Hello and welcome to the intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

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

Wildfires are raging again in America's Western states,

a product of natural weather cycles on top of relentless climate change.

The dearth of rain has been widespread enough and long-lasting enough to call it a megadrought.

And 175 years ago today, Britain repealed the tariffs known as the corn laws,

the barriers to free trade and to prosperity that the economist was founded to rail against.

That victory still has lessons for today's free traders.

But first... Ask Iraqis today about their voting intentions in October's elections, and many will answer with another question.

What's the point?

They believe the government they elect will struggle to

govern, that politicians are useless and corrupt, that the country is really run by militias,

factions, tribal chiefs, and foreign powers. Iraq has lurched from crisis to civil war and back again

ever since its invasion in 2003. At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations

to disarm Iraq, to free its people.

By 2014, a third of its territory was controlled by the brutal extremist group, Islamic State.

The so-called caliphate was crushed in 2017,

and a measure of calm has since returned.

That calm and an economy set to recover from the pandemic

create an opportunity for the kinds of reform

that voters are desperate to see.

...