The EconomistDecember 7th 2019 9
The world this week Politics
The political leaders of nato
countries gathered in London
for a meeting. Donald Trump
sparred with both Emmanuel
Macron, the president of
France, who recently described
the military alliance as being in
a state of “brain-death”, and
with Justin Trudeau, Canada’s
prime minister, who was
caught on camera mocking the
American president. Despite
these mini-rows, nato, at 70
years old, is in better shape
than it sometimes looks.Germanyexpelled two
Russiandiplomats in retalia-
tion for the killing of a Che-
chen separatist in Berlin in
August. The government has
been slow to act over the case.Finland’sprime minister,
Antti Rinne, resigned after a
key political ally withdrew
support. He had been in office
for just six months.The prime minister of Malta,
Joseph Muscat, said he would
stand down, though not until
January, as allegations over the
murder of an investigative
journalist who had been look-
ing into official corruption
threatened some of his closest
associates.With a week to go before an
election, Britain’spolitical
parties tried to limit last-mi-
nute blunders. Boris Johnson,
the Conservative leader, con-
tinued to dodge scrutiny from
the bbc’s fiercest interviewer,
who has already mauled other
candidates. The Tories enjoy a
ten percentage-point lead, but
are worried they may again fail
to get a majority.Two people were murdered in
Londonby a convicted terro-
rist at a conference on prisoneducation. He had been re-
leased on temporary licence.
Questions were raised about
the effectiveness of a rehabili-
tation programme for jiha-
dists, which the killer, who was
tackled by the public and shot
dead by police, had completed.In the dock
A military court inSuriname
convicted the country’s presi-
dent, Desi Bouterse, of murder
and sentenced him to 20 years
in prison. In 1982 soldiers
killed 15 opponents of the
military regime then led by Mr
Bouterse. He will not begin his
sentence until a decision is
made on his appeal. He may be
re-elected president next year.A court inHonduras
sentenced the killers of Berta
Cáceres, an environmental
activist, to 50 years in prison.
She was murdered in 2016 after
campaigning to prevent the
building of a dam that would
have flooded land inhabited by
the Lenca people, an indige-
nous group to which she
belonged.Regime change
Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the prime
minister of Iraq, said he would
step down amid large protests
over corruption, poor gov-
ernance and unemployment.
His resignation is unlikely to
satisfy the demonstrators, who
want other changes too. The
authorities have killed over
400 people since October,
when the unrest began.Human-rights groups said up
to 450 Iranians were killed
during protests over a rise in
the state-controlled price of
fuel last month. The regime
was accused of trying to hide
the scale of its crackdown by
shutting down the internet.Hage Geingob won a second
term as president of Namibia
in an election overshadowed
by claims of corruption against
senior members of swapo,
which has ruled since the
country’s independence in- Two former ministers
have been arrested on allega-
tions of bribery in connection
with the allocation of fishing
rights to Iceland’s biggest
fishing firm.Theun’sWorld Food
Programme said it will double
the number of people it is
feeding inZimbabweto 4.1m,
as rising inflation and a col-
lapsing economy push nearly
8m people into hunger.Watching the news
The government of Singapore
used its new “fake-news” law
for the first time, ordering
Facebook, among others, to
publish a notice next to a post
explaining that the authorities
deemed it to contain
falsehoods.Australia’sgovernment re-
pealed a law allowing asylum-
seekers held in offshore deten-
tion centres to be brought to
Australia for medical treat-
ment under exceptional cir-
cumstances. It argues that the
measure encouraged unautho-
rised immigrants to try to
reach the country by boat.During a surprise visit to
Afghanistan, Donald Trump
said that America would re-
sume peace talks with the
Taliban. He also implied that a
ceasefire would be part of any
deal—an idea the Taliban have
long resisted.China said it had suspended
port calls in Hong Kongby
American navy vessels in
response to America’s new law
in support of democracy in the
territory. China also reacted
angrily to the passage by Amer-
ica’s House of Representatives
of a draft law that would re-
quire sanctions to be imposed
on Chinese officials for vio-
lations of human rights in the
far-western region of Xinjiang.Riot police clashed with
hundreds of people protesting
in Wenlou, a town in southern
China about 100km from Hong
Kong, over the building of a
crematorium. The police fired
tear-gas and reportedly beat
and detained dozens of
protesters.Russia activated a 3,000km
natural-gas pipelineto supply
the Chinese market. The pipe-
line cost $55bn and will pro-
vide 38bn cubic metres of gas a
year to China by 2024.Just in time for Christmas
The impeachment proceed-
ingsagainst Donald Trump
moved to the House Judiciary
Committee, after the Intelli-
gence Committee released its
report, finding that the presi-
dent “subverted usforeign
policy towards Ukraine...in
favour of two politically moti-
vated investigations”. The
Judiciary Committee will now
consider whether to bring
formal charges.The Senate confirmed Dan
Brouillette as America’s energy
secretary. He replaces Rick
Perry, one of the “three amigos”
who managed Mr Trump’s
contacts with Ukraine.Kamala Harriswithdrew from
the Democratic race for presi-
dent. A year ago Ms Harris was
seen as a possible front-runner
for the nomination, but she
never hit her stride, squeezed
between her party’s progres-
sive and moderate wings. Joe
Biden said he would consider
her as a possible running-
mate, should he win.Lori Lightfoot, the mayor of
Chicago, sacked Eddie John-
son as chief of police. Mr John-
son led America’s second-
biggest police force through a
tumultuous three years. But
Ms Lightfoot said she fired him
for lying to her about an
incident where he was found
asleep at the wheel of his car.
Mr Johnson said he didn’t
“intentionally mislead or
deceive” anyone.