8 The EconomistSeptember 14th 2019
1The world this week Politics
Donald Trump sought his
fourth national security advis-
er in less than three years after
firing John Bolton, who had
been in the job for 17 months.
Mr Bolton says he resigned
before Mr Trump sacked him.
The pair had not seen eye to
eye: Mr Bolton was far more
hawkish on Iran, North Korea
and Russia.At least one of Mr Bolton’s
views appears to have pre-
vailed. Mr Trump abruptly
cancelled a peace summit with
the Taliban. Hawks had fretted
that Mr Trump’s proposed deal
made a big concession—thepartial withdrawal of American
troops fromAfghanistan—
without even securing a cease-
fire from the Taliban.Theciaremoved one of its
most highly placed intelli-
gence sources from the Krem-
lin in 2017, according to press
reports, in part because of
concerns that the new Trump
administration was careless in
handling sensitive material.
The decision to extract thespy
came shortly after Mr Trump
discussed classified
information with the Russian
foreign minister during a
meeting at the White House.Still on the streets
Thousands of protesters
marched to the American
consulate in Hong Kongto
show support for a bill being
considered by Congress that
could result in sanctions
against officials who suppress
freedoms in the Chinese terri-
tory. On the fringes, somedemonstrators set fires and
engaged in other vandalism.The government in Beijing
closed the city’s central
thoroughfare to allow the army
to practise a parade that will be
staged on October 1st, the 70th
anniversary of Communist
rule. The state news agency
said about 90,000 people were
involved in the rehearsal.Indianscientists lost contact
with the country’s first lunar
lander during its final descent
to the Moon. The craft’s
mothership, in orbit around
the Moon, later located it near
its intended landing site, but
attempts to resume contact
with the probe have failed.Shinzo Abe, Japan’sprime
minister, reshuffled his
cabinet. Shinjiro Koizumi, the
son of a former prime minister
and a rising star within the
ruling Liberal Democratic
Party, was appointed
environment minister.North Koreaoffered to resume
disarmament talks with
America. But it also tested two
short-range missiles, the
eighth such exercise since July.The race begins
Canada’sprime minister,
Justin Trudeau, formally began
the campaign leading up to a
general election on October
21st. Both his Liberal Party and
the opposition Conservatives,
led by Andrew Scheer, have the
support of about 30% of voters.
Among the main issues will be
climate change and allegations
that Mr Trudeau’s office
improperly tried to end the
prosecution of snc-Lavalin, a
big engineering firm, for
paying bribes.Marcelo Crivella, the mayor of
Rio de Janeiro, who is a former
evangelical bishop, ordered the
confiscation from a book fair
of a comic book that depicts
two men kissing. He said
“Avengers: The Children’s