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.

Amid celebrations marking 50 years since humans landed on the moon, we look at the future of space exploration and exploitation.

Nation states and billionaires' start-ups all want to mine celestial resources, but there's no body of law to regulate it.

And when Joao Gilberto concocted the musical genre of Bossa Nova, Brazil was enjoying a time of incredible cultural creativity and exporting it to the world.

The era that he came to define stands in sharp contrast to the Brazil of today.

First up, though, In April, Volodomir Zelensky swept to victory in Ukraine's presidential election.

It was a curious case of life imitating art.

Mr. Zelensky was the comedic star of a show called Servant of the People,

which depicted a regular guy swept to the presidency with a message of change.

Once in power, Mr. Zelensky wasted no time. I his inaugural speech, he said he would dissolve Parliament and hold early elections.

The vote will take place on Sunday.

On the ballot this time is Mr. Zelensky's namesake, servant of the people party.

And polls suggest it'll make a strong showing. He needs it to.

If he's going to make good on his promises to Ukrainians frustrated with the old guard,

some of that old guard must be voted out of parliament. In the Ukrainian system, the president

has limited powers. Noah Snyder covers Ukraine for the economist.

Most of the governing powers belong to parliament and the government formed by a coalition in parliament.

So despite his victory, President Zelensky has had pretty limited room for maneuver. He's been

saddled with essentially the Paraschenko government. His efforts to make progress in terms of lawmaking have been stifled. And so he's been saddled with essentially the Parashenko government. His efforts to make progress in

terms of lawmaking have been stifled. And so he's been restricted to sort of symbolic steps.

And I think he wants to take the real levers of power. But I mean, can he? What sort of

...