The Economist Latin America September 4, 2021

The director of the WHO in Europe said that booster jabs were not a luxury and would protect vulnerable people. The comments came amid worries about a slowdown in vaccinations across the EU. They are also somewhat at odds with the WHO’s position that boosters in rich countries may lead to vaccine shortages in poor ones. Israel reported a record number of daily infections. The country has rolled out a programme of booster jabs. The rate of severe illness from covid-19 is much higher among the unvaccinated than among the vaccinated. Britain’s health service was told to get ready for vaccinating 12- to 15- year olds, pending official advice on whether it is safe to do so. The EU removed America from a list of safe countries for travel and recommended that member…

Politics The last American soldiers left Afghanistan, bringing an end to their 20-year mission. Taliban fighters celebrated, donning American uniforms and taking selfies with abandoned military equipment. The death toll from a suicide-bombing at Kabul airport passed 170. An American drone strike killed suicide-bombers preparing for another attack; the Taliban said ten civilians also died. Joe Biden described the evacuation as an “extraordinary success”, despite the many Afghans who helped America and have been left behind to face Taliban reprisals. Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana, leaving 1m people without power. Its remnants brought flooding to New York, shutting down the city’s subway system. Residents were told not to use their cars. America’s Supreme Court refused to stop a Texan law coming into force that in effect bans abortion after the sixth…

Politics The last American soldiers left Afghanistan, bringing an end to their 20-year mission. Taliban fighters celebrated, donning American uniforms and taking selfies with abandoned military equipment. The death toll from a suicide-bombing at Kabul airport passed 170. An American drone strike killed suicide-bombers preparing for another attack; the Taliban said ten civilians also died. Joe Biden described the evacuation as an “extraordinary success”, despite the many Afghans who helped America and have been left behind to face Taliban reprisals. Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana, leaving 1m people without power. Its remnants brought flooding to New York, shutting down the city’s subway system. Residents were told not to use their cars. America’s Supreme Court refused to stop a Texan law coming into force that in effect bans abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy.…

The director of the WHO in Europe said that booster jabs were not a luxury and would protect vulnerable people. The comments came amid worries about a slowdown in vaccinations across the EU. They are also somewhat at odds with the WHO’s position that boosters in rich countries may lead to vaccine shortages in poor ones. Israel reported a record number of daily infections. The country has rolled out a programme of booster jabs. The rate of severe illness from covid-19 is much higher among the unvaccinated than among the vaccinated. Britain’s health service was told to get ready for vaccinating 12- to 15- year olds, pending official advice on whether it is safe to do so. The EU removed America from a list of safe countries for travel and…

SOMETHING HAS gone very wrong with Western liberalism. At its heart classical liberalism believes human progress is brought about by debate and reform. The best way to navigate disruptive change in a divided world is through a universal commitment to individual dignity, open markets and limited government. Yet a resurgent China sneers at liberalism for being selfish, decadent and unstable. At home, populists on the right and left rage at liberalism for its supposed elitism and privilege. Over the past 250 years classical liberalism has helped bring about unparalleled progress. It will not vanish in a puff of smoke. But it is undergoing a severe test, just as it did a century ago when the cancers of Bolshevism and fascism began to eat away at liberal Europe from within. It is…

NOW WHAT? The debate about who is to blame for the chaos at Kabul airport over the past few weeks, as well as all the mistakes that went before it, has raged so intensely that what the West should do next has seemed a secondary question. But it has become a pressing one. The last American soldiers left Kabul on August 30th, ending the 20-year effort to shape events in Afghanistan directly. America and its allies must now decide how best to influence the country from a distance. For some, the answer is simple. The Taliban are so odious, so violent, repressive and untrustworthy, that America should have as little as possible to do with them. Handing out aid or initiating formal diplomatic ties would only strengthen the new regime, the…