2022-01-08-Economist Graphs

1. The world this week

1.1 Politics

1.2 Business

1.3 KAL’s cartoon

2. Leaders

2.1 Russia and NATO: How to talk to Mr Putin

Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine has created a chance to enhance the security of Europe

2.2 High-voltage mire: Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s energy policy will hurt Mexico

Lawmakers should vote down the president’s proposals

2.3 Beware snake oil: Democrats seem drawn to hare-brained schemes to control inflation

It is up to central banks to bring price growth down

2.4 Pliant patriots: Hong Kong’s new legislature is a mockery of democracy

And its media are losing any independence

2.5 The meaning of green: The EU’s green rules will do too little to tackle climate change

Relying on investors to save the planet using a “taxonomy” has limits

3. Letters

3.1 On American power, wireless connections, Africa, cruise ships, restaurants, Stephen Sondheim: Letters to the editor

A selection of correspondence

4. Briefing

4.1 Putin’s brinkmanship: Russia’s menacing of Ukraine is unlikely to induce NATO to retreat

It may have the opposite effect

5. Europe

5.1 Keep calm and carry on: Ukrainians are peculiarly relaxed about Russia’s troop build-up

Many have grown inured to a risk they can do nothing about

5.2 Nein, danke!: Why Germans remain so jittery about nuclear power

The first of many coalition rows

5.3 Decision time: Will Mario Draghi move to Italy’s largely ceremonial presidency?

Many think the prime minister will shortly switch jobs

5.4 To the end of the earth: Spain’s high-speed network reaches Galicia

Which was already doing rather well

5.5 Charlemagne: The return of big government sparks questions for Europe

The EU will have to evolve from forbidding things to proposing them

6. Britain

6.1 A question of consent: The harm Prince Andrew does to the crown

Hereditary monarchy rests on consent. A sexual-assault case undermines that

6.2 Balancing act: Britain’s government is trying to protect national security

Without throttling investment that will be tricky

6.3 Iconoclasm past and present: What a previous iconoclastic period reveals about the present one

History suggests the opponents of images will prevail

6.4 Public art in Britain: The sorry tale of Margaret Thatcher’s statue

Iconoclasm makes it hard to put up new images

6.5 Bagehot: Kicking winners: Britain’s political economy

British politics has a unique disdain for the country’s strengths

7. Middle East & Africa

7.1 When you are in a hole…: How Africa can reduce its reliance on commodities

Invest the profits in infrastructure and people

7.2 The birds and the “be quiet”: A Ugandan court has unbanned sex education

But any new policy is sure to annoy religious leaders

7.3 How to capture a state: Jacob Zuma presided over a mountain of sleaze in South Africa

A commission implicates his inner circle and some big firms

7.4 Losing control: Sexual-assault allegations test ultra-Orthodox leaders in Israel

Rabbis have tried to control the narrative around Chaim Walder. It’s not working

7.5 Bubbling below the surface: Many Saudis are seething at Muhammad bin Salman’s reforms

Can they do anything about them?

8. United States

8.1 Biden’s burden: The year ahead in American politics looks daunting for Democrats

By the end of 2022, momentum will probably have shifted to Donald Trump’s Republicans

8.2 Covid reconsidered: In America the pandemic seems to have hit a turning-point

Health-care officials start to favour social well-being over individual illness

8.3 Electoral administration: Reforming the Electoral Count Act would help prevent another riot

Who counts wins

8.4 Medical schools and gender: Trans ideology is distorting the training of America’s doctors

Fear and ignorance are infecting medical education

8.5 Indigenous cuisine: Native American chefs are cooking up a culinary renaissance

Crickets, blue corn and bison tartare

8.6 Go forth and multiply: Can Mormonism thrive as a global religion?

The church struggles to adapt to local customs and retain its distinct culture

8.7 Lexington: The insurrection, one year on

The Republican Party has rewritten the history of the violence its leader caused

9. The Americas

9.1 Blast from the past: Mexico’s energy reforms will damage the economy and the rule of law

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants to turn the clock back to the 1970s

9.2 Bolsonaryo v Lulo: Video games involving politicians have gone viral in Brazil

A divisive political culture vents some steam online

9.3 Crushing disappointment: Why it is so tricky to buy a bulb of garlic in Cuba

A shortage, and rising prices, hint at larger problems on the communist island

10. Asia

10.1 Shouting at deaf old men: Kazakhstan’s president asks Russia for help as unrest grows

The government has been sacked, official buildings torched and a state of emergency declared

10.2 Elections and infections: Is India prepared for Omicron?

Some lessons have been learnt from the devastating Delta wave of 2021, but not all

10.3 RAAring to go: Japan and Australia are cosying up to each other

Wariness of China, and concern about American reliability, is bringing them closer

10.4 Goodbye to all that: A growing number of soldiers are deserting the Burmese army

The shadow government hopes helping them escape will weaken the Tatmadaw

10.5 Banyan: What is Rodrigo Duterte’s legacy?

The Philippine strongman’s list of achievements is negligible

11. China

11.1 Showing who’s boss: China crushes Hong Kong’s independent news outlets

The world loses an important way to understand Hong Kong and China

11.2 Geneva discords: China and America prepare for a human-rights showdown at the UN

It is not clear which side will win

11.3 Chaguan: China’s online nationalists turn paranoia into clickbait

They see hostile foreign forces at every turn

12. International

12.1 God, Mammon and real estate: The world’s religions face a post-pandemic reckoning

Many need to sell their property; some branches will have to merge

13. Business

13.1 The accidental mogul: Just how big in media does Apple want to be?

The $3trn tech firm is not playing the same game as its rivals

13.2 No child’s play: Streaming giants get more serious about children’s shows

A cost-effective way to expand your subscriber base

13.3 Blood will have blood: A jury finds Elizabeth Holmes guilty of fraud

Theranos’s founder captured the imagination of investors, political bigwigs and Hollywood alike

13.4 Cloud v ether: Will the cloud business eat the 5G telecoms industry?

As AT&T and Verizon launch 5G this month, two huge industries collide

13.5 Cars of tomorrow: Cars meet chips in Sin City

A tech show in Las Vegas shows off the bright and shiny future of vehicle technology

13.6 Blue-collar burnout: Why workers are fleeing the hospitality sector

Stress and exhaustion are big factors

13.7 Bartleby: The rise of performative work

It’s not what you do. It’s how ostentatiously you do it

14. Finance & economics

14.1 House party: How long can the global housing boom last?

Three fundamental forces mean it could endure for some time yet

14.2 Gold standard: The EU’s green-investing “taxonomy” could go global

But will it steer capital towards deserving projects?

14.3 Regulatory flex: A war of words ends with the Democrats in charge of a key regulator

A boardroom bust-up at the FDIC reveals President Biden’s distaste for big banks

14.4 The new consensus: Economists are agreeing with each other more

A new survey finds growing consensus, notably on the need for more activist economic policy

14.5 North-eastern exposure: Could China’s north-east be home to its next banking disaster?

The economy is struggling, and its banks are under stress

14.6 Direct to market: The rise of personalised stock indices

Direct-indexed accounts combine the benefits of customisation with those of passive investing

14.7 Buttonwood: Why gold has lost some of its investment allure

It has been less reliable than inflation-protected Treasuries, and is less exciting than crypto

14.8 Free exchange: The IMF bashes the IMF over Argentina

The fund’s huge rescue plan for the country could not withstand the foreseeable risks it faced

15. Science & technology

15.1 Ecology: Wildlife can now be detected by sniffing DNA in the air

Hard-to-see animals are thus easier to record

15.2 Agricultural science in orbit: Outer space offers plant breeders some curious advantages

Radiation and microgravity may give rise to better crops

15.3 E.O. Wilson: Edward Wilson, controversial biologist, is dead

He introduced the world to sociobiology

15.4 Fossil hunting: The tricky relationship between palaeontology and poor countries

More is known of rich-world than poor-world fossils. That is bad

16. Books & arts

16.1 How things fall apart: An expert on civil war issues a warning about America

But Barbara Walter exaggerates

16.2 A journalist’s apprenticeship: Carl Bernstein’s memoir traces his path to Watergate

His book is a vivid and elegiac portrait of a bygone newspaper world

16.3 Tell it from the mountain: A climber’s story evokes classic mountaineering literature

Like many of the genre’s finest books, Anna Fleming’s voyages within as well as up

16.4 The eyeballs have it: After 50 years, the Residents are still on the road

Anonymity is key to the cult art-pop group’s success. But so is innovation

17. Economic & financial indicators

17.1 Economic data, commodities and markets: Indicators

18. Graphic detail

18.1 Stoppage time: For elite footballers, the effects of covid-19 linger for months

Long after infection, players play fewer minutes and complete fewer passes

19. Obituary

19.1 Shame and champagne: April Ashley campaigned for rights hardly considered before

Britain’s first transgender activist died on December 27th, aged 86