


Learning to love the cluster bomb
The once-banned weapons are making a comeback to deter Russia
SIX YEARS ago the British Army’s 3rd Division, the country’s flagship fighting force, visited North Carolina for an exercise. It won battles thanks to strikes deep behind enemy lines. But those strikes used munitions that the British Army did not have and was barred, by treaty, from owning. Instead, a US Army corps, firing dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICMs)—commonly known as cluster munitions—“saved the day time and again”, recalled John Mead, then a brigadier. “They were, and are, a game-changer.”
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The ugly task of Putin-proofing your border
Russia’s European neighbours hate landmines. They are installing them anyway

Trump’s red-hot war on terror
The number of strikes against jihadists is rising. Is it 2001 all over again?

The coming struggle to choose the next pope
A conclave of 135 cardinals may pick someone very different from Francis
Plastics are greener than they seem
Even if the world needs to become much better at managing their waste
Xi Jinping’s Trump-sized puzzle
For all its strength and swagger, China is struggling to handle an impulsive America