World Politics Review

Trump’s trade-over-aid approach faces a test in Niger, where a planned U.S. loan for a uranium mine could create jobs and rebuild ties two years after American troops left—if Washington also backs accountable governance. wpr.pub/3VXJ574

When the Global Financial Crisis hit China’s export markets, Beijing flooded the economy with credit. The shadow banking boom that followed, and the sharp contraction when Beijing reined it in, set off the property collapse behind China’s economic doldrums. wpr.pub/3Wd5ugC

From WPR’s Trend Lines podcast, revisited for our 20th anniversary: Can bans on the cross-border trade in plastics and e-waste work when processing that waste is an important source of income for the communities those bans are meant to protect? wpr.pub/4stwWTl

The Shield of the Americas, the Trump administration’s Western Hemisphere security coalition, looks less like a serious effort to tackle organized crime than an ideological project among politically aligned leaders, @SimeonTegel writes. wpr.pub/4iL78ig

European governments can buy satellites, ground stations and terminals to escape dependence on Elon Musk’s Starlink. Deterring a Russian spacecraft from harassing them is a much harder transaction, @CandaceRondeaux writes. wpr.pub/4iJhMpH

The midterms will change U.S. foreign policy. The question is how. Get an expert read on the results less than 24 hours after polls close at WPR’s live webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 12pm ET. Sign up to reserve your seat. wpr.pub/4BxMGJd

Even as it prepares to finance a uranium mine in Niger, Washington has been dismantling the democracy aid that helps citizens hold officials accountable. That contradiction puts the lasting gains the deal promises at risk. wpr.pub/3VXJ574

Because China avoided a dramatic financial crisis, Beijing can blame U.S. trade wars for its malaise rather than its own policy failures. But controlling the narrative only buys time, Mary Gallagher writes: “Structural problems demand structural solutions.” wpr.pub/3Wd5ugC

Kate O’Neill and Peter Dörrie discuss why bans on trading plastics and e-waste across borders have had limited success in a Trend Lines episode we’re highlighting for WPR’s 20th anniversary. wpr.pub/4stwWTl

Amnesty International has called Rwanda’s deal to host Formula 1’s African Grand Prix “a sportswashing prize.” Beyond that charge lies another open question: Who does the race benefit? wpr.pub/3VVOITg

Three weeks after trailing in the first round, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won by rallying his base one last time. But Brazil will almost certainly return to the anti-incumbent mood that made the race so hard for him, James Bosworth (@bloggingsbyboz) writes. wpr.pub/4yEXHpe

Washington is preparing to lend up to $414.2 million for a uranium mine in Niger, but the jobs and renewed ties it promises won’t last unless the deal also protects public revenues and the communities around the mine, Jared O. Bell writes. wpr.pub/3VXJ574

A new book by Logan Wright traces China’s economic malaise not to a slowdown Beijing chose to manage, but to the credit boom it unleashed to weather the Global Financial Crisis, columnist Mary Gallagher writes. wpr.pub/3Wd5ugC

For WPR’s 20th anniversary, we’re revisiting a Trend Lines podcast episode on the hazardous waste trade. Efforts to ban shipping that waste across borders have had limited success, because processing it is an important source of income where it lands. wpr.pub/4stwWTl

Formula 1 races have each generated more than $1 billion in economic activity for Las Vegas and Singapore, while South Korea, India and Malaysia lost theirs to costs and disputes. Which path will Rwanda’s new African Grand Prix follow? wpr.pub/3VVOITg

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s comeback win was not necessarily a mandate. He now faces a center-right Congress, scandals implicating some allies, challenges to his legitimacy, an anti-incumbent public and a hostile administration in Washington. wpr.pub/4yEXHpe

Critics may dismiss Rwanda’s deal to host Formula 1’s first African Grand Prix since 1993 as a government buying a high-profile race. But Formula 1 sets the terms, and whether Rwanda and Africa benefit is still an open question, Olajumoke Ayandele writes. wpr.pub/3VVOITg

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defied the polls to win a record-setting fourth term on Sunday. Having proven himself a brilliant campaigner, he will now find governing harder than ever, columnist James Bosworth (@bloggingsbyboz) writes. wpr.pub/4yEXHpe