The Economist How the world’s most powerful country is handling covid-19

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From: The Economist this week - Thursday May 28, 2020 06:40 pm
   
May 28th 2020 Read in browser
   
  The Economist this week  
 
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  We have two covers this week. In most of our editions, as America records 100,000 deaths from covid-19, we ask how it has coped. Many Americans think their president has handled the epidemic disastrously, that their country has been hit uniquely hard and that there is a simple causal relationship between the two. This is not supported by the numbers. Or, at least, not yet. The official death rate in America is about the same as in the European Union. Overall, America has fared a bit worse than Switzerland and a bit better than the Netherlands, neither of which is a failed state. That is because America’s handling of the virus reflects its strengths, as well as its weaknesses—and in particular its devolved system of government.
In our Asia edition we look at how China’s decision to impose a security law on Hong Kong threatens a broader reckoning with the world—and not just over Hong Kong’s future as a global financial centre, but also over the South China Sea and Taiwan. The new law, written in Beijing, will create still-to-be-defined crimes of subversion and secession, terms used elsewhere in China to lock up dissidents, including Uighurs and Tibetans. Hong Kong will have no say in drafting the law, which will let China station its secret police there. The message is clear. Rule by fear is about to begin. 		 
 
  Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-In-Chief  
     
 
  Editor’s picks  
 
  Must-reads from the current edition  
 
 
 
Cyber-defence
Policing the Wild West

The challenge of defence in the world’s most lawless battlefield
United States
 
 
 
State aid in Europe
A €2trn loophole

Europe’s bail-outs have a nasty side-effect: they threaten the single market
Leaders
 
 
 
Schumpeter
Hot property and the e-commerce boom

The warehouse king battles a master of the universe
Business
 
 
 
Travel after covid-19
Lonely planet

Tourists are locked down at home. What awaits them when they re-emerge?
International
 
 
 
Soldiers of misfortune
Why African governments still hire mercenaries

Professional gunmen are cheap, efficient and deniable
Middle East & Africa
 
 
 
Running out of juche
North Korea discovers the limits of self-reliance

Economic damage is forcing it to lift a self-imposed quarantine
Asia
 
 
 
Bartleby
Working life has entered a new era

Farewell BC (before coronavirus). Welcome AD (after domestication)
Business
 
 
  The world this week
  
     
  Four policemen were sacked in Minneapolis after a black man died while being restrained during an arrest. Video showed one officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck to keep him on the ground. Protesters later clashed with police.
  
     
  More from politics this week  
     
  Uber decided to cut a quarter of its staff in India as part of the restructuring of its business that it recently announced. It is also closing its office in Singapore, as it considers a broader retrenchment of its ride-hailing services in Asia.
  
     
  More from business this week  
     
See full edition
 
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Curbing zoonotic diseases
Will wet markets be hung out to dry after the pandemic?

They can breed new diseases, but banning them entirely might not be the best response
 
 
  From Films  
 
 
 
The environment
Why politicians have failed to tackle climate change

Climate change is the defining threat facing the planet. So why has so little been done to tackle it?
 
 
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