Rebel with a new cause: meeting Syria’s president

2024-12-19

At the icy border between Russia and Estonia, the anxieties of NATO member states are clear, our correspondent reports. Leaders there have been debating defence spending (https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/12/12/europeans-are-hoping-they-can-buy-more-guns-but-keep-their-butter?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) and worrying about America shifting its support. Young people are seeking out spirituality on their phones (9:43). And why the iconic Californian condor

2024-12-17

Most central banks are cutting interest rates. But Russia has recently hiked them—to 21%. Why? Because Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is overheating his economy

2024-12-06

Many thought a five-year timeline was too ambitious. But even as France’s politics falls apart, it has managed to put the cathedral back together with aplomb (https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/11/29/emmanuel-macron-shows-off-the-gloriously-restored-notre-dame-to-the-world?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners). As an election takes place in Ghana, its status as a leading light of African democracy is looking shaky

2024-10-21

Aggression, election-meddling, “psychological destabilisation”: Russia’s leader is sowing chaos like never before (https://www.economist.com/international/2024/10/13/vladimir-putins-spies-are-plotting-global-chaos?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners). We ask what power the West has left to curtail it. As entitlements such as pensions have unceasingly grown, rich governments have become inefficient, lumbering beasts

2024-10-18

Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7th attacks, is dead (https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/10/17/how-yahya-sinwars-death-will-change-the-middle-east?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners). What does that mean for Hamas, for a ceasefire in Gaza and for regional stability more widely? Our swing-states series continues with Wisconsin (https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/10/17/vital-election-races-in-wisconsin-are-awfully-close?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) and Michigan

2024-10-03

After years of slowing growth, the Chinese government is finally attempting to bolster (https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/09/27/at-last-china-pulls-the-trigger-on-a-bold-stimulus-package?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners)consumer demand, business confidence and the stock market. Our correspondent analyses the surprise shift in policy (10:25). How will immigration policy play with swing voters in Arizona

2024-09-30

Israel’s attacks on Lebanon (https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/09/29/lebanon-faces-its-worst-crisis-since-the-end-of-the-civil-war?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners) and Yemen this weekend will have implications far beyond the militant groups that were the apparent targets. Our correspondents analyse what may happen next. Our correspondent reports from a conference for journalists exiled from Belarus—home to “Europe’s last dictator