Costly and dangerous: Why Biden’s China strategy isn’t working

The world this week

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


The business of sport
Kicking up a $10bn sporting storm
Inside Saudi Arabia’s plan to dominate football’s Premier League, PGA Tour golf and more

Costly and dangerous
Joe Biden’s China strategy is not working
Supply chains are becoming more tangled and opaque

Strait-forward
Can China escape deflation?
Three false dogmas are inhibiting the authorities’ response

Natural resources
How Latin America could be a commodities superpower
It must not squander the opportunity of the next commodity boom

Value judgments
Authoritarians are on the march
They argue that universal values are the new imperialism, imposed on people who want security and stability instead. Here is why they are wrong

British science
The urgent need to rejoin Horizon
Britain and the European Union would gain

Letters

On Singapore, working from home, Henry Stimson, the Republicans, in vitro fertilisation, gold prices
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


Hong Kong’s democratic deficit
Sebastien Lai on the erosion of freedoms in Hong Kong
Banking
David Apgar on how to make banks more stable
Briefing


Scoring political goals
Saudi Arabia is spending a fortune on sport
It says this will help diversify its economy. Critics call it “sportswashing”
Asia


Indo-Pacific strategy
Why Joe Biden will host Japan and South Korea’s leaders at Camp David
Dangerous shoals
A rotting warship becomes a flashpoint for Sino-American rivalry
Comeback kid
Rahul Gandhi is back in parliament
Enter the generals
Pakistan’s army is back in charge of politics
Banyan
The meaning of relief for Aung San Suu Kyi
China


Widening the net
Hong Kongers are bracing for an even wider clampdown on dissent
When it rains
Northern China has been hit by devastating floods
Party wall
Chinese art students scrawled Communist graffiti in London’s Brick Lane
Chaguan
Why Chinese women are denied legal land rights
United States


Chipping in
America is building chip factories. Now to find the workers
Shot down
Murder rates are falling in a majority of American cities
Hip-hop hooray!
Hip-hop’s 50th anniversary shines a light on its New York City birth
Ka-ching
“Sound of Freedom”: how to make a fortune with a mediocre movie
Trial balloons
How strong is Trump’s defence in the election-stealing case?

Middle East & Africa


Crisis in the Sahel
After Niger’s coup, the drums of war are growing louder
Call for the doctor, call Nigeria
Why Nigeria’s hospitals are losing their staff
One state, or two states, or no state
Can Yemen hold together?
A record bank heist
The plot thickens over Iraq’s bank heist
The Americas


Raw potential
Latin America could become this century’s commodity superpower
Political violence
An Ecuadorian presidential candidate is assassinated
Europe


Slow turn
President Erdogan wants to make nice with the West, on his terms
Life after occupation
In north-east Ukraine the war is close, upending daily life
When friends just can’t be found
Pedro Sanchez struggles to form a new government in Spain
Charlemagne
The Baltic is delighted to be a NATO lake
Britain


Life sciences
Britain doubles down on the life-sciences industry
How to tackle loneliness
Five years on, is Britain’s strategy to combat loneliness working?
Northern Ireland’s police
A big data breach endangers police in Northern Ireland
Ferry bad indeed
What broken ferries reveal about Scotland’s government
Loosing it
In defence of Britain’s public toilets
Bagehot
From wild swimming to grouse shooting, Britain is in hock to hobbyists
International


Thinking for themselves
Western values are steadily diverging from the rest of the world’s
Business


The view beyond the Valley
Beyond the tech hype, how healthy is American business?
Logistic nightmares
America’s logistics boom has turned to bust
Let the chips rise where they may
How real is America’s chipmaking renaissance?
Not-so-super pumped
Can Uber and Lyft ever make real money?
Bartleby
A refresher on business air-travel etiquette
Schumpeter
How green is your electric vehicle, really?
Finance & economics


Rising tigers, hidden dragon
How America is failing to break up with China
A pointed threat
Deflation and default haunt China’s economy
The risk-on rate
American stocks are at their most expensive in decades
Resurrection
Meme stocks are back from the dead
Buttonwood
In defence of credit-rating agencies
Free exchange
Elon Musk’s plans could hinder Twitternomics
Science & technology


Advanced manufacturing
If it can be designed on a computer, it can be built by robots
Parasites at work
Tiny hitchhikers on viruses could promote resistance to antibiotics
Aviation
Airborne taxi ranks are coming to a sky near you
Culture


Orwell mania
Interest in George Orwell and his dystopian fiction is high
War wounds
In Japan “Oppenheimer” is causing consternation
World in a dish
How Provençal rosé became the summer tipple par excellence
A chronicle of stories not told
John McPhee revisits story ideas he had but never pursued
Middle age and beyond
Hip-hop’s future will be less American and more global
Back Story
An infamous murderer and the truth about true crime
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Graphic detail


Charging ahead
How China became a car-exporting juggernaut
The Economist explains


The Economist explains
What is nuclear fusion?
The Economist explains
What makes ultra-processed foods so bad for your health?
Obituary


The place where she was
Sinéad O’Connor hated the very idea of being a pop star