The Economist - UK (2022-02-19)

TheEconomistFebruary19th 2022 5
The world this week Politics

Russia said it was pulling
troops back from the border
with Ukraine. Satellite footage
showed it was hauling some
back while pushing others
forward. The White House
warned that a Russian
invasion of Ukraine was still
on the cards. Vladimir Putin
said diplomacy should contin­
ue. Russia’s tame parliament
passed a bill urging Mr Putin to
recognise two breakaway
statelets in eastern Ukraine.
Since these statelets claim big
chunks of Ukraine they do not
control, this would give Mr
Putin a pretext for war. He said
he would not sign the bill yet.
The Kremlin insisted, absurd­
ly, that Ukraine was commit­
ting genocide against Russian­
speakers. Hackers attacked
Ukrainian banks and the
defence ministry.

France, its European allies and
Canada said they would with­
draw their troops from Mali.
They were protecting the
capital from jihadists, but fell
out with the government after
two coups. Mali’s ruling junta
recently expelled the French
ambassador and has invited
Russian mercenaries into the
country.

Valérie Pécresse, the centre­
right presidential candidate of
the Republicans in France,
tried to relaunch her stalling
campaign. But her big speech
fell flat.

The eu’s highest court ruled
that the European Commis­
sion can withhold subsidies
from countries that violate the
rule of law. Poland offered to
improve its behaviour.
Hungarydid not. 

Britain’s Prince Andrew
reached an out­of­court settle­

mentwithVirginiaGiuffre,

whohadclaimedhesexually

assaultedherwhenshewas17.

QueenElizabeth’sthirdchildis

unlikelyevertoreturnto

publicduties.

Thebodythatrepresentsthe

interestsofmost ofLondon’s

policeofficerssaidit had“no

faith”inSadiqKhan,thecity’s

mayor,afterhissackingof

CressidaDickaspolicecom­

missioner.Botchedhandlings

ofpeacefulprotests,a failure

tograpplewithabusesbycops

anda fiascoininvestigating

lockdown­breachingpartiesat

theheartofgovernmenthad

madeherpositionuntenable.

Theeuannounceda €150bn

($170bn)fundtoinvestin

Africaninfrastructure. The

moneyisintendednotonlyto

promotedevelopmentin

Africabutalsotoofferan

alternativetoChina’sBeltand

RoadInitiative,whichhas

fundedroads,portsandrail­

waysacrossthecontinent.

Ethiopialifteda stateofemer­

gencyunderwhichthesecuri­

tyforcesdetainedwithout

chargethousandsofpeople

fromtheTigrayanminority

group.Thismaymeanthe

governmentispreparingto

starttalkstoenda conflict

withrebelsfromTigray.

France’sforeignministersaid

anagreementrestraining

Iran’snuclearactivitiescould

berevivedwithindays.The

dealhadlargelycollapsedin

2018 whenDonaldTrump

pulledAmericaoutofit.

NaftaliBennettmadethefirst

visitbyanIsraeliprimemin­

istertoBahrain, amida thaw

inrelationsbetweentheJew­

ishstateandArabcountries.

An illiberalLiberal

Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Liber­

al prime minister, invoked a

never-used emergency lawto

deal with protests against

vaccine mandates. Critics said

the government already has

ample powers to stop people

from blocking roads. Liberal

lawmakers also mulled a bill to

allow individuals to file

complaints against people

they think are about to say

something hateful. 

Juan Orlando Hernández, an

ex­president of Honduras, was

arrested two weeks after leav­

ing office. The United States

has requested his extradition

on drug charges. He is alleged

to have said he would “stuff

drugs up the gringos’ noses”.

He denies all allegations.

Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’spopu­

list president, met Vladimir

Putin in Moscow. The trip was

organised before the crisis

over Ukraine. America first

tried to dissuade him from

going, then urged him to stress

democratic principles in talks

with Mr Putin. Instead, Mr

Bolsonaro declared: “We are in

solidarity with Russia.”

More than a month’s worth of

rain fell in a day in Petrópolis,

causing flooding and land­

slides that killed around 

people. The Brazilian town is

known for its links to the

former monarchy, which kept

its summer palace there. 

New daily cases of covid, dri­

ven by the Omicron variant,

surged to a record peak in

South Korea. New Zealand and

Singapore also reported record

increases and cases are soaring

in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Japan posted its highest daily

death toll. But infections ap­

pear to have ebbed in some

parts of Asia, including India. 

In Hong KongCarrie Lam, the

city’s leader, said Omicron had

“overwhelmed” the health­

care system. This is despite a

months­long zero­covid poli­

cy. Xi Jinping, China’s presi­

dent, ordered Hong Kong to

“mobilise all possible forces

and resources” to curtail cases.

The brother of Qandeel Baloch,

a Pakistanisocial­media

celebrity, was acquitted of her

murder by an appeals court. He

had confessed to the killing,

saying her mildly suggestive

videos brought shame on his

family, and been sentenced to

life imprisonment in 2019. The

Weeklyconfirmed cases by area, m

To6amGMTFebruary 17th 2022

Estimatedglobalexcessdeaths, m

With95%confidenceinterval

Sources:JohnsHopkinsUniversityCSSE;

OurWorldinData;UN;WorldBank;

TheEconomist’s excess-deathsmodel

Vaccinedosesgivenper100 people

Bycountry-incomegroup

16

102

178

187

Low

Lower-middle

Upper-middle

High

Western Europe

Asia

10

8

6

4

2

0

2020 21 22

UnitedStates

Other

5.8mofficial covid-19 deaths

14.2 19. 23.

→Forourlatest coverage

pleasevisiteconomist.com/

coronavirus

Coronavirus data

appeals court gave no reason

for reversing his conviction.   

Families of victims of the

Sandy Hookmassacre settled

their case against Remington,

the maker of the semi­auto­

matic rifle used by the killer.

The company agreed to pay

out $73m. In 2012 a young

gunman opened fire at the

school in Connecticut, mur­

dering 20 small children and

six adults. Gunmakers are not

normally liable for what

customers do with their pro­

ducts, but the families argued

that Remington’s marketing

violated Connecticut’s

consumer­protection law. 

No jab,nojob

New York sacked more than

1,400 public­sector employ­

ees who refused to get vacci­

nated. The vast majority

worked in the education

department. Thousands of

workers rushed to prove they

had been jabbed before a

deadline. Thousands more

have sought an exemption

from the vaccine.