More generals, less pacific: Japan’s new defe...

Air strikes and border raids have turned cross-border tensions into hot conflict. We ask what raised the temperature, and whether the Iran war may act to lower it. Meanwhile that war’s oil shock brings with it fears of rising inflation; we examine how recent disruptions might inf ...  Show more

As the war in Iran progresses, none of the options available to Donald Trump looks good. We examine each of them. Thailand’s Buddhist monks are implicated in lots of lawless and dodgy behaviour—but clearing out the bad apples is more complicated than it seems. And gene-editing co ...  Show more

A strategy approved today peels back some of the country’s constitutional pacifism; in large part that is because of its tense relationship< ...

Deep in the mountains along the Thai border, a <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2023/04/17/the-worlds-deadliest-war-last-year-wasnt-in-ukraine?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_sh ...

The enforcers of the hardliners’ mores may have been disbanded; it is <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/12/04/irans-rattled-government-may-be-backing-down?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.c ...  Show more

Drug-related shootings and bombings are on the rise. Policies are changing and law-enforcement budgets rising, but stemming the violence is <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2023/11/13/sweden-is-suffering-a-grim-wave-of-gang-violence?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio. ...