Avoiding disaster

Follow Us Get the newsletter

A president engulfed by American missteps in a foreign war has to pivot as a major hurricane makes landfall in Louisiana. It's 2005 all over again. Sixteen years after Hurricane Katrina hit near New Orleans, Ida struck with even stronger winds. President Joe Biden has pledged this response will be different. Katrina was catastrophic, causing more than 1,800 deaths and $100 billion in damages, and exposing a bureaucratic gumbo of disparate parish, state, local and federal authorities that don't always work well together at the best of times. Then-president George W. Bush was caught off guard, and the words "Katrina moment" would enter the global lexicon as the definition of failure to lead in times of crisis. Since then, levees have been fortified and raised. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has developed new plans for responding to a direct-hit storm. And the White House looks to have learned the lessons of 2005. Hours after honoring 13 U.S. service members killed in a Kabul terror attack, Biden traveled to FEMA headquarters to inspect preparation efforts, declaring he couldn't remember a time when the federal government and states had coordinated more closely ahead of a natural disaster. Millions of meals and liters of water have been organized, as officials anticipate power could be out in some places for weeks. Hurricanes are perhaps the sternest test of basic government competency. And it may be days before we see the fullness of Ida's wrath. After America's humbling in Afghanistan, Biden's next challenge comes at home. — Derek Wallbank A dumpster tossed by gusting winds in New Orleans yesterday. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg Tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.

Global Headlines

Tense times | With U.S. troops set to wrap up their military and civilian evacuations from Afghanistan by tomorrow, security fears are spiraling in Kabul. The main concerns are focused around the international airport that was already the site of the suicide bombing last week that left 13 U.S. service personnel and at least 169 Afghans dead. The Taliban condemned a U.S. drone strike yesterday that destroyed a vehicle with explosives, saying it killed several Afghans who were members of the same family. Taliban Fateh fighters, a "special forces" unit, stand guard on a street in Kabul. Photographer: Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images Another warning | A commentary picked up by Chinese state-run media describes President Xi Jinping's regulatory crackdown as a "profound revolution" and warns anyone who resists will face punishment. The opinion piece, originally published by a WeChat blogger, comes as Xi's campaign for "common prosperity" intensifies. Online game providers can only offer services to minors for an hour a day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Xinhua reported. China expects skilled worker shortages to worsen as it develops the high tech sector. Alibaba dismissed 10 staffers for publicizing an employee's account of sexual assault allegations against a former manager, as it moves to resolve a case that's rocked China's tech establishment. Out in front | Finance Minister Olaf Scholz underlined his frontrunner status to replace Chancellor Angela Merkel after Germany's Sept. 26 election, coming out top in a three-way debate yesterday and continuing a political turnaround that saw his Social Democrats leap from a distant third place just weeks ago. Several polls show Scholz's party leading Merkel's conservative bloc less than a month before the ballot. The United Arab Emirates will open up tourist visa applications to anyone vaccinated with a Covid-19 shot approved by the World Health Organization, a potential boost to the key tourism sector. Cases have been steadily dropping in the UAE, which has also rolled out one of the fastest vaccination programs in the world.  Firing up | North Korea may have resumed operations at its plutonium-producing Yongbyon nuclear reactor in recent months, the United Nations atomic watchdog said, a move that could help Kim Jong Un's regime add to its stockpile of fissile material. The report may focus attention back on Pyongyang's atomic ambitions at a time when Biden's administration is battling the crisis in Afghanistan. Best of Bloomberg Opinion India's Diplomatic Dead End in Afghanistan: Anjani Trivedi Merkel Turned Back the Clock of German History: Niall Ferguson How the U.S. Can Make Vietnam a Powerful Trade Ally: Noah Smith Dead or alive | Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ratcheted up his rhetoric as he clashes with electoral authorities over unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud and supreme court probes into his behavior. With his popularity at all-time lows, he listed three possible outcomes from next year's elections: He'll win, he'll be arrested, or he'll be killed. What to Watch This Week European Union member states will likely decide today whether to reimpose restrictions on non-essential travel from the U.S. EU home affairs ministers gather in Brussels tomorrow for an emergency session to discuss Afghanistan, followed by a meeting on Wednesday of the bloc's defense ministers. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong pledged to tighten restrictions on foreign workers in a bid to "defuse resentments" among the city-state's local population. Thanks for the nearly 70 responses to our Friday quiz question, and congratulations to Jack Gordon, who was first to correctly name Vietnam as the country where U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delayed a trip to because of concerns about "an anomalous health incident." And finally ... Koo, India's alternative to Twitter, has surged past 10 million users to narrow the gap with the U.S. microblogging site that has clashed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in recent months. As Saritha Rai reports, about 85% of Koo's users, including politicians, cricket stars and Bollywood celebrities, have signed up to it since February when Twitter's disputes with the government escalated. Modi at a memorial service for former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi on Aug. 16. Photographer: T. Narayan/Bloomberg

Like Balance of Power? Get unlimited access to Bloomberg.com, where you'll find trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Balance of Power newsletter. Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022