The Economist Latin America January 11, 2020

Politics America’s assassination of Qassem Suleimani, Iran’s most prominent general, in a drone strike at Baghdad’s international airport threw the Middle East into crisis. Iran responded by firing more than 20 ballistic missiles at Iraqi military bases housing American troops. No deaths were reported. “Iran took and concluded proportionate measures in self-defence,” tweeted Muhammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister. “We do not seek escalation or war.” But analysts think Iran might covertly retaliate against America in the future. Millions of mourners took to the streets across Iran to mark General Suleimani’s funeral. Before the burial in his home town of Kerman 50 people were killed in a stampede. Minutes after taking off from Tehran airport, and shortly after Iran fired its missiles, a Ukrainian airliner crashed killing all 176 people…

Politics America’s assassination of Qassem Suleimani, Iran’s most prominent general, in a drone strike at Baghdad’s international airport threw the Middle East into crisis. Iran responded by firing more than 20 ballistic missiles at Iraqi military bases housing American troops. No deaths were reported. “Iran took and concluded proportionate measures in self-defence,” tweeted Muhammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister. “We do not seek escalation or war.” But analysts think Iran might covertly retaliate against America in the future. Millions of mourners took to the streets across Iran to mark General Suleimani’s funeral. Before the burial in his home town of Kerman 50 people were killed in a stampede. Minutes after taking off from Tehran airport, and shortly after Iran fired its missiles, a Ukrainian airliner crashed killing all 176 people on board. It…

THE KILLING of Qassem Suleimani by an American drone on January 3rd threatened to bring the United States and Iran closer to war than at any time since the hostage crisis in 1979. In a part of the world that has lost the power to shock, the audacious killing of Iran’s most important general, ordered by President Donald Trump, sent Iran reeling. In public ceremonies millions of Iranians put aside their discontent with the regime to mark General Suleimani’s death. Blood-curdling threats of destruction issued from the Middle East, echoed by warnings of mayhem from Western experts. And yet a retaliatory missile strike on two American bases in Iraq five days later killed nobody. It looked like a face-saving attempt by Iran to wind the crisis down. If that were the…

THE KILLING of Qassem Suleimani by an American drone on January 3rd threatened to bring the United States and Iran closer to war than at any time since the hostage crisis in 1979. In a part of the world that has lost the power to shock, the audacious killing of Iran’s most important general, ordered by President Donald Trump, sent Iran reeling. In public ceremonies millions of Iranians put aside their discontent with the regime to mark General Suleimani’s death. Blood-curdling threats of destruction issued from the Middle East, echoed by warnings of mayhem from Western experts. And yet a retaliatory missile strike on two American bases in Iraq five days later killed nobody. It looked like a face-saving attempt by Iran to wind the crisis down. If that were…

ONE WAY of capturing the scale of the devastation that forest fires have inflicted on Australia is through figures. Some 11m hectares of the Lucky Country have gone up in smoke since September, almost the same area as Bulgaria. So far at least 26 people are known to have lost their lives, over 2,300 homes have been destroyed and over half a billion animals have been burned alive or choked to death. But numbers tell only part of the story (see Asia section). A plume of smoke has drifted across the South Pacific ocean, reaching Buenos Aires. Australia’s normally phlegmatic society has been shaken. Shane Warne, the most celebrated sportsman in a sports-mad nation, has gone so far as to raise money for the relief effort by auctioning off the…

ONE WAY of capturing the scale of the devastation that forest fires have inflicted on Australia is through figures. Some 11m hectares of the Lucky Country have gone up in smoke since September, almost the same area as Bulgaria. So far at least 26 people are known to have lost their lives, over 2,300 homes have been destroyed and over half a billion animals have been burned alive or choked to death. But numbers tell only part of the story (see Asia section). A plume of smoke has drifted across the South Pacific ocean, reaching Buenos Aires. Australia’s normally phlegmatic society has been shaken. Shane Warne, the most celebrated sportsman in a sports-mad nation, has gone so far as to raise money for the relief effort by auctioning off the…