The Economist Latin America February 19, 2022

Politics Russia said it was pulling troops back from the border with Ukraine. Satellite footage showed it was hauling some back while pushing others forward. The White House warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was still on the cards. Vladimir Putin said diplomacy should continue. Russia’s tame parliament passed a bill urging Mr Putin to recognise two breakaway statelets in eastern Ukraine. Since these statelets claim big chunks of Ukraine they do not control, this would give Mr Putin a pretext for war. He said he would not sign the bill yet. The Kremlin insisted, absurdly, that Ukraine was committing genocide against Russianspeakers. Hackers attacked Ukrainian banks and the defence ministry. France, its European allies and Canada said they would withdraw their troops from Mali. They were protecting the capital from…

Politics Russia said it was pulling troops back from the border with Ukraine. Satellite footage showed it was hauling some back while pushing others forward. The White House warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was still on the cards. Vladimir Putin said diplomacy should continue. Russia’s tame parliament passed a bill urging Mr Putin to recognise two breakaway statelets in eastern Ukraine. Since these statelets claim big chunks of Ukraine they do not control, this would give Mr Putin a pretext for war. He said he would not sign the bill yet. The Kremlin insisted, absurdly, that Ukraine was committing genocide against Russianspeakers. Hackers attacked Ukrainian banks and the defence ministry. France, its European allies and Canada said they would withdraw their troops from Mali. They were protecting the…

THE NEWS, for a moment, seemed encouraging. In a stagemanaged television appearance on February 14th Vladimir Putin grunted a terse “good” to the proposal of his foreign minister that, despite warnings by the West of an imminent invasion of Ukraine, diplomacy should continue. A day later Russia’s defence ministry said that some of the 180,000 or so troops it has deployed at its borders with Ukraine are to be withdrawn to barracks, having completed their military exercises which, it has always maintained, is why they were there in the first place. Officials, and the markets, breathed a small sigh of relief. Alas, open-source intelligence soon showed that, although a few units were moving, many more were preparing to fight (see Briefing). With the candour that has wrong-footed Mr Putin, many Western…

THE NEWS, for a moment, seemed encouraging. In a stagemanaged television appearance on February 14th Vladimir Putin grunted a terse “good” to the proposal of his foreign minister that, despite warnings by the West of an imminent invasion of Ukraine, diplomacy should continue. A day later Russia’s defence ministry said that some of the 180,000 or so troops it has deployed at its borders with Ukraine are to be withdrawn to barracks, having completed their military exercises which, it has always maintained, is why they were there in the first place. Officials, and the markets, breathed a small sigh of relief. Alas, open-source intelligence soon showed that, although a few units were moving, many more were preparing to fight (see Briefing). With the candour that has wrong-footed Mr Putin, many…

THE WORLD economy keeps producing nasty inflation surprises. In January consumer prices grew by more than expected in America, Britain and the euro zone, and America’s rate of annual producer-price inflation stayed close to 10%. Making matters worse, fears that Russia would invade Ukraine sent the oil price to over $96 a barrel on February 14th, its highest since 2014. On both sides of the Atlantic financial markets have rapidly priced in more monetary tightening in 2022, as some central bankers have begun to worry in public that they face a test of their credibility. Monetary policymakers are scouring labour markets for signs that high inflation is becoming baked into workers’ wage demands, indicating the start of a wage-price spiral. They are in an awkward spot, because the idea that…

THE WORLD economy keeps producing nasty inflation surprises. In January consumer prices grew by more than expected in America, Britain and the euro zone, and America’s rate of annual producer-price inflation stayed close to 10%. Making matters worse, fears that Russia would invade Ukraine sent the oil price to over $96 a barrel on February 14th, its highest since 2014. On both sides of the Atlantic financial markets have rapidly priced in more monetary tightening in 2022, as some central bankers have begun to worry in public that they face a test of their credibility. Monetary policymakers are scouring labour markets for signs that high inflation is becoming baked into workers’ wage demands, indicating the start of a wage-price spiral. They are in an awkward spot, because the idea that wages…