The Economist Latin America February 5, 2022

Politics Joe Biden dispatched thousands more American troops to eastern European countries that neighbour Ukraine. A Pentagon spokesman said the troops were not intended for combat but “to ensure the robust defence of our NATO allies”. Boris Johnson visited Ukraine to express his support. Vladimir Putin accused the West of trying to provoke war, and insisted his intentions were peaceful. NATO said Russia’s troop build-up near Ukraine was continuing. Some analysts believe conflict is unlikely during the Winter Olympics in Beijing, which will last until February 20th. An electoral college of 1,009 politicians reappointed Sergio Mattarella as Italy’s president for a second seven-year term. The prime minister, Mario Draghi, had wanted the job, but his political allies balked, as they could not agree on a replacement to lead the government. An election…

Politics Joe Biden dispatched thousands more American troops to eastern European countries that neighbour Ukraine. A Pentagon spokesman said the troops were not intended for combat but “to ensure the robust defence of our NATO allies”. Boris Johnson visited Ukraine to express his support. Vladimir Putin accused the West of trying to provoke war, and insisted his intentions were peaceful. NATO said Russia’s troop build-up near Ukraine was continuing. Some analysts believe conflict is unlikely during the Winter Olympics in Beijing, which will last until February 20th. An electoral college of 1,009 politicians reappointed Sergio Mattarella as Italy’s president for a second seven-year term. The prime minister, Mario Draghi, had wanted the job, but his political allies balked, as they could not agree on a replacement to lead the government.…

JEROME POWELL, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, once compared setting interest rates to celestial navigation. Today, as inflation spikes, there is a growing sense that the Fed has lost its way. It looks as if it is about to make an abrupt change of course by tightening monetary policy hard and fast. That prospect has battered stockmarkets and led many firms and homeowners to wonder if the era of low rates might be over for good. The reality is more complex. In the short term the Fed does indeed need to get a grip. But, as we explain (see Briefing), in the long run the world’s ageing population will keep a cap on interest rates. That points to an unpleasant financial squeeze, rather than a return to the 1970s. Interest-rate rises…

MOROSITÉ, MALHEUR, dégagisme: these are gloomy times in France. Covid-19 may be on the way out, but it still hampers daily life and the smooth running of the economy. Inflation, driven by disease-induced supply-chain kinks and spiking naturalgas prices, threatens household budgets. Russia and Ukraine are on the brink of war. Small wonder that only 17% of the French think 2022 will be better than 2021, and that some 45% intend in April to cast their first-round vote for a presidential candidate from the political extremes. Yet despite it all, President Emmanuel Macron has a four-in-five chance of winning re-election, according to the new election model that we launch this week. Our forecast is the latest in a series of statistical models we have built that use data about the reliability…

“TOGETHER FOR a shared future” is China’s wishful motto for the Winter Olympics, which will formally begin with fireworks and dancing at a ceremony in Beijing on February 4th. Officials say the slogan means humanity should work in harmony to conquer hardships such as the pandemic and its economic fallout. China’s state-run news agency says the games will “break down barriers and prejudices, and illuminate the way forward”. Sadly, they will not. The event symbolises a world divided by politics and the virus, and a China turning inward. No leader of a big Western power will attend the games. The pandemic has provided some with an excuse for staying away. But the main reason is the scale of the repression that Xi Jinping has unleashed since he took power in 2012.…

WHEN NEIL YOUNG and Joni Mitchell saw an injustice, they used to attack it by writing protest songs, taking on racism in the “Southern Man” and the Vietnam war in “The Fiddle and the Drum”. Today, the two musicians prefer to speak out by pressing the mute button. The pair have withdrawn their recordings from Spotify, the world’s biggest music streamer, in protest at “The Joe Rogan Experience”, a podcast that gave airtime to anti-vaxxers. Spotify has decided to hang on to its podcaster. Mr Rogan is a bigmouth and he has been wrong about covid-19 and probably much else (see Business section). Yet he has broken no laws, nor even, Spotify says, the company’s own content rules. As a matter of principle, Mr Rogan should be free to speak. As…