The Intelligence from The Economist

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 descent into authoritarian rule. In Colombia, activists are disappearing or being killed at a horrific rate. We ask why, and what can be done. And weighing up Oregon’s daring drug-decriminalisation experiment.

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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 the former president? A look into Swiss efforts to track down a missing $230m raises disturbing questions. And why women aren’t getting the laughs as stand-up comedy grows in China.

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Listen and subscribe to “The Jab from Economist Radio”, our new weekly podcast at the sharp end of the global vaccination race.

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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 steam. Debates over trans rights are particularly fraught in criminal-justice systems. We examine the balancing act going on in America. And a historical tour of autocrats’ luxuriant bathrooms reveals there’s a lot to loos. 

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The World Health Organisation unveiled preliminary findings, suggesting the coronavirus probably jumped to humans via an intermediary animal and all but ruling out a laboratory leak. We examine the many remaining questions. Nefarious regimes find it ever easier to reach across borders, subjecting dissidents to repression and surveillance abroad. And why it’s so hard to buy a car in Algeria. 

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“The Jab from Economist Radio” is our new weekly podcast at the sharp end of the global vaccination race. Listen to the trailer and subscribe now

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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 America, less so. Engineers are vastly improving the core technologies in televisions. We preview the viewing pleasure to come. And remembering Nikolai Antoshkin, a Soviet general who faced unknowable danger to save untold lives.

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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’s students attend cheap, efficient private schools that have been hit harder by the pandemic than the state-run kind. And the latest bid to clean up Earth’s celestial neighbourhood—and how to finance it.

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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 profitable but tricky time. Our annual Democracy Index isn’t brimming with great news; we examine how democratic norms are faring worldwide. And the capture of the biggest drug lord you’ve probably never heard of. 

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That a coronavirus vaccine could be developed in a year is astonishing—and promising candidates just keep coming. How will the virus’s variants change the dynamic? Palestine may at last hold elections, after 15 years of promises. But Mahmoud Abbas, the incumbent president, may end up as the only viable candidate. And the probable first big market for lab-grown meat.

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The president is scrambling to pull together a workable government following Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s resignation—and the instability has big implications for Europe’s post-pandemic plans. We examine the staggering rise of shares in GameStop and the day traders trying to stick it to the hedge-funders. And the sport of back-country skiing gets a lift in America.

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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 party bigwigs. We ask our education correspondent why so many American schools remain empty and what the long-run costs will be. And differentiating the difficult character of Patricia Highsmith from the litany of difficult characters she conjured.

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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 ahead. Messaging services such as WhatsApp provide a needed online forum; as users flood to new apps we examine questions of privacy and security. And the Parisian street artist depicting brutal protests to unsettling effect.

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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. Germany’s ruling CDU party has a new leader; we examine the challenges that lie ahead for him, his party and his country. And the kerfuffle behind an American-made film relegated to the Golden Globes’ foreign-language category. 

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After a violent campaign in which the opposition candidate Bobi Wine was extensively intimidated, authorities imposed an internet blackout. President Yoweri Museveni will almost certainly cling to power—a worry for Uganda and the wider region. Wikipedia turns 20 today; we ask how, against long odds, it has survived and grown. And the video game that’s sparking a moral panic in Afghanistan.

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Some House Republicans broke ranks, joining Democrats to hand President Donald Trump an ignominious distinction. Our deputy editor lays out why the Senate should now convict and remove him. Under South Africa’s ruling ANC party a powerful black middle class bloomed, but the party’s fiscal mismanagement threatens their loyalty. And the boom in “spirits” with no booze but plenty of branding. 

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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 speech and social-media firms’ business models. Our public-policy editor takes a broad look at girlhood: how women’s adolescence has changed for the better but is challenged mightily by covid-19. And science’s bid to save more snake-bite victims’ lives.

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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 it can crimp opposition. At the American Economics Association’s annual shindig, a scholar implores economists to recalibrate just how self-interested they take people to be. And the inspiring life and untimely death of a beloved, goat-herding refugee. 

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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 govern. Quantum computing is still nascent, its power yet to be truly tapped. But the finance sector is already looking to squeeze it for analytical advantage. And how Confucianism still influences society in South Korea.

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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. American authorities have lodged a landmark case against Walmart for its role in the country’s worsening opioid crisis—a problem with clearly more than one cause. And dealing with the pile of unused vacation days from 2020.

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Aggressive purchasing, solid logistics and a competitive health-care system have led to a world-beating rate of immunisation—but, as ever, politics is playing a role, too. Big oil had a terrible 2020, but the sector’s troubles pre-date the pandemic; we look at the supermajors’ varying approaches to an uncertain future. And how covid-19 is reshaping China’s clubbing scene.

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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 Biden will inherit. A deadly shootout in London more than a century ago still resonates today; we examine one of the world’s first breaking-news stories. And the colour black reaches new depths in art. 

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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 correspondent explores South Korea’s obsession with hiking and why it means different things to different climbers. And looking back on a troubling year for Britain’s royals.

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For decades, the country has been an almighty consumer of the fizzy drink. But amid a woeful covid-19 situation politicians are highlighting the health concerns it brings. In getting to know a sleepy French village, our correspondent finds a nuanced view of isolation in the pandemic age. And the lavish books providing a never-before-seen perspective on the Sistine Chapel’s frescoes.

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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 seeking redress. Our correspondent visits the ancient monastery behind the international Shaolin brand, learning the subtle story of its abbot and chief executive. And flicking through The Economist’s staff picks for books of the year.

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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 them improve? Military tactics can be misleading; sometimes they are outright trickery. Our defence editor looks at the past and future of military deception. And why Christmas dinner involves such different fare around the world.

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Astonishingly, companies have raised more capital this year than ever before. We ask how capital markets shook free amid the pandemic—and what will happen with all that cash now. Our correspondent finds just how dependent the world’s waste-management industry is on informal workers, whose hard jobs have been made far harder this year. And the technology making megaphones much more mega.

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Britain’s divorce from the European Union still hinges on sticky matters of fishing rights and the enforcement of fair competition, and time is rapidly running out to strike a deal. India’s fantastical “love jihad” conspiracy theory is just another Muslim-marginalisation move—one that the government seemingly approves of. And a hermit-crab housing shortage in Thailand.

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President Emmanuel Macron’s draft bill walks a fine line balancing the country’s foundational secularism and worries about Islamist terrorism. Amid slumping economies everywhere, Taiwan’s looks surprisingly buoyant; we ask how that might continue after the pandemic. And how managers can best navigate the holiday-party season in a cheerless year.

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As Britons receive the first doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, authorities in America are meeting this week to authorise its emergency use. We examine the approaches on both sides of the pond. Despite pandemic prescriptions of social distancing, multigenerational living is on the rise. And how Advent calendars became so very extra.

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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 aren’t sticking points. As tortuous Brexit negotiations drag on, we look at how British farming can and should change under a new regulatory regime. And the starving deer of a Japanese tourist hotspot.

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Numbers of cases, hospitalisations and deaths are rocketing across the country. We examine the situation in the Midwest, as a microcosm of a wider unfolding tragedy. Venezuela’s ruling party will take over the National Assembly after Sunday’s vote, sidelining the self-proclaimed legitimate leader Juan Guaidó and cementing Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorship. And the fruitful life and ignominious death of the Arecibo telescope.

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