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◆On the cover
Iraq and Afghanistan are not wars without end. But "winning" either struggle will take　
many years, and cannot be achieved by force alone

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◆The world this week
Politics this week
Business this week
KAL's cartoon

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◆Leaders
Afghanistan and Iraq
Must they be wars without end?
Russia's new leadership
Spot the president
The ANC leadership election in South Africa
Flawed characters, flawed choice
Central banks
A Christmas package for banks
Barack Obama
The triumph of hope over experience?
The etiquette of telecommunications
Getting the message, at last

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◆Letters
On Iran and nuclear weapons, nanotechnology, the Mariel boatlift, immigration, free speech

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◆Special Report
Iraq
Can a lull be turned into a real peace?
Afghanistan
Policing a whirlwind

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◆United States
Immigration and the presidential race
Cooking up a row
Immigration in Texas
Not welcome here
Faith and politics
Baptist v Mormon
Criminal justice
Powdered wigs
The Democrats and the president
The do-nothing Congress
On the campaign trail
Primary colour
Lexington
The cracks begin to show

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◆The Americas
Argentina
Marital bliss
Argentina
Gaucho feminism
Bolivia
Double or quits
Chile
Playground harmony
The Bank of the South
Bolivarian finance
Correction: National Autonomous University

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◆Asia
South Korea's election
Lee's hopes for the best birthday present
Pakistan
Musharraf and his box of tricks
Indian politics
Anyone but Modi
Disputes in the South China Sea
Whale and Spratlys
Japan's foreign policy
The return of the Fukuda doctrine
Orwellian architecture in China
The Ministry of Truth

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◆Middle East & Africa
South Africa
Mbeki v Zuma: the showdown
Chad
A peacekeeping puzzle for Europe
Ethiopia and Eritrea
Bad words over Badme
Algeria
A victim of global terror
Israel
Negotiations on a knife-edge

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◆Europe
Russia's presidency
Enter Putin two
Kosovo's future
Balkan bagatelle
French foreign policy
Sarkozy's moral test
French political language
The decline of the abstract noun
Turkey's economy
A cloud no bigger than a hand
Charlemagne
A fishy tale

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◆Britain
The state of the Tories
Coming, ready or not
The European treaty
Blame the secretary
Corporate crime
Blazing trails
Taxing the foreign rich
Collateral damage

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◆International
Reforming jihadists
Preachers to the converted
Public repentance
A jihadist recants
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◆Business
Information technology in India
Gravity's pull
Indian start-ups
Entrepreneurial push
Germany and China
Broken pottery
The business of yoga
Well positioned
Cadbury
Time to break off a chunk
Mobile phones on planes
Your call
Face value
Not the heir, apparently

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◆Special Report
Corporate restructuring
The walking dead

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◆Finance & Economics
Central banks
A dirty job, but someone has to do it
International banks
Under intensive care
Buttonwood
This year's model
African financial markets
On safari
China and America
Monologuing
Property bubbles
Been there, done some of that
Economics focus
The uncomfortable rise of the rupee

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◆Science & Technology
Human evolution
Darwin's children
Human mating
A buyers' market
Extraterrestrials
Lodestones, not life

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◆Books & Arts
John Bolton
Looking back in anger
Religion in Europe
The discovery of tolerance
Christian history
Stories and storytellers
Cambodia
Living through the terror
Collected letters
English delight

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◆Obituary
Karlheinz Stockhausen

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◆Economic and Financial Indicators
Overview
Output, prices and jobs
The Economist commodity-price index
Accountability
Trade, exchange rates, budget balances and interest rates
Markets
Remittances