With a grain assault: a deal abandoned
The Intelligence from The Economist
The Economist
4.5 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 27 July 2023
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Russia’s axeing of the Black Sea grain deal reveals a war machine running out of options. We explore how to get the deal back on track. A month-long mystery surrounding China’s absent foreign minister has grown deeper: now his memory is being scrubbed from official websites (10:15). And literary criticism has lost its claws—gaining a newfound civility that is bad for readers (16:37).
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist. |
| 0:07.0 | I'm your host Jason Palmer. |
| 0:09.3 | Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:14.5 | A small mystery in Beijing has turned into a big one. |
| 0:21.4 | A month ago, China's foreign ministry cleared the diary of the foreign minister, Sighting |
| 0:26.1 | ill health. |
| 0:27.1 | Now, he's been sacked and replaced, and the party is clearing his whole history from the |
| 0:32.2 | web. |
| 0:34.4 | And literary critics these days just seem to be a little bit nicer. |
| 0:38.9 | Gone are the savage reviews calling authors, tiresome or idiots. |
| 0:43.9 | Alco-respondent looks into the coded language that's now in use, and why reviews have become |
| 0:48.9 | so civil. |
| 0:55.9 | I'm not a bad guy. |
| 1:02.9 | Today, the Russia-Africa summit kicked off in St. Petersburg. |
| 1:07.4 | Leaders from across the continent have been met with pomp and ceremony, and of Vladimir |
| 1:13.7 | Putin charm offensive. |
| 1:15.9 | And at the beginning I would like to have a great surprise on his guests. |
| 1:19.9 | Highlighting, for example, long-standing friendly ties with Ethiopia, and the country's |
| 1:29.9 | prime minister Abiyahmed responded in kind. |
| 1:33.1 | We have a very long history that's buzzed in my opinion, while the string is on our |
| 1:39.4 | relationship. |
| 1:40.4 | But there's a tension here. |
... |
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