and a stagge...
Bench press: Trump’s Supreme Court pick
28 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On gun rights, abortion policy and health care Amy Coney Barrett, the seemingly unstoppable successor to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, will shift the court’s...