The Economist Asia Edition December 17, 2022

The head of Ukraine’s armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, predicted that Vladimir Putin would mount a new offensive as early as January, or more likely in the spring. Russian forces continued to attack Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure with drones, many of which were shot down. America is reportedly close to approving the supply of Patriot anti-missile batteries to Kyiv. Ukrainian forces claimed to have struck a hotel in occupied Luhansk province which was being used as a headquarters by Wagner, a Russian mercenary group run by a friend of Mr Putin. Cash for favours The European Parliament removed Eva Kaili as a vice-president after she was accused of accepting bribes from Qatar. Ms Kaili, a Socialist MEP from Greece, denies wrongdoing, as does Qatar. Belgian authorities have charged four people with…

America’s Justice Department charged Sam Bankman-Fried with fraud, money-laundering and violating campaign-finance laws in relation to the collapse of FTX, a crypto exchange. He was arrested in the Bahamas, where FTX is based. The department said that FTX’s “phenomenal downfall” was not a case of mismanagement, but instead one “of intentional fraud, plain and simple”. It alleges that Mr Bankman-Fried misappropriated FTX’s money for personal use, to repay debts owed by his hedge fund, Alameda, and to give millions to political candidates. It is a spectacular fall from grace for a man who had been lauded for his “effective altruism”. Meanwhile the pressure increased on Binance, a rival crypto exchange to FTX, following a run of withdrawals from its business. Nansen, a blockchain analytics firm, said that Binance had seen…

RUSSIA IS MASSING men and arms for a new offensive. As soon as January, but more likely in the spring, it could launch a big attack from Donbas in the east, from the south or even from Belarus, a puppet state in the north. Russian troops will aim to drive back Ukrainian forces and could even stage a second attempt to take Kyiv, the capital. Those are not our words, but the assessment of the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny. In an unprecedented series of briefings within the past fortnight the general, along with Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, and General Oleksandr Syrsky, the head of its ground forces, warned us of the critical few months ahead. “The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops,” General Zaluzhny told…

TESTING STATIONS are being removed from city streets. The enforcers of “zero-covid” are nowhere to be found. In China’s battle against covid-19, the state has disappeared from the front lines. For nearly three years President Xi Jinping tried to contain the virus, calling his efforts a “people’s war”. Now he has surrendered and the people must live with the enemy. Mr Xi is not the first leader to conclude that such a fight was unwinnable. But before ditching their zero-covid policies, other countries first took pains to administer vaccines, stockpile antiviral drugs and draw up treatment guidelines. China had ample time to do all of that. Yet more than two years after the first vaccine proved effective, the country remains ill-prepared. That has made opening up much more dangerous than…

THE PROSPECT of recession may loom over the global economy today, but the rich world’s difficulties over growth are graver still. The long-run rate of growth has dwindled alarmingly, contributing to problems including stagnant living standards and fulminating populists. Between 1980 and 2000, GDP per person grew at an annual rate of 2.25% on average. Since then the pace of growth has sunk to about 1.1%. Although much of the slowdown reflects immutable forces such as ageing, some of it can be reversed. The problem is that, as we write this week (see Finance & economics section), reviving growth has slid perilously down politicians’ to-do lists. Their election manifestos are less focused on growth than before, and their appetite for reform has vanished. The latter half of the 20th century…

IT WAS BRANDED the most expensive way to boil water. Not so long ago, many dismissed nuclear power as pricey and doomed, at least in the West. Yet today nuclear energy is crucial once again. In the short run, Europe’s ability to get through the winter energy crunch depends in part on whether France’s ageing fleet of nuclear reactors can be cranked up to operate nearer full capacity. And in the long run, investment and innovation in nuclear power appear to be part of the answer to both Vladimir Putin’s energy war and climate change: an almost carbon-free way to generate a steady and controllable flow of electricity to work alongside intermittent solar and wind generation. As a result, countries around the world are once again embracing nuclear power, which…