Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Pauller.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

It was a crime that gripped Sweden for 34 years. Who gunned down the then prime minister

Olaf Palma right in the middle of Stockholm? Last week prosecutors at last provided an

answer, but many Swedes are only more frustrated now. And the pandemic is making lots of Japanese

people look for love. Dating agencies have had to get creative. They are even drive-through

introductions. As with so many new behaviors, the question is whether this matchmaking surge

will last.

NATO has been a keystone in international stability since it was founded in the aftermath of the

Second World War. In 1949 the realities of the Cold War led the Western European nations,

the USA and Canada into a new military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

It was created to stand up to an aggressive Soviet Union in Europe. Since the collapse

of the Berlin Wall, the alliance has suffered repeated bouts of angst about its relevance.

Now it must contend with a rising China. In a speech earlier this month, the head of NATO

Jens Stoltenberg raised his concerns. And the rise of China is fundamentally shifting

the global balance of power. Heating up the race for economic and technological supremacy,

all the decline, the threats to open societies and individual freedoms, and increasing the

competition over our values and our way of life.

And on Saturday he warned about China's increasing military capabilities. Meanwhile repeated

barbs from President Donald Trump continued to undermine the alliance.

Earlier this month, Mr. Trump ordered the military to reduce the number of American troops

in Germany by nearly 10,000 before September. That's more than a quarter of the force station

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