India’s bureaucrats are fighting covid-19 with red tape
Jun 13th 2020IN MID-MAY, seeking to reflate his political buoyancy after weeks of covid-19 lockdown, Narendra Modi announced a…
The reinvention of Japan’s power supply is not making much headway
IN THE WAKE of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, an IT expert, a restaurant owner, an agribusiness manager and a sake brewer,…
Libya’s government regains control of western Libya
Jun 13th 2020FOR OVER a year the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya had been under siege by the forces of…
The Middle East is fighting a second wave of covid-19
ACROSS THE Middle East months of closures are giving way to an almost carefree normal. Bars and restaurants in Tel Aviv are packed,…
In the dry season, Nigeria’s army puts Boko Haram on the back foot
THE CHIEF OF STAFF of Nigeria’s army, General Tukur Buratai, has often declared victory over Boko Haram, a jihadist group known…
Binyamin Netanyahu has bought loyalty with meaningless titles
IT TAKES ABOUT a dozen ministries to run Sweden, a country of 10m people. Austria, with a population of 9m, has a similar number….
Central Asian governments do not know how to talk about China
Jun 4th 2020FOR MILLENNIA fierce horsemen from Central Asia harried the Chinese empire’s flank, often setting the terms of engagement…
South Korea debates a massacre of 40 years ago
NEARLY HALF of today’s South Koreans were not yet born when it happened. In May 1980 citizens of the south-western city of Gwangju…
Algeria’s protest movement considers how and when to come back
Jun 4th 2020COVID-19 HAS killed around 700 people in Algeria, says the government, but the real toll is surely higher. The pandemic…