May 13th 2023

Peak China?

The world this week

Leaders

China and the world

Is Chinese power about to peak?

The country’s historic ascent is levelling off. That need not make it more dangerous

Border trouble

Small, sensible steps could help ease America’s border woes

The art of the practical in dealing with migrants, drugs and gangs

The outcast returns

The rehabilitation of Syria’s dictator raises awkward questions for the West

Clearer principles about how and when to ease sanctions are needed

A bad balance

Joe Biden is more responsible for high inflation than for abundant jobs

The main effect of the president’s economic policies has been to boost prices

A stochastic parrot in every pot

What does a leaked Google memo reveal about the future of AI?

Open-source AI is booming. That makes it less likely that a handful of firms will control the technology

Letters

On non-aligned countries and Ukraine, Israel, Turkey, artificial intelligence

Letters to the editor

By Invitation

Turkey’s election

A more democratic Turkey is within grasp, says Kemal Kilicdaroglu

Moldova

Russia’s efforts to destabilise Moldova will fail, says its president

The battery economy

Peter Carlsson on how the global battery race should be run

Briefing

Mountain range

How soon and at what height will China’s economy peak?

Estimates vary, depending on assumptions about population, productivity and prices

Superpower showdown

China v America: how Xi Jinping plans to narrow the military gap

From subs to nukes he is adding firepower despite a slower economy

Sun Tzu’s slide-rule

How China measures national power

And how we would do it

History lessons

The fall of empires preys on Xi Jinping’s mind

As economic growth slows, so will the president’s anxiety

Chaguan

China learns to manage decline

Lessons from Yichun, a Chinese city where children are a rarity

Asia

Pacific jitters

Will Japan fight?

Art in the dark

Why South Korean tattooists are being marked as criminals

Fuel to the fire

Imran Khan’s arrest brings Pakistan closer to the edge

Rolling out the red carpet

How India’s states compete for investment

Banyan

A winner has emerged in the old rivalry between Singapore and Hong Kong

United States

Supply-side epidemic

Fentanyl trafficking tests America’s foreign policy

The end of Title 42

Why chaos looms at the US-Mexico border

Beyond Derby day

Horse-racing in America needs to improve its odds

Community banks

What America’s tiny banks do that big ones don’t

Let’s go Brandon

Chicago’s new mayor has one of the trickiest jobs in politics

Lexington

Donald Trump has become more dangerous

Middle East & Africa

War and peacemaking

What the West gets wrong about peacemaking in Sudan

Oba v Obaseki

A ruling over ownership of the Benin bronzes may delay their return

The hapless, stateless Palestinians

The Palestinians need new leaders

The Americas

Beyond drugs

Mexico’s gangs are becoming criminal conglomerates

The president v the court

The Mexican Supreme Court does battle with AMLO

In the swing

Conservatives dominate Chile’s constitutional assembly this time around

Europe

The man who can

A former bureaucrat is giving Erdogan a run for his money

Drug policy

European cannabis legalisation moves into the slow-dopey lane

Ost is Ost

A generation after Germany reunited, deep divisions remain

Europe’s armies

Europe is struggling to rebuild its military clout

Charlemagne

Once Russia’s best friend in the West, Austria is facing trouble

Britain

Modern families

Why Britain is updating its laws on surrogacy and gamete donation

Fuss-free final farewells

Direct cremations and burials offer a different way to mourn

Pushing paper

Britain’s services exports are booming despite Brexit. Why?

Li detectors

Britain plays catch-up in a global scramble for critical minerals

Have you come far?

London’s newest train line is now also its busiest

Same anger, different victor

Labour makes striking gains in the heartland of Brexit

Bagehot

How housing became the new divide in British politics

International

The Syrian civil war and its aftermath

After 12 years of blood, Assad’s Syria rejoins the Arab League

Business

The Sino-American tech race

Just how good can China get at generative AI?

An iron will

How fast can European steelmakers decarbonise?

The Thais that bind

Why Chinese carmakers are eyeing Thailand

Bartleby

How to recruit with softer skills in mind

Schumpeter

Writers on strike beware: Hollywood has changed for ever

Finance & economics

Beyond the hype

Your job is (probably) safe from artificial intelligence

National statistics, grilled

The meaty mystery at the heart of China’s economic growth

Credible

India’s once-troubled banks are generating huge profits

Number-crunching

Are America’s regional banks over the worst of it?

Buttonwood

Investors brace for a painful crash into America’s debt ceiling

Free exchange

A new world order seeks to prioritise security and climate change

Science & technology

War on the fly

How Ukrainians modify civilian drones for military use

47 genomes are better than one

“The” human genome was always a misnomer

Smell-O-Vision 2.0

How to bring scents to the metaverse

Culture

The last Founding Father

Martin Luther King was among the greatest Americans—and the most misunderstood

Debut fiction

Janika Oza’s debut novel charts the Indian diaspora’s struggles

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Serhii Plokhy’s new book traces Vladimir Putin’s road to war

Museums on the move

The Uffizi is taking its art to the people

A chronicle of the Côte d’Azur

Famous names and historical forces collide on the Riviera

Johnson

The hazards of pronouncing foreign names on air

Economic & financial indicators

Indicators

Economic data, commodities and markets

Graphic detail

Out in the cold

Expensive energy may have killed more Europeans than covid-19 last winter

The Economist explains

How free and fair will Turkey’s election be?

The Economist explains

Why the boss of Wagner Group is feuding with Russia’s military leaders

Obituary

Bottom-up history