Oct 5th 2024

The year that shattered the Middle East

The world this week

Leaders

Iran, Israel and the Palestinians

The year that shattered the Middle East

Kill or be killed is the region’s new logic. Deterrence and diplomacy would be better

Too soon to party

Don’t celebrate China’s stimulus just yet

It will take more than a spectacular stockmarket rally to revive the economy

Ishiba Shigeru, gadfly-turned-leader

Socially liberal and strong on defence, Japan’s new premier shows promise

But he must ditch his more eccentric ideas if he is to control his party

Shake up, not break up

Dismantling Google is a terrible idea

Despite its appeal as a political rallying cry

Know a fly, know thyself?

A map of a fruit fly’s brain could help us understand our own

A miracle of complexity, powered by rotting fruit

Letters

On the Cayman Islands, Afghanistan, Turkey, blood donations, private tutors, Britain, sex and Christianity

Letters to the editor

By Invitation

One year of war in Gaza

Philippe Lazzarini says the blows to humanitarian law in Gaza harm us all

Mexico

Ernesto Zedillo says AMLO has left Mexico on the verge of authoritarianism

Briefing

On many fronts

The bloodshed in the Middle East is fast expanding

Israel seems certain to retaliate to Iran’s missile attack

The great mistake

What Hamas misunderstood about the Middle East

A war meant to draw in the militant group’s allies has instead left them battered

No common purpose

A year on, Israeli society is divided about the lessons of October 7th

Hawks and doves, religious and secular, right and left—all the old cleavages are resurfacing

The Palestinians’ future

Has the war in Gaza radicalised young Palestinians?

After Gaza, how will the Palestinians try to build their state?

Asia

The outsider otaku

Japan’s new prime minister is his own party’s sternest critic

An interview with Admiral Tang Hua

China is using an “anaconda strategy” to squeeze Taiwan

Putting the AI in Mumbai

India has a unique opportunity to lead in AI

No longer showing up

America is losing South-East Asia to China

China

The fear of falling

Worries of a Soviet-style collapse keep Xi Jinping up at night

Making a sPLAsh

A missile test by China marks its growing nuclear ambitions

Udder pressure

Why China is awash in unwanted milk

United States

Voting and victimhood

Crypto bros v cat ladies: gender and the 2024 election

October surprise

A ports strike shows the stranglehold one union has on trade

Running mate

Tim Walz is the most popular candidate on either ticket

Taking the initiative

Many Americans can decide their own policies. What will they choose?

Washed away

Hurricane Helene was America’s deadliest storm in nearly two decades

Reinventing the army

The US Army’s chief of staff has ideas on the force of the future

Lexington

The vice-presidential debate was surprisingly cordial

Middle East & Africa

Looking for trouble

A dangerous dispute in the Horn of Africa

The Americas

A long shadow

Jair Bolsonaro still shapes Brazil’s political right

World’s end

Peruvians are debating how to protect isolated tribes

Everyone’s a winner

Why is football in Latin America so complex?

Europe

Not wholly in power

Pedro Sánchez clings to office at a cost to Spain’s democracy

Austria’s election

Why the hard-right Herbert Kickl is unlikely to be Austria’s next chancellor

Hoping for better

Ukraine’s Roma have suffered worse than most in the war

In the Wildersness

The Netherlands’ new hard-right government is a mess

Sexual violence

A harrowing rape trial in France has revived debate about consent

Charlemagne

How the wolf went from folktale villain to culture-war scapegoat

Britain

Tory Benn

Britain’s Conservatives adopt the bad habits of the Labour left

Party time

Why on earth would anyone go to a British party conference?

A wartime diaspora

Ukrainians are settling down in Britain. That creates a problem

Blyth spirit

Gigafactories and dashed dreams: the parable of Blyth

The wheels of justice

The scourge of stolen bikes in Britain

Burning ambition

Britain’s last coal-fired power station closes

Bagehot

How British-Nigerians quietly made their way to the top

Business

Changing the program

AI and globalisation are shaking up software developers’ world

Pound of flesh

Will America’s government try to break up Google?

If the face is fit…

Workouts for the face are a growing business

Road trip

Transit vans are the key to Ford’s future

Instantaneous consumption

India’s consumers are changing how they buy

Bartleby

What makes a good manager?

Schumpeter

The future of the Chinese consumer—in three glasses

Finance & economics

Good-vibes rally

Xi Jinping’s belated stimulus has reset the mood in Chinese markets

Economic decoupling

Why is Canada’s economy falling behind America’s?

Unaccountable accounts

A tonne of public debt is never made public

Buttonwood

Can Andrea Orcel, Europe’s star banker, create a super-bank?

Block party

The house-price supercycle is just getting going

Free exchange

Why economic warfare nearly always misses its target

Science & technology

On the fly

An adult fruit fly brain has been mapped—human brains could follow

So much hot air

Why it’s so hard to tell which climate policies actually work

Island life

Isolated communities are more at risk of rare genetic diseases

Sound of mind

AI offers an intriguing new way to diagnose mental-health conditions

Culture

The stickiness factor

The Malcolm Gladwell rule: how to succeed while annoying critics

Money matters

The best new books to read about finance

Revisiting history

Was Abraham Lincoln gay?

No passing fad

Fashion photography is in vogue

The next big thing

Turn down the K-pop and pay attention to K-healing

Back Story

Roald Dahl was a genius—and a shocking bigot

The Economist reads

The Economist reads

Books that probe the secrets of the Mossad

Economic & financial indicators

Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Obituary

Obituary