The world this week

Politics
Business
KAL’s cartoon
This week’s cover
Leaders


Economic reform
Joe Biden’s effort to remake the economy is ambitious, risky—and selfish
But America’s plan to spend $2trn could help save the planet

Adani v Hindenburg
Nagging questions over the Adani empire won’t go away
A short-seller’s report raises uncomfortable questions for India’s policymakers, too

Out of control
The Bank of Japan should stop defending its cap on bond yields
“Yield-curve control” has left the central bank facing huge losses

Dodged penalties
Why the West’s oil sanctions on Russia are proving to be underwhelming
Another embargo comes into force on February 5th. Manage your expectations

Latin American democracy
Peru needs an early election and outside support, not interference
A self-serving Congress and some neighbouring countries are fanning the flames

Letters

On the North Sea, police reform, economics research, doctors, America’s civil war, classified documents
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


Russia and Ukraine
Ukraine should—and, properly supported, can—seize Crimea, argues Ben Hodges
Russia and Ukraine
Talks between Russia and Ukraine would save lives, argues Christopher Chivvis
Briefing


Rosy for riveters
America’s government is spending lavishly to revive manufacturing
Can an industrial renaissance make America stronger, greener and richer?
Asia


Chip networks, chip wars
America’s hoped-for Asian semiconductor pact looks tricky
Defending Ukraine
South Korea still refuses to send arms to Ukraine
Bollywood v BJP
Shah Rukh Khan faces down India’s Hindu right
Banyan
China’s put-upon maritime neighbours are pushing back
Asia’s multi-headed conflict
Myanmar’s civil war has moved to its heartlands
China


A representative problem
A new challenge to relations between America and China
Death and denial
Will we ever know how many people died of covid-19 in China?
Irreconcilable differences
A geopolitical setback for China in the Pacific
Chaguan
Why Vladimir Putin is not a pariah in China
United States


Green v green
America needs a new environmentalism
Black and blue
Why holding bad police officers to account is so difficult
Ice, ice, maybe
The sport of ice fishing is being transformed by technology
Height of heists
Why it was so easy for crooks to steal money meant for pandemic relief
Preventing overdoses
Medication for opioid addiction is getting easier to access
Lexington
Republicans are right that federal budgeting is a joke

Middle East & Africa


The amazing race
Nigeria’s presidential race goes down to the wire
To fight or not to fight
Can Kenya bring peace to eastern Congo?
Old birds and power cuts
South Africa’s blackouts hurt the economy in unexpected ways
Courting disaster
Lebanon’s judges battle over their probe of Beirut’s port blast
Curb the courts, sink the economy
Israel’s government is facing anger from new and unexpected quarters
A jilted mistress
France dumps Morocco in favour of Algeria
The Americas


Americas
Political turmoil is tearing Peru apart
Smokes and fire
The United States says corruption in Paraguay starts at the top
Europe


All steady on the eastern front
Ukraine’s troops in the east are quietly confident
The broken toy
Georgia is drifting into the Kremlin’s orbit
Recycling Russia
A campaign to “de-Russify” Ukraine is under way
Delayed ratification
A burnt Koran holds back Sweden and Finland from joining NATO
Germany’s Greens
Pragmatism paints a paler shade of Green
Charlemagne
At last, populism in Europe is losing its mojo
Britain


David Brent Ltd
For Britain to grow faster it needs better managers
Worse service
The BBC World Service shuts several foreign-language radio services
Economics on the box
The BBC assesses its coverage of the dismal science
Once more unto the breeches
The murder of a king makes for a most jolly day out
Prisons and gender
Where should trans prisoners serve their sentences?
Wipe out
Britain’s newest islets are made of wet wipes
Bagehot
Meet Ms Heeves, the face of Britain’s new political consensus
Business


Adani under fire
What next for Gautam Adani’s embattled empire?
Fireworks artists
Hindenburg Research, attacker of the Adani empire
Battle of the boffins
The race of the AI labs heats up
Bartleby
The relationship between AI and humans
Mark to market
Things are looking up for Meta
Entente cordiale
An alliance between Renault and Nissan gets a reboot
Schumpeter
China’s BYD is overtaking Tesla as the carmaker extraordinaire
Finance & economics


Ships in the night
How Russia dodges oil sanctions on an industrial scale
A nightmare job
Is there a fix for Japan’s markets mess?
Buttonwood
The last gasp of the meme-stock era
No relief in sight
China is paralysing global debt-forgiveness efforts
A spike in the tail
Rallying markets suffer from a doveish illusion
The grip tightens
Super-tight policy is still struggling to control inflation
Free exchange
The AI boom: lessons from history
Science & technology


Haptic technologies
The touchy-feely world of the metaverse and future gadgets
Brain scans and politics
People of different opinions process political data differently
Trendy tits
Birds are just as fashion-conscious as people
Pixels in the eye
Researchers find a way to make VR headsets more realistic
Culture


Democracy and its discontents
Martin Wolf’s new book analyses the West’s malaise
Bad memories
Explaining Chinese amnesia over the Cultural Revolution
Home Entertainment
Released 50 years ago, “Soylent Green” is an eerie prophecy
Transatlantic histories
As Europeans went west, indigenous people travelled the other way
Contemporary art
Look closely at Peter Doig’s paintings. Then look again
Johnson
Some well-known etymologies are too good to be true
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Graphic detail


Batting down disease
Habitat loss and climate change increase the risk of new diseases
The Economist explains


The Economist explains
Why does Ukraine want Western jets—and will it get them?
The Economist explains
Who is Gautam Adani?
Obituary