Venezuelan roulette
The weekend despatch: What are all these American troops actually doing in the Caribbean? Tropical Storm Melissa isn’t far behind. + What is raptor house?
The big deal
Briefing: Clemency for the founder of Binance—a new Trump-family business partner. Sanctions for Russia’s oil giants—for the first time. + How are administration officials thinking about their risk exposure?
Execution in the Pacific
Briefing: Deadly counternarcotics strikes are expanding, while the evidence behind them is not. The Trump-Putin summit that’s not to be. + Why are Moscow and Damascus getting so friendly?
No kitchen lady
Briefing: The U.S. refugee program for people who don’t seem to want to leave their country. The Paris jewel thieves appear to be getting away with it. + How do you take in millions of refugees?
Seven minutes in Paris
Briefing: Crown jewels vanish from the Louvre. NASA rethinks how to get back to the moon. + Is Trump really deconstructing American democracy?
‘This time, he has the cadres’
Feature: Is Donald Trump really deconstructing democracy in the United States? Steve Hanson on the American consolidation of patrimonial rule.
Look on my works, ye mighty
The weekend despatch: Power and risk in the new Washington. A vexing disturbance from the Antarctic seafloor. &c.
Inside the prison state
Feature: What’s it like to live in North Korea? Yumi Kim on heavy repression, secret phone calls, and virtual private networks.
The enemies list
Briefing: The U.S. confirms CIA operations in Venezuela. Europe builds a drone wall against Russia. + Turning America’s tax agency against the president’s enemies.
Graveyard in the desert
Briefing: A disarmament ultimatum for Hamas. Madagascar’s Gen Z protests topple a government. + A two-year operation to move tens of thousands of bodies—and hide the evidence.
