It’s almost a year to the day since Donald Trump stunned the world by winning the US election, so it seems a fitting moment to restore the president to the Guardian Weekly’s front cover.
However, the charges laid this week against three of Trump’s former campaign aides by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian electoral interference were probably not how the president would have chosen to mark the occasion.
In the run-up to last November’s election, Trump predicted that the FBI’s investigations would trigger “an unprecedented and protracted constitutional crisis” because of “a criminal massive enterprise and cover-ups like probably nobody ever before”.
His assumption then was that the focus would be on his opponent, Hillary Clinton. At what feels like a seismic juncture for the presidency, Guardian US columnist Richard Wolffe considers how Trump’s prediction could turn out to be so right and yet so wrong.
As part of the bigger picture, with Facebook set to face the Senate and House intelligence committees this week regarding Russian-backed content on its platform, there’s a special double bill of Comment where Carole Cadwalladr and Jonathan Freedland delve into the murky web of fake news, conspiracies, connections and distractions. Essential reading.
It was another busy week in Spain, where the government invoked direct control of Catalonia, set fresh election dates and laid rebellion charges against the region’s leaders. Our correspondents bring you the essential news and analysis.
A fascinating and heartbreaking piece from Libya reveals the effect of new EU policies designed to keep Africa’s migrants at arm’s length. On the other side of the world, as Australia’s Manus Island immigration detention centre closes, we look back at the history of the notorious facility.
From Mongolia we hear how looters are plundering the country’s precious archaeological treasures. And on top of all this, we find out how the world’s super-rich individuals are enjoying a new Gilded Age as their combined worth passes $6tn.
The Weekly Review contains a brilliant long read on groundbreaking new research into interrogation, where the limitations of old methods are increasingly revealed. In Culture the Washington Post explains why an American philanthropist plans to launch a museum of Bob Dylan memorabilia in the improbable setting of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
As someone whose local library has recently fallen prey to government budget cuts, I welcomed Lucy Rhiannon Cosslett’s thoughtful and indignant piece on the diminishment of these important institutions. You’ll find this rounding matters off on the back page of this week’s edition.
If you have a view on anything in the Weekly that you wish to share with other readers, please send it here for consideration on our Reply page. Or, if you wish to raise anything with me directly, just email me here. Thank you for reading, and for your subscription to the paper.
If you are a subscriber looking for our digital edition, please click here.
