Bolt from the blue: Democrats hold the Senate

As attention has focused on war in Iran, Israel sees an opportunity to crush a weakened Hizbullah in Lebanon. Our correspondent says it would be far better for the Lebanese state to do so. As south-east Asia is modernising, Islam is counterintuitively gaining greater primacy in c ...  Show more

A rash entry into a war of choice exposes President Donald Trump in a number of ways—and he may prove more dangerous as he becomes weaker. Turkey’s foreign entanglements mask the democratic backsliding at home; that is bad news for an opposition figure whose trial just began. And ...  Show more

America’s upper legislative chamber remains in Democrats’ hands; they may even expand their majority. We explain what that means for the Biden administration, and why Democrats outperformed expectations. President Biden’s biggest foreign-policy headaches involve China; we ask wha ...  Show more

President Joe Biden’s top posts are shaping up as Senate confirmation hearings continue—but some <a href="https://www.economist.com/united-states/2021/02/22/how-deb-haaland-would-change-the-interior-department?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=third-part ...  Show more

Rising inflation, a Covid surge, tensions in Eastern Europe: President Biden is facing challenges nearly everywhere he turns. As voters grow frustrated with higher prices and the ongoing pandemic, Biden tries to balance acknowledging the frustration with insisting his administrat ...  Show more

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin are set to meet in Delaware with President Biden today to hammer out the final details of the Democrats' sprawling social spending bill. The White House aims to hold a vote in the coming days before Biden ...  Show more