Zero-sum

The world this week

Politics
Business
KAL’s cartoon
Leaders


Zero-sum
The destructive new logic that threatens globalisation
America is leading a dangerous global slide towards subsidies, export controls and protectionism

The tools for the job
The West should supply tanks to Ukraine
Allies have been too cautious about giving it the means to resist Russian aggression

The storming of Brazil’s Congress
How Brazil should deal with the bolsonarista insurrection
Punish those who broke the law, but govern inclusively

Leaders
America’s trustbusters plan to curtail the use of non-compete clauses. Good
The clue is in the name

Waiting-longer rooms
Fixing Britain’s health service means fixing its family doctors
Don’t change the partnership model. Do change the targets

Letters

On Italy, James Callaghan, mental health, education in Sierra Leone, inflation, cricket, The Economist’s cover price
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


America and China
Daleep Singh on America’s economic statecraft
Briefing


Efficiency be damned
Globalisation, already slowing, is suffering a new assault
Subsidies, export controls and curbs on foreign investment are proliferating
Asia


Land of the riven atom
Japan pivots back to nuclear power
The hidden powers of flowers
Myanmar’s generals are deeply superstitious
Digital dead zones
India’s rocketing internet-user growth has stalled
No fly zone
South Korea’s travel spat with China
Banyan
Abe Shinzo’s assassin achieved his political goals
Unhappy valley
The mirage of peace and prosperity in Kashmir
China


Data, diplomacy and disease
Covid is complicating China’s efforts to re-engage with the world
Shrine to a whistleblower
The cult of Li Wenliang, the doctor who spotted covid-19
A different type of lockdown
China is still punishing those who protested against zero-covid
Chaguan
Many Chinese villagers seem ready to move on from covid-19
United States


House rules
After a spectacularly chaotic start for Congress, more discord looms
Mega-problems
What California’s deadly storms reveal about the state’s climate future
Marching on their stomachs
America’s army has launched a scheme to slim down its recruits
Disrupting the dyad
Polyamory is getting slivers of legal recognition in America
Red and blue science
America’s culture wars extend into medicine
Lexington
How rappers are strengthening Donald Trump’s movement

Middle East & Africa


Baba go-slow to go-go
After eight dismal years, Nigeria prepares to replace President Buhari
Uneasy peace
Ethiopia’s war in Tigray has ended, but deep faultlines remain
Blood money
Kenya’s blood shortage and the kicking of an aid addiction
The rope tightens
Protests have subsided in Iran, but clerics cannot yet proclaim victory
Oil and water
A century-old choice created one of the Gulf’s oddest geopolitical features
Hard to believe
The Arab world’s rulers have turned journalists into courtiers
The Americas


The storming of Congress
A copycat insurrection in Brazil, and its troubling aftermath
Sex pots
Erotic statues in Peru are challenging taboos
Barrios and baristas
Latin American cities are becoming far nicer for poorer inhabitants
Europe


Retirement gamble
Emmanuel Macron unveils his pension reforms
Little green mayhem
The war has devastated Ukraine’s environment, too
Gyros and gunboats
Might Turkey seize a tiny Greek island?
Taking aim at the Kurds
Turkey is on the point of banning the main Kurdish opposition party
No way in
The Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh have been blockaded by Azerbaijan
Britain


Dr no go
General practitioners are a big part of Britain’s health-care crisis
The NHS in crisis
How many excess deaths in England are associated with A&E delays?
Spare us
Prince Harry’s autobiography is an ill-advised romp
Weathering the storm
Lower gas prices will provide only limited relief to Britons
Newquay, we have a problem
What the failure of Virgin Orbit means for Britain’s space ambitions
Agricultural subsidies
The longed-for transformation of English farming isn’t happening
Bagehot
British museums and galleries are dealing with the past, clumsily
International


The generation game
The age of the grandparent has arrived
Business


The fuzzy corporation
How technology is redrawing the boundaries of the firm
Shipping forecast
Investments in ports foretell the future of global commerce
The costs of transparency
German companies fret about a new supply-chain law
High-performance motoring
The priciest cars are selling fast
Scandal at Air India
A humiliating incident on an Air India flight triggers outrage
Bartleby
How to unlock creativity in the workplace
Schumpeter
Go to Texas to see the anti-green future of clean energy
Finance & economics


The wrong competition
What America’s protectionist turn means for the world
Buttonwood
The dollar could bring investors a nasty surprise
Good day sunshine
The energy crisis and Europe’s astonishing luck
Professional problems
Has economics run out of big new ideas?
Absent billions
The hunt for FTX’s missing riches
Free exchange
Warnings from history for a new era of industrial policy
Science & technology


Authenticating images
Proving a photo is fake is one thing. Proving it isn’t is another
Bug bites bird
A praying mantis attacks a nestling
Horticulture
Wasp larvae that eat aphids alive may save apple crops
The elephant in the room
What causes elephant poaching?
Ancient concrete
Roman civil engineering has lessons for the modern world
Culture


Arms and the men
To their critics, Mexican drug ballads glorify violence
Swords and sandals
Cinema meets radicalism in “Picture in the Sand”
World in a dish
The quest for the perfect chip
Health is wealth
“For Blood and Money” charts a race to develop a blockbuster drug
Going underground
How Cambodian music survived the horrors of the Khmers Rouges
Back Story
The truth about Stone Mountain’s giant Confederate memorial
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Graphic detail


Needles in haystacks
Antidepressants are over-prescribed, but genuinely help some patients
The Economist explains


The Economist explains
What is the House Freedom Caucus?
The Economist explains
What is a tank—and does France’s gift to Ukraine fit the bill?
Obituary


Breaking, making
Vivienne Westwood sowed never-ending revolution all through the fashion world