The Economist May 28th 2022 7
The world this week Politics
An 18yearold gunman
murdered 19 young children
and two adults at a school in
Uvalde, Texas. After a standoff
with lawenforcement officers
he was shot dead by a border
patrol agent. Parents were
asked to provide dnasamples
to help identify the children’s
bodies. The perpetrator had a
semiautomatic rifle and wore
body armour, as did the gun
man who shot and killed ten
black people at a supermarket
in Buffalo on May 14th. It was
the worst school shootingin
America since the Sandy Hook
massacre in 2012. The fbi
reported this week that the
number of “active shooter”
incidents, not counting epi
sodes of gang violence or
domestic disputes, rose by
more than 50% last year to 61.
Eric Adams, the mayor of New
York, came under pressure to
improve safety on the city’s
subway system, and through
out the city generally, after a
Goldman Sachs worker was
shot dead on a train in a seem
ingly chance encounter. The
alleged killer is a gang member
with a lengthy criminal record.
Donald Trump’s candidate in
the Republican primary for
governor of Georgiawas
roundly defeated. Mr Trump
wanted to oust Brian Kemp as
governor in the primary as
revenge for his refusal to over
turn the presidential election
result in the state in 2020 (Mr
Trump’s wild notion that the
election was stolen rests in
large part on losing Georgia).
Mr Kemp’s victory means he
will face the Democrats’ Stacey
Abrams in a rematch for
governor in November. Four
years ago Ms Abrams claimed
Mr Kemp suppressed the black
vote in order to win.
A judgesuspendedtheBiden
administration’sreversalofa
pandemichealthmeasurethat
allowsfortheswiftexpulsion
ofillegalmigrantsbackacross
theMexicanborder.Amida
newsurgeinbordercrossings,
Republicanstateshavesuedto
keepthemeasure,knownas
Title42,inplace.AGraydayforNumber 10
In Britainthe final report from
Sue Gray, a senior civil servant,
into parties held at Downing
Street during lockdowns was
released, after police investiga
tions ended. She levelled
criticisms at senior political
and official leadership, con
cluding that many of the gath
erings were “not in line with
covid guidance at the time”.
The report also indirectly
criticised Boris Johnson, the
prime minister, for “failures of
leadership and judgment”. A judge in Argentinaagreed to
a deal that means the presi
dent, Alberto Fernández, will
pay a donation to a vaccine
research institute so that legal
proceedings against him for
allegedly breaching lockdown
rules are dropped. Mr Fernán
dez’s partner threw a birthday
party at the president’s official
residence in July 2020. A police raid on a favela in Rio
de Janeiroresulted in the
deaths of 21 people. Police said
all but one of the fatalities
were members of a drug gang
who were resisting an attempt
to arrest their leaders. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
has entered its “most active
phase”, according to Ukraine’s
defence ministry, as Russian
forces step up their attacks in
the east. Dozens of towns in
the Donetsk region were
assaulted by the invaders, as
they try to encircle crack
Ukrainian troops who have
mounted a counterattack. Ukraine’s foreign minister said
his country strongly disagreed
with a suggestion by Henry
Kissingerthat it cede territory
to Russia to bring an end to the
war. The former Americansecretary of state said there
“should be a return to the
status quo ante”, which at the
very least would mean Ukraine
accepting Russia’s annexation
of Crimea. Viktor Orban, the rightwing
prime minister of Hungary,
declared a state of emergency
because of the war in Ukraine.
His opponents say this is a
ruse for Mr Orban to consoli
date more power. Hungary is
holding up an euembargo on
Russian oil while it tries to eke
out exemptions. Michelle Bachelet, the un’s
humanrights chief, began a
highly orchestrated tour of the
region of Xinjiang, where
China is accused of detaining
1m Uyghurs and other minor
ities. Her ability to investigate
such claims has been limited
by the government, which
expects a “friendly” visit.
Activists in Washington re
leased a trove of documents
and photographs that detail
China’s abuses in the region. The Labor Party won federal
elections in Australia, defeat
ing the conservative govern
ment that has held office for
almost a decade. The new
prime minister is Anthony
Albanese, who promises to do
more on climate change, an
issue that bedevilled the
tenure of his predecessor, Scott
Morrison. Mr Albanese’s first
task was to attend a security
meeting in Tokyo with Amer
ica, India and Japan to discuss
relations with China. When Mr Albanese arrived in
Tokyo he met Joe Biden, who
was visiting Japan and South
Korea. The American president
caused a kerfuffle when he
suggested that America willuse force to help Taiwanif it
is invaded by China. A furious
China said there was no room
for compromise. Mr Biden
later clarified his comment,
and said America had not
changed its policy of provid
ing Taiwan with the “military
means” to defend itself.While Mr Biden was in Tokyo,
Chinaand Russiaflew nuc
learcapable warplanes over
the Sea of Japan in a coordi
nated exercise. After he left,
North Koreatestfired three
ballistic missiles. The African Development
Bank will channel $1.5bn to
African farmersfor seeds,
fertiliser and better tech
nology in a bid to boost the
continent’s output of food to
avert hunger. Food prices have
surged since Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine; both are big pro
ducers of grain and fertiliser.Prodemocracy activists in
Sudansaid that more than
people were injured when
police fired bullets and tear
gas at people protesting
against the military govern
ment that took power in a
coup six months ago.Amnesty International’s
annual report on the death
penaltyfound that at least
executions were carried out
last year across 18 countries.
That is up a fifth from 2020,
but still the secondlowest
number since 2010. Iran put
the most people to death (314),
followed by Egypt (83) and
Saudi Arabia (65). China,
which is thought to carry out
thousands of executions a
year, was excluded from the
report, as were several other
countries where data is hard
to come by. Thefinalcall
New York’s last standing
public payphonewas
removed from its site near
Times Square. Introduced in
the early 1900s, coinoperated
phones have been gradually
replaced by WiFi kiosks. The
one carted away this week is
heading to the city museum.