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The War the World Ignores

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The War the World Ignores Ireland, Brexit and borders Rise of the corner-office campaigners Let Beijing grow bigger Cheesonomics: curd your enthusiasm DECEMBER 2ND–8TH 2017 TheYemen war the world ignores Always one step ahead of the game. Predictions prove a bright future for you. Our autonomous vehicle will be safer, smarter and instinctively more brilliant than anything on the road. HYUNDAI is a registered trademark of Hyundai Motor Company. All rights reserved. ©2017 Hyundai Motor Company. Contents The Economist December 2nd 2017 5 8 The world this week 34 Burmese schools No questions asked 35 Assisted dying in Leaders Australia 11 Yemen’s misery A sombre success The war the world ignores 36 Banyan 12 Brexit and Ireland India’s cowardly politicians Time to answer it 12 Business and society China Chief activist officer 37 Rural migrants 13 Internal migrants A furore in Beijing Brexit The Irish border Expelling Chinese people dilemma shows the trade-offs from Chinese cities 38 Private propaganda Happy bunny that Brexit requires: leader, 14 European banks page 12. The government’s On the cover A job half-done concessions have not killed off A pointless conflict has Middle East and Africa the dangerous idea that caused the world’s worst Letters 39 American foreign policy Britain could walk away, page humanitarian crisis: leader, Trump’s Muddled East 48. Two new books suggest 16 On the TPP, airports, plea page11. The devastation of that Britain faces some bargaining, Protestantism, 40 Jordan’s water crisis the poorest country in the singularly unappetising manure Diplomatic drought Middle East, page19.Neglect 40 Angolan politics choices: Bagehot, page 50 and confusion aggravate the Lourenço takes the wheel problems of the Arab world, Briefing page 39 41 Zimbabwe’s new order 19 Yemen The time of the crocodile From bad to worse 42 Why Nigeria wins at The Economist online Scrabble United States Six letters: profit Daily analysis and opinion to 23 The Trump administration supplement the print edition, plus audio and video, and a daily chart Dr Carson’s operation Europe Economist.com 24 The CFPB 43 Public finances in France E-mail: newsletters and One bureau, two guvnors Transformers? mobile edition 25 Presidential tweeting 44 Turkey Economist.com/email A row with Britain Misguided missiles Migrants in Beijing Officials Print edition: available online by 25 Digital privacy 45 Irish property are using brutal tactics to limit 7pm London time each Thursday Phoning it in In short supply the city’s population. They are Economist.com/print 26 America and Russia 45 Berlin wrong even to try: leader, page Audio edition: available online Red mist Poor and sexy 13. In the capital, scandals to download each Friday 28 Lexington bridge a social divide, page 37 Economist.com/audioedition 46 EU aid to Italy Enough already, Nancy You can keep your money 47 Charlemagne The Americas Investment with Chinese 29 Mexico characteristics The democratic dedazo Volume 425 Number 9069 30 Bello Britain Published since September1843 Despotism in Venezuela 48 The Brexit negotiations to take part in "a severe contest between 31 Honduras votes The siren song of no deal intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing Who will win the count? 49 Trade our progress." 31 Argentina v the army Wobbling into the WTO Editorial offices in London and also: New thinking 50 Bagehot Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Cairo, Chicago, Madrid, Mexico City, Moscow, Mumbai, Nairobi, New Delhi, Britain’s menu of misery CEOs and politics Chief New York, Paris, San Francisco, São Paulo, Seoul, executives are under increasing Asia Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, Washington DC pressure to take a stance on 32 Politics in Pakistan social issues. How should they Armed and obstreperous respond? Leader, page 12. 33 North Korea’s missiles Employees are leaving bosses Rocket man extends with little choice but to mount a hand the barricades, page 53. What 33 Volcanoes in Indonesia if the unwashed masses got to Smoke and tremors vote on companies’ strategies? Schumpeter, page 59 1 Contents continues overleaf 6 Contents The Economist December 2nd 2017 International Science and technology 51 Woodlands 69 Commercial aviation The foresting of the West The electric-flight plan 70 Volcanology Business Less ice, more fire 53 CEOs and society 71 Synthetic biology America Inc gets woke Life is a six-letter word 55 Japanese scandals 71 The war on malaria Kaizen crisis Biting back 56 China Literature 72 Medical diagnosis Forests The steady expansion Green aircraft Electrifying Bibliofiled Follow your nose of tree-covered land in rich planes is tricky. But companies 56 Digital news 72 Repairing roads countries is not always A hole in one are serious about trying, popular. It will continue all the Buzz kill page 69 same, page 51 57 The Vegetarian Butcher Plant-based meat Books and arts Subscription service 58 The audio industry 73 Islamic State For our latest subscription offers, visit Sound and software Captive of the caliphate Economist.com/offers 59 Schumpeter 74 Women and Boko Haram For subscription service, please contact by telephone, fax, web or mail at the details Capitalism for the people Both sides of the coin provided below: 74 German fiction North America The Economist Subscription Center Finance and economics A year in the madhouse P.O. Box 46978, St. Louis, MO 63146-6978 75 America’s economy Telephone: +1 800 456 6086 61 European banks Facsimile: +1 866 856 8075 Think of a number How to get it back E-mail: [email protected] 75 American music Latin America & Mexico 62 Buttonwood The Economist Subscription Center Bitcoin’s many zeros Railway therapy P.O. Box 46979, St. Louis, MO 63146-6979 76 Johnson Telephone: +1 636 449 5702 European banks Much has 63 Chinese finance Facsimile: +1 636 449 5703 Buzzy and effervescent been done to strengthen Stormy weather E-mail: [email protected] Europe’s banking system. But 63 Bankruptcy in India Subscription for 1 year (51 issues) not enough: leader, page14. Afterlife 80 Economic and financial United States US $158.25 (plus tax) Ten years after the crisis, 64 Brazil’s development indicators Canada CA $158.25 (plus tax) Latin America US $289 (plus tax) banks face a glut of new rules, bank Stastistcs on 42 economies, page 61. Europe’s economic A new year’s resolution plus a closer look at boom will not last; it had commodity prices 64 American interest rates Principal commercial offices: better make the most of it: Yielding insight The Adelphi Building,1-11John Adam Street, Free exchange, page 66 London WC2N 6HT 65 Cheesonomics Obituary Tel: +44 (0) 20 7830 7000 Trading Caerphilly 82 Antonio Carluccio Rue de l’Athénée 32 66 Free exchange The mushroom man 1206 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +4122 566 2470 Europe’s boom 750 3rd Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, NY10017 Tel: +1212 5410500 1301Cityplaza Four, 12 Taikoo Wan Road, Taikoo Shing, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2585 3888 Other commercial offices: Chicago, Dubai, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Paris, San Francisco and Singapore Cheesonomics When it comes to trade barriers, cheese takes the biscuit, page 65 PEFC certified This copy of The Economist is printed on paper sourced from sustainably managed forests certified to PEFC PEFC/29-31-58 www.pefc.org © 2017 The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. Neither this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of The Economist Newspaper Limited. The Economist (ISSN 0013-0613) is published every week, except for a year-end double issue, by The Economist Newspaper Limited, 750 3rd Avenue, 5th Floor New York, NY 10017. The Economist is a registered trademark of The Economist Newspaper Limited. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Economist, P.O. Box 46978, St. Louis, MO 63146-6978, USA. Canada Post publications mail (Canadian distribution) sales agreement no. 40012331. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to The Economist, PO Box 7258 STN A, Toronto, ON M5W 1X9. GST R123236267. Printed by Quad/Graphics, Hartford, WI. 53027 8 The world this week The Economist December 2nd 2017 by a British far-right activist to opportunity to leave the island same period in the previous Politics stir up hatred against Muslims. when flights resumed. year. Since the Brexit vote Mr Trump is the first modern immigration from European American president to circu- Victoria became the first state Union countries has dropped late material from extremists. in Australia to pass an act consistently, while emigration allowing doctors to help peo- to the EU has increased. Net MickMulvaney started work ple with terminal illnesses to migration from the EU fell from as the interim director of commit suicide. The law 189,000 to 107,000. America’s Consumer comes into force in 2019. Financial Protection Bureau, Slobodan Praljak, a former after President Trump appoint- Nguyen Van Hoa, a Vietnam- Bosnian Croat militia com- ed him. A longstanding critic ese blogger, was sentenced to mander, died after swallowing ofthe watchdog he now runs, seven years in prison forpub- what he said was poison in a he promptly imposed a freeze licising protests about a chemi- UN courtroom in The Hague on any new regulations. There cal spill offthe coast ofcentral after losing an appeal against had been some confusion Vietnam last year. his 20-year prison sentence. More than 300 people were about who was running the slain by jihadists who attacked agency when the outgoing A court in southern China Office plans a mosque attended by Sufi director tried to appoint a sentenced a Taiwanese activ- Mexico’s president, Enrique Muslims in Egypt’s Sinai different successor.
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