The Economist Latin America July 6, 2019

Politics Protesters ransacked Hong Kong’s legislature, spraying graffiti and waving British-era flags in the chamber after commemorations for the 22nd anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China. Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, condemned the “extreme violence”. China’s government accused the demonstrators of trampling on “the rule of law”. Rahul Gandhi resigned as leader of Congress, India’s oldest political party and the only national force opposing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Mr Gandhi’s father, grandmother and great-grandfather all served as prime minister. Congress has been thrashed by the BJP at the past two elections. Taliban insurgents killed some 40 people in an attack in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. The attack came as American and Taliban negotiators were meeting in Qatar to discuss a possible peace deal. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the general…

Politics Protesters ransacked Hong Kong’s legislature, spraying graffiti and waving British-era flags in the chamber after commemorations for the 22nd anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China. Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, condemned the “extreme violence”. China’s government accused the demonstrators of trampling on “the rule of law”. Rahul Gandhi resigned as leader of Congress, India’s oldest political party and the only national force opposing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Mr Gandhi’s father, grandmother and great-grandfather all served as prime minister. Congress has been thrashed by the BJP at the past two elections. Taliban insurgents killed some 40 people in an attack in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. The attack came as American and Taliban negotiators were meeting in Qatar to discuss a possible peace deal.…

VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russia’s president, has declared the liberal idea “obsolete”. It will not surprise you to learn that we disagree. Not just because he told the Financial Times that liberalism was all about immigration, multiculturalism and gender politics—a travesty—but also because he picked the wrong target. The idea most under threat in the West is conservatism. And you do not have to be a conservative to find that deeply troubling. In two-party systems, like the United States and (broadly) Britain, the right is in power, but only by jettisoning the values that used to define it. In countries with many parties the centre-right is being eroded, as in Germany and Spain, or eviscerated, as in France and Italy. And in other places, like Hungary, with a shorter democratic tradition, the right…

VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russia’s president, has declared the liberal idea “obsolete”. It will not surprise you to learn that we disagree. Not just because he told the Financial Times that liberalism was all about immigration, multiculturalism and gender politics—a travesty—but also because he picked the wrong target. The idea most under threat in the West is conservatism. And you do not have to be a conservative to find that deeply troubling. In two-party systems, like the United States and (broadly) Britain, the right is in power, but only by jettisoning the values that used to define it. In countries with many parties the centre-right is being eroded, as in Germany and Spain, or eviscerated, as in France and Italy. And in other places, like Hungary, with a shorter democratic tradition, the…

TRADE WAR, tech war, new cold war or just plain decoupling: call it what you will, the confrontation between America and China has been bruising. Tariffs are up, exports down. Even as they resume trade negotiations, they talk of blacklisting each other’s firms. In the words of Henry Paulson, a former American treasury secretary, the danger is that an “economic iron curtain” will soon divide the world. All the more remarkable, then, that one crucial sector—finance—is bucking the trend. Financial links between China and the West have grown tighter since the trade war broke out. They are set to grow tighter still. For years Western insurance firms, asset managers and brokerages have been allowed to own only minority stakes in local firms. Now China is giving foreign financial firms more leeway…

TRADE WAR, tech war, new cold war or just plain decoupling: call it what you will, the confrontation between America and China has been bruising. Tariffs are up, exports down. Even as they resume trade negotiations, they talk of blacklisting each other’s firms. In the words of Henry Paulson, a former American treasury secretary, the danger is that an “economic iron curtain” will soon divide the world. All the more remarkable, then, that one crucial sector—finance—is bucking the trend. Financial links between China and the West have grown tighter since the trade war broke out. They are set to grow tighter still. For years Western insurance firms, asset managers and brokerages have been allowed to own only minority stakes in local firms. Now China is giving foreign financial firms more…