The Wall, populists and a giant wave of protests: Weekend Reads

[Balance of Power]( From [Bloomberg Politics]( [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( [SUBSCRIBE [Subscribe]](  Thirty years ago today the Berlin Wall came down, but the battle that led to its fall is not yet over — the East still trails the West as the struggle between populism and globalization rages across the world. Two of those populist leaders — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. President Donald Trump — are facing a hastily called general election and a rancorous impeachment inquiry, while protesters are on the streets from Latin America to Asia and the Middle East. Dig deeper into these and other topics in the latest edition of Weekend Reads. — [Ruth Pollard]( The Berlin Wall on Nov. 11, 1989. Wages are still about 20% lower in the East than the West and the post-reunification exodus has left behind a rapidly ageing society. [Click here]( for more of Bloomberg’s most compelling political images from the past week. Photographer: Boston Globe/Boston Globe [Battle for East Germany Still Rages 30 Years After Berlin Wall]( To most outsiders, German reunification was a historic success — the communist guards who opened the gates to the West 30 years ago today were helping to end the Cold War and spread democracy. But as [Chris Reiter]( reports, to those pitched into the reality of overnight capitalism, it was brutal. [Boris Johnson’s Conservatives Fight for Survival in Scotland]( The party made Scottish gains under Theresa May. Now her successor, Boris Johnson, risks losing them all as the political pendulum swings back again, and the Conservatives are once more fighting for their political survival in Scotland, as [Alex Morales]( and [Greg Ritchie]( write. [Spain’s Long-Dead Dictator Lives Again in an Impossible Election]( After Francisco Franco fell in 1975, Spain raced to catch up with the rest of Europe — and broke its political system in the process, [Ben Sills]( reports. Tomorrow, disenchanted voters head back to the polls for the fourth time in as many years hoping for an end to the deadlock. [Trump’s Top Aides Clash Over Impeachment as House Probe Expands]( Two of Donald Trump’s most senior aides are clashing over who should direct the president’s response to the House impeachment inquiry. The animosity threatens to further muddle Trump’s defense as the White House struggles to respond to a torrent of revelations, [Saleha Mohsin]( and [Jordan Fabian]( write. More than 11,000 experts from around the world are calling for a [critical addition]( to the main strategy of dumping fossil fuels for renewable energy: There needs to be far fewer humans on the planet. [Click here]( to read about another environmental crisis — the deadly haze blanketing north India as well as the unprecedented [bushfires burning]( across Australia. [America’s Biggest Problems Are Intensified in California]( More nation-state than U.S. state, California is a land of superlatives: the most populous, the most prosperous, home to the most companies in the S&P 500, the fifth-largest economy in the world. It also amplifies America’s own anxieties about setbacks, writes [Esmé E Deprez](. [Most Shocking Revolution of 1989 Still Casts a Shadow on Europe]( On the surface, Romania is thriving. Along with 10 other former communist states, it’s firmly ensconced in the European Union, with new factories, roads and airports to show for its dozen years of membership. But the nation also has one of the region’s widest gaps between rich and poor, [Rodney Jefferson]( and [Andra Timu]( report. Demonstrators outside the Ministry of Interior in Beirut yesterday. Lebanon received some of the [starkest warnings]( yet that a default and a deeper recession are increasingly a possibility as protesters intensify the pressure on government officials. Photographer: Patrick Baz/AFP [The World’s Protesters Want to Soak the Rich, But That’s Not All]( Sharp economic divisions are fueling a global wave of unrest — but that’s just one of the grievances driving people onto the streets, [Ben Holland]( writes. Latin America’s yawning wealth gap helps explain its protests, while in the Middle East, anger is directed at political systems shielding elites from change. [India’s Top Court Hands Bitterly Disputed Ayodhya Site to Hindus]( The Supreme Court in India today handed Hindus ownership of a disputed plot of land in the city of Ayodhya for construction of a temple, an order that may deepen religious polarization in the South Asian nation, [Upmanyu Trivedi]( and [Bibhudatta Pradhan]( report. The site of the 16th century mosque razed by Hindu mobs in 1992 is at the heart of the country’s most politically divisive row. [Ramaphosa’s Challenge May Be Bigger Than That Faced by Mandela]( When Nelson Mandela came to power in 1994, he faced the challenge of uniting a nation divided by apartheid and healing a shattered economy. A quarter of a century later, his one-time protege Cyril Ramaphosa faces even bigger obstacles, [Antony Sguazzin]( and [Rene Vollgraaff]( report. [A 35-Year-Old Woman Steps Up to Revive Angola’s Economy]( In the midst of Angola’s oil boom, Vera Daves de Sousa, then the head of research of a local bank, was a regular guest on TV discussing the economy of Africa’s second-biggest crude producer, [Henrique Almeida]( and [Rene Vollgraaff]( write. Today, she’s facing a more daunting task: the country’s finance minister. [‘Silk City’ Dream Stifled in Only Gulf State Where Voters Matter]( Winter is coming and residents in one of the world’s richest nations are bracing themselves, [Fiona MacDonald]( writes. Weeks of anti-government protests in Iraq and Lebanon foreshadowed rare demonstrations in Kuwait this week against perceived official corruption and mismanagement. [Millions in Hong Kong Have Been Exposed to Tear Gas Since June]( Locals are feeling the effects of long-term tear gas exposure after police fired as many as 6,000 canisters at protesters, in areas home to as much as 88% of Hong Kong’s 7.4 million residents, [Sheridan Prasso]( reports. [And finally]( ... A wave of scandals has brought unwanted attention to South Korea’s squeaky-clean music industry. The wall of virtue collapsed amid a series of allegations related to sex trafficking, date rape, spy-camera recordings, and bribery. As [Matthew Campbell]( and [Sohee Kim]( write, politicians appear to share the desire to clean up K-pop, though they may settle for keeping misbehavior out of the headlines. Feminist groups have condemned the industry’s treatment of women, who are often paid less than male peers and confined to an even narrower physical and behavioral tightrope. Source: Bloomberg   You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Politics newsletter Balance of Power. You can tell your friends to [sign up here](.  [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022