The Economist Latin America September 14, 2019

Politics Donald Trump sought his fourth national security adviser in less than three years after firing John Bolton, who had been in the job for 17 months. Mr Bolton says he resigned before Mr Trump sacked him. The pair had not seen eye to eye: Mr Bolton was far more hawkish on Iran, North Korea and Russia. At least one of Mr Bolton’s views appears to have prevailed. Mr Trump abruptly cancelled a peace summit with the Taliban. Hawks had fretted that Mr Trump’s proposed deal made a big concession—the partial withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan— without even securing a ceasefire from the Taliban. The CIA removed one of its most highly placed intelligence sources from the Kremlin in 2017, according to press reports, in part because of concerns that the new…

ON AUGUST 29TH, as Hurricane Dorian tracked towards America’s east coast, Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, an electric-car maker, announced that some of his customers in the storm’s path would find that their cars had suddenly developed the ability to drive farther on a single battery charge. Like many modern vehicles, Mr Musk’s products are best thought of as internet-connected computers on wheels. The cheaper models in Tesla’s line-up have parts of their batteries disabled by the car’s software in order to limit their range. At the tap of a keyboard in Palo Alto, the firm was able to remove those restrictions and give drivers temporary access to the full power of their batteries. Mr Musk’s computerised cars are just one example of a much broader trend. As computers and…

Politics Donald Trump sought his fourth national security adviser in less than three years after firing John Bolton, who had been in the job for 17 months. Mr Bolton says he resigned before Mr Trump sacked him. The pair had not seen eye to eye: Mr Bolton was far more hawkish on Iran, North Korea and Russia. At least one of Mr Bolton’s views appears to have prevailed. Mr Trump abruptly cancelled a peace summit with the Taliban. Hawks had fretted that Mr Trump’s proposed deal made a big concession—the partial withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan— without even securing a ceasefire from the Taliban. The CIA removed one of its most highly placed intelligence sources from the Kremlin in 2017, according to press reports, in part because of concerns…

FOR MONTHS America and the Taliban had been haggling over an agreement to end their 18-year war in Afghanistan. A deal was in sight. But then President Donald Trump learned that a Taliban bomber in Kabul had killed an American soldier, as well as 11 other people (see Asia section). “I immediately…called off peace negotiations,” he fumed on Twitter. The decision came as a relief to many, who had feared that Mr Trump was ready to sign any deal with the Taliban, no matter how humiliating for America or catastrophic for Afghanistan, just to keep a campaign promise to stop America’s “endless wars” and bring the troops home. As he called off the talks, the president revealed that he had been on the verge of hosting Taliban negotiators at Camp David,…

AMERICA HAS unleashed a barrage of actions against Huawei, a Chinese telecoms giant which it believes spies for the Chinese government and threatens Western interests because of its dominant role in 5G technologies. Since May, American firms have mostly been banned from supplying Huawei. The Justice Department wants Canada to extradite a top executive who is accused of sanctions-busting. Uncle Sam’s diplomats have urged other countries to stop using Huawei gear. America’s aim has been to cripple a business that it views as a menace. As we report this week from Shenzhen, where Huawei is based, the plan has not worked (see Business section). True, Huawei is suffering. Western banks are wary of it. Silicon Valley suppliers and the owners of datasets have shied away. And on September 19th Huawei, which…

“IT’S TIME to stop vaping,” says Lee Norman, a health official in Kansas. Six people are dead in America, apparently from smoking e-cigarettes. More than 450 have contracted a serious lung disease. So Mr Norman’s advice sounds reasonable. The Centres for Disease Control and the American Medical Association agree: the country’s 11m vapers should quit. A new idea is circulating, that vaping is worse than smoking. On September 11th the Trump administration said it intends to ban non-tobacco flavoured vaping fluid (see United States section). Some politicians want a broader ban on all e-cigarettes. The facts have gone up in smoke, as so often happens during health scares. Although more research is needed, the evidence so far suggests that the recent vaping deaths in America did not come from products bought…