Fury in America, Fear in Afghanistan: Weekend Reads

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The U.S. completed its military withdrawal from Afghanistan, returning the country to Taliban rule and an uncertain future two decades after the group was ousted. NATO warned militants could join refugees fleeing the country, adding to security threats for neighboring countries, Europe and the U.S.  President Joe Biden said the Supreme Court perpetrated an "assault" on women's rights by allowing harsh new Texas abortion restrictions to take effect. The curbs are at odds with Supreme Court precedents that protect abortion rights until much later in pregnancy, and raise new questions about the durability of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. Biden also pressed insurers to cover damage from Hurricane Ida. The storm is testing the administration's ability to assist tens of thousands of people in a path of destruction stretching from the Gulf Coast to the New York City region, which suffered catastrophic flooding. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will resign after failing to control the country's coronavirus surge, with two former foreign ministers seen as leading the pack to replace him. A key challenge for the next leader will be managing rising tensions with China, especially over Taiwan. Finally, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a busy week, in the public eye for five days in a row to give speeches and approve policy closely tied to his drive to revamp the world's second-largest economy.  We hope you enjoy these and more of Bloomberg's best political stories in this edition of Weekend Reads. — Rosalind Mathieson A vendor sells Taliban flags along the roadside in Kabul on Thursday. Photographer: Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images Click here for this week's most compelling political images and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.

Abortion Bans Risk Alienating Suburban Voters Republicans Need The Texas law will complicate Republican efforts to stem their losses among college-educated suburban voters. Ryan Teague Beckwith explains how it might play into the 2022 midterm elections. America's strictest abortion law could undermine the appeal of Texas for both companies and workers. Read how the law turns the public into enforcers. A protester dressed as a handmaiden outside the Texas state capitol. Photographer: Sergio Flores/Getty Images North America Chinese Firms Rush to Embrace 'Common Prosperity' Slogan Scores of listed Chinese companies have name-checked Xi's "common prosperity" drive in earnings reports, as the private sector seeks to align itself with his push to reduce wealth inequality. Xi's campaign has sent shock waves through the economy, triggering market sell-offs and a flood of charitable giving among billionaires. To understand what Xi envisions, look to the pilot program underway in the wealthy province that is home to Alibaba Group.  Click here for the inside story of the bailout that rocked China's financial elite. Rich Americans Already Have a Plan to Escape Biden's Tax Hikes Wealthy Americans are scrambling for places to hide from plans by Democrats to hike their taxes. As Ben Steverman writes, many on Wall Street think they've found just the thing. Whether it's fruit pickers, slaughterhouse workers, truckers, warehouse operators, chefs or waiters, the global food ecosystem is buckling due to a shortage of staff. Supplies are getting hit and some employers are forced to raise wages at a double-digit pace, which is threatening to push food prices even higher. LGBTQ Governor Who Backed Bolsonaro Wants Brazil's Top Job The presidential hopeful favored by investors in what's shaping up to be a divisive and brutal election campaign in Brazil is the 36-year-old governor of a conservative state who just came out as LGBTQ. Simone Preissler Iglesias looks at the prospects for Eduardo Leite. Merkel slapped down efforts by Finance Minister Olaf Scholz to project himself as her heir ahead of Germany's Sept. 26 election. Scholz has engineered an unlikely poll surge for his Social Democratic party to become the favorite for chancellor as Merkel's Christian Democrat-led bloc founders. Calls for Covid Probe Plunged Australia Into a Hacking Nightmare Days after Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an independent  international probe into the origins of the coronavirus, Chinese bots swarmed Australian government networks. Jamie Tarabay unpicks the massive and noisy attack that made little effort to hide the bots' presence. In 2015, Turkey became a kind of human superhighway for refugees fleeing to Europe from Syria and elsewhere, a migration of at least 1.3 million people that had a seismic impact on the politics of the European Union. Many of the bloc's leaders now fear a repeat, yet as Marc Champion, Firat Kozok and Golnar Motevalli lay out, it is far more difficult for desperate Afghans to reach Europe than six years ago. Rich Countries Hog Vaccines. Is There a Solution? Wealthy countries have hogged Covid-19 vaccines, a glaring illustration of how unfair the world can be. Now, health advocates worry the imbalance will be aggravated by plans in wealthy countries to provide booster shots to fully inoculated people to combat the super-contagious delta variant. A free taco voucher for receiving a Covid-19 shot. Photographer: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Iimages Europe's Most Bitter Political Rivalry Spills Over to the U.S. Politics is defined by rivalries, but rarely do they come as bitter as the one between the most powerful man in Poland and his nemesis. Wojciech Moskwa and Dorota Bartyzel explain how the return of former Prime Minister Donald Tusk has reignited an enmity that's deeply personal. A dystopia for opponents of vaccine requirements is a reality in Saudi Arabia, which now has some of the strictest immunization rules in the world. But its experience also shows the limits of policies that exclude the unvaccinated from offices, schools and public places; even in an absolute monarchy that criminalizes dissent, implementation hasn't been easy.  Trudeau's Would-Be Successor Makes Gains On Tax, Housing  Erin O'Toole is the one person standing in the way of a third term as Canada's prime minister for Justin Trudeau. Kait Bolongaro explains how the Conservative Party leader is pitching himself as a safe alternative, with a low-key style and no-nonsense plan to rev up economic growth.  And finally…The misery of Haiti, facing natural disaster on top of political crisis, has been amply documented. But to grasp the challenge, look in the once-teeming neighborhood of Martissant, now hollowed-out, abandoned and covered in gray dust. As Jim Wyss writes, it's a choke point in the hands of gangs who've driven thousands from their homes, closed a major hospital, shut fuel distribution routes and barred farmers from markets.  The Martissant neighborhood, south of Port-au-Prince. Photographer: Jonathan Alpeyrie/Bloomberg

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