logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2020
21m 30s

Not free, not fair, not finished: Belaru...

The Economist
About this episode
Huge protests following a rigged election reveal that the people have had enough of “Europe’s last dictator”, Alexander Lukashenko. How long can he hang on? Indonesia’s leaders risk repeating an environmental disaster on Borneo, allegedly in the name of food security. And checking the writing chops of the world’s best-read artificial intelligence. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Yesterday
Wage against the machine: the distortions of minimum pay
<p>For decades governments have found minimum-wage rises a politically expedient means of redistribution. But the onward <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/11/20/why-governments-should-stop-raising-the-minimum-wage?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_so ... Show More
22m 16s
Nov 24
Emission creep: a contentious COP closes
<p>It is telling and troubling that the annual climate talking-shop’s <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2025/11/22/cop30-ends-with-a-whimper?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownote ... Show More
25m 51s
Nov 21
Flee country: Britain seeks to slash migration
<p>Britain’s home secretary Shabana Mahmood proposed a big shift in <a href="https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/11/20/will-britain-copy-asylum-policy-from-a-place-with-poor-integration?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discov ... Show More
23m 22s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2021
You don’t say: Indonesia joins Asia’s digital censorship
As governments across South-East Asia crimp online freedoms, the region’s healthiest democracy might have been expected to resist the trend. <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2021/06/05/indonesia-adds-another-weapon-to-its-speech-suppressing-arsenal?utm_campaign=the-intelli ... Show More
18m 9s
Nov 2021
A cut-rate theory: Turkey’s currency spiral
<p>As President Recep Tayyip Erdogan keeps pushing his upside-down economic ideas, the currency plummets and an <a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/erdogans-zany-monetary-experiment-is-impoverishing-turkey/21806459?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.n ... Show More
22m 55s
Mar 2024
The Intelligence: Russia’s sham election
<p>Voting begins today in an <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/03/12/russians-go-to-the-polls-in-a-sham-election-for-their-president?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_ar ... Show More
23m 20s
Mar 2024
The Intelligence: Europe is not so hot on its green parties
<p>Melting ski slopes, floods and droughts are enraging the continent’s citizens, but not quite enough for them to consider <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/03/04/europes-new-look-winter-floods-high-sea-levels-and-melting-glaciers?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio. ... Show More
24m 14s
Dec 2023
The Intelligence: Colorado blocks Donald Trump’s candidacy
<p>The state’s supreme court has ruled that he cannot appear on the Republican primary ballot, citing insurrection and a constitutional amendment. It’s an extraordinary decision, but it will only matter if it sticks. In the Netherlands, far-right <a href="https://www.economist.co ... Show More
21m 39s
Mar 2024
The Weekend Intelligence: Life and fate
<p>A year on from our series <em>Next Year in Moscow</em>, <a href="https://www.economist.com/obituary/2024/02/22/alexei-navalny-didnt-just-defy-putin-he-showed-up-his-depravity" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alexei Navalny</a>, Russia’s most prominent opposition lead ... Show More
53m 5s
Jan 2024
The Intelligence: Volodymyr Zelensky on Ukraine’s year ahead
<p>As Vladimir Putin promises to intensify Russia’s attacks, Mr Zelensky is frustrated at the wavering support from the West. <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/01/01/a-new-years-interview-with-volodymr-zelensky?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source ... Show More
26m 25s
Dec 2023
The Intelligence: Putin’s growing advantage
<p>Even before America’s tussle over funding Ukraine’s war effort, it seemed as if Russia was <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/11/30/putin-seems-to-be-winning-the-war-in-ukraine-for-now?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_co ... Show More
23m 31s
Aug 2023
El Salvador: The rise of the ‘world’s coolest dictator’
Not long ago, the tiny nation of El Salvador had the highest murder rate in the world. Now, it has the highest incarceration rate. President Nayib Bukele – who has described himself as “the world’s coolest dictator” – has detained 70,000 gang suspects without trial. His supporter ... Show More
28m 8s
Feb 2024
The Intelligence: A former general, elected in Indonesia
<p><a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2024/02/14/prabowo-subianto-will-be-indonesias-next-president?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopene ... Show More
26m 45s