8 The EconomistOctober 12th 2019
1The world this week Politics
Turkey invaded northern Syria
to crush Kurdish militias, after
Donald Trump said he would
pull American troops out of the
region, giving Turkey a green
light. President Trump was
widely condemned for
abandoning the Kurds, who
fought alongside America
against Islamic State and still
guard captured isprisoners in
camps. He justified the betray-
al by claiming that the Kurds
“didn’t help us in the second
world war”. Actually, they did.
Kurds of the Assyrian Para-
chute Company fought for the
Allies in Greece and Albania,
among other places.Protestsagainstthegovern-
mentcontinuedinIraq. The
authoritiesrespondedwith
force,killingmorethan 100
peopleandwounding4,000.
Thegovernmentalsoshut
downtheinternetand
imposedcurfews,butit has
beenunabletofixtheeconomy
orcurbgraft.Anelectionobserverin
Mozambiquewas shotdead,
allegedlybypolice,aheadofa
presidentialpollalready
marredbyviolenceand
irregularities.Veiled threats
Hong Kong’sgovernment
invoked a colonial-era emer-
gency law to ban the wearing of
masks during protests. Thou-
sands of people, many of them
masked, protested. Others
clashed with police, started
fires and vandalised property,
resulting in the first closure of
the city’s mass-transit rail
network in 40 years.Nationalists and supporters of
the Communist Party in China
claimed to be outraged by the
general manager of the Hous-
ton Rockets, who had tweeted
the words “Fight for freedom,
stand with Hong Kong”. Chi-
na’s state broadcaster, cctv,
suspended broadcasts of
games involving America’s
National Basketball Associa-
tion. Other Chinese firms
severed ties with it. Basketball
stars are still free to criticise
America.North Koreaand America
resumed disarmament talks
for the first time in seven
months. But North Korea broke
them off after a day, accusing
America of intransigence. The
dictatorship threatened to test
more long-range missiles and
nuclear bombs if it does not get
more of what it wants by the
end of the year.The lower house of Malaysia’s
parliament voted for a second
time to repeal the country’s“fake news” law, which was
imposed by the previous gov-
ernment to stifle criticism.Thailandordered owners of
publicly accessible wireless
networks to keep records of
their customers’ identities or
their browsing history, to help
the authorities identify people
who criticise the government
or the monarchy.New Zealand’sgovernment
said it would admit more
refugees, and scrap rules that
have impeded applicants from
Africa and the Middle East.Failed statecraft
Negotiations between the
European Union and Britain
over Brexitappeared close to
collapse. Boris Johnson, Brit-
ain’s prime minister, had put
forward a new deal he thought
the House of Commons might
accept, but the eusaid it would
be hard to resolve differences
before the October 31st dead-