The Economist - USA (2020-02-08)

8 The EconomistFebruary 8th 2020
The world this week Politics

The American Senate acquitted

Donald Trump of theimpeach-

mentcharges laid against him,

bringing a swift end to the trial

of the president after the Re-

publican leadership decided

that no witnesses should be

called. Mitt Romney was the

only Republican to vote for

conviction, denouncing Mr

Trump for “an appalling abuse

of public trust”.

The day before the verdict Mr

Trump used his state-of-the-

union speechto laud a “great

American comeback” under

his administration. Congress

was in a poisonous mood. Mr

Trump refused to shake the

hand of Nancy Pelosi, the

Democratic Speaker. She

ripped up a copy of his speech

after he finished speaking.

The Iowa caucuses, the first

stage in the race to nominate

presidential candidates, were a

mess. The state’s Democrats

cast their votes for a champion

to take on Donald Trump. But

owing to a dodgy app and an

insanely complex voting sys-

tem, they struggled to count

the results. Both Pete Buttigieg,

a bright young moderate, and

Bernie Sanders, an ageing

socialist, claimed victory. The

race now moves on to New

Hampshire.

The Trump administration

added Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan,

Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and

Tanzania to a list of countries

from which immigrationto

the United States is severely

curtailed. The restrictions

were imposed for failing to

meet security criteria. The

government said it was confi-

dent the countries would make

“meaningful improvements”

so that the curbs could be

lifted.

Invadingthesanctuary

A tourguideataMexican

reserveforMonarchbutterflies

wasfounddead.Lastmonth

thesanctuary’smanager,Hom-

eroGómez,disappeared(see

Obituary).Hisbodywaslater

foundina well.Environmen-

talistssuspectthatthetwo

menweremurderedbylog-

gers,whooperateillegallynear

thesanctuaryinthewestern

stateofMichoacán.Ina sep-

arateincidentinthestate,nine

peoplewereshotdeadatan

amusementarcade,probably

bya druggang.

A Canadiancourtrejecteda

challengebyindigenous

groupstothegovernment’s

plantoexpandthecapacityof

theTransMountainoilpipe-

line, whichstretchesfrom

Albertatothewestcoast.The

courtruledthatthegovern-

ment,whichownstheexisting

pipeline,hadcarriedoutrea-

sonableconsultationswith

indigenouspeoples.

The Wuhan ban

The number of infections and

deaths from the Wuhan virus

continued to rise. More than

99% of the cases are in China.

Several countries, including

America and Australia, banned

the entry of non-citizens who

have recently visited China.

Hong Kong announced that

visitors from the Chinese

mainland would have to un-

dergo quarantine for 14 days;

medical workers went on

strike, calling for a complete

closure of the Hong Kong-

mainland border. A Chinese

diplomat accused other coun-

tries of over-reacting by bar-

ring travellers from China.

India’sgovernment unveiled a

budget without any big in-

crease in spending or cut in

taxes, dashing investors’ hopes

that it might try to stimulate

the flagging economy. gdp

grew by 4.8% last year, a big

drop from 6.8% in 2018.

The vice-president-elect of

Taiwan, William Lai Ching-te,

said he would attend the

National Prayer Breakfast in

Washington,dc. Hewouldbe

themostseniorTaiwanese

officialtovisitWashington

sinceAmericaestablished

formaldiplomaticrelations

withChinain1979.

Movement for democracy

Malawi’sconstitutional court

nullified last year’s election,

saying there had been “system-

atic and grave” flaws in the

process. It is only the second

time in African history that

judges have overturned an iffy

general election. The court

ordered that a re-run be held

within 150 days. President

Peter Mutharika said he would

appeal against the ruling.

The wife of Lesotho’sprime

minister was charged with

murdering his previous wife.

Maesaiah Thabane surren-

dered to police. The prime

minister, Thomas Thabane,

has also been questioned over

the killing, which occurred

during a heated divorce.

Daniel arap Moi, Kenya’s

former strongman, died at the

age of 95. Mr Moi led Kenya

from 1978 to 2002, a period of

relative stability. But he was

also responsible for repres-

sion, corruption and ethnic

division.

Eight Turkish soldierswere

killed in the Syrian province of

Idlib during shelling by the

Syrian army. In response,

Turkey claimed to have “neu-

tralised” 76 Syrian troops. Idlib

is the last stronghold of the

Syrian opposition. Turkey

fears that if it falls people will

flee over the Turkish border.

Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi, a

former communications min-

ister, was named Iraq’sprime

minister. Mr Allawi’s predeces-

sor, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, re-

signed in November amid large

anti-government protests

during which hundreds of

people have been killed.

Iranstopped co-operating with

Ukraine’s inquiry into the

downing of a Ukrainian pas-

senger jet by an Iranian missile

over Tehran last month. The

decision was made after Ukrai-

nian tvaired an exchange

between Iranian air-traffic

control and a stunned pilot

who saw the explosion. Iran at

first tried to cover up the

incident.

They think it’s all over

Boris Johnson’s government

finally pushed Brexitover the

line, but events to mark the

occasion only underlined the

lingering divisions between

Leave and Remain supporters.

The prime minister’s hope for a

Canada-style trade deal was

given short shrift, as the Euro-

pean Union signalled that any

ambitious agreement would

require Britain to commit itself

to social and labour protec-

tions similar to the eu’s. The

pound wobbled.

The Britishgovernment set a

deadline for the end of Febru-

ary to pass emergency legisla-

tion removing the default that

convicted terrorists are

released after serving half their

sentence. This follows the

stabbing of two people in

London by a jihadist who had

just been released. A similar

fatal attack last November

raised questions about the

effectiveness of rehabilitation

for violent radicals. Six

inmates are due for release in

the coming weeks.

A minority administration

under the Free Democrats was

voted in by the Germanstate of

Thuringia, in eastern Germany.

For the first time, a state pre-

mier took office thanks to

support from the xenophobic

Alternative for Germany. The

vice-chancellor of the federal

government said this distaste-

ful alliance threatened to break

up the ruling “grand coalition”.