The World Today: October & November 2020: US election is primed to explode

Subscribe to read all issues

Image — Illustration: Jakob Hinrichs

Jacob Blake protesters lit cleaning truck on fire in Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States on August 24, 2020. Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency: Getty Images.

Rachel Kleinfeld paints a worrying picture for the impending presidential poll as democracy in the US shows signs of warping under increasing pressures

A protester flies an American flag while walking through tear gas fired by federal officers during a protest in front of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse on July 21, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. Photo by Nathan Howard: Getty Images.

Biden has it, Trump doesn’t seem to. But is that enough for a Democratic victory, asks Claire Yorke

Peter Hill at the Chatham House event Shaping the Future We Want, 8 July, 2020.

Chief executive of the UK team organizing next year’s COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow tells Antony Froggatt of Britain’s ambition to cut carbon emissions and lead the charge for a greener future

Two young Kenyan girls force a swarm of locusts to take flight as it threatens to devour pasture on which the village’s cattle feed. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization described the locust infestation as a threat to food security.

Patrick Schröder and Tahseen Jafry on measures to help the poorest in their struggle for survival

Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, watches the ground jet test of a newly developed high-thrust rocket engine at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground.

Trump’s promise to seal a deal is unlikely to be met, writes Nuno Pereira de Magalhães

Belarusian protests are instilling a new national consciousness, writes Katia Glod

Conspiracy theorists’ graffiti on a pavement in Brooklyn, New York.

Sophia Ignatidou on the perils that stem from a mendacious social media

Articles

Japan’s outgoing prime minister Shinzo Abe, presents Yoshihide Suga with flowers after he was named as his successor.

But what course will Japan’s new PM set, asks John Nilsson-Wright

A gold mine in Mali. Mining is no longer an all-male preserve as women are increasingly occupying seats around the boardroom table.

Sheila Khama looks at gender equality and regional representation at the top of mining companies

Yasir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shake hands (1993)

Ian Black marks the anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination on November 4, 1995

American BLU 3b submunitions, known as ‘pineapples’, which were found in the Laos village of Phanop 50 years after they were dropped from US planes.

Andrew Warsap reports on his work in Laos clearing explosives left by the Vietnam war

Waqās Ahmed argues that specialization is hindering attempts to tackle complex problems and a multidimensional approach is needed

Marie-Louisa Awolaja calls for action to end racism

Digital-only series

For Eswatini’s LGBTIQ+ community the BLM movement and global solidarity are crucial, as long as they involve the voices of the marginalized

Police brutality is not just an American problem. In Kenya it is built on colonial systems

Also in this issue

Eduardo Mondlane with his American wife Janet Rae Johnson at a railway station in Sweden. Mondlane spoke at Chatham House less than a year before he killed by a letter bomb prepared by agents of the Portuguese colonial regime.

Prexy Nesbitt pays tribute to the man who led Mozambique towards independence

Alex Vines remembers Eduardo Mondlane at Chatham House

Emanuel de Kadt, who wrote about Brazil for The World Today in the 1960s, discusses the influence of the military and religion on the country’s politics