Our deeply reported profile of Larry Fink, the chief executive of BlackRock, a giant fund manager, examines a man who set himself up as the cheerleader for environmentally friendly investing in America but attracted the ire of the Republican right. As our cover leader this week argues, businesses are increasingly caught up in the battles of politicians. Quarrels between America and China have led to sanctions for chipmakers, including Micron and Nvidia, and social-media firms, such as TikTok. Once-staid carmakers now find their investments in the spotlight. And everyone from bankers to brewers has been ensnared in America’s toxic culture wars.
Elsewhere in the issue, we follow the money stolen in the greatest bank heist ever—$2.5bn nicked in broad daylight from an Iraqi state-owned bank. Our correspondents travel to the jungles of Myanmar to meet the country’s Gen Z rebels, and to Ukraine to learn how a non-existent navy sank Russia’s flagship. And we ponder the great matter of what will happen when the Dalai Lama dies.
