2025-09-24
22 分钟The Economist.
Hello, and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist.
I’m Rosie Blaw.
And I’m Jason Palmer.
Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.
It can be tough when your big, successful company goes overseas,
and you discover that the brand name that worked well at home means something obscene or just unpronounceable abroad.
Our correspondent tracks the challenges as Chinese firms go out.
And back in Soviet times, a joke about the regime could cross Moscow in a matter of hours.
Our correspondent reviews a long history of how authoritarians deal with comedians.
Some shoot the messenger.
Others just commandeer the audience.
First up, though, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have had a quiet bargain for years.
Saudi Arabia had lots of cash, but little muscle.
Pakistan was poor but had plenty of weapons.
An exchange has long served them both.
But now, the two Islamic countries are taking their relationship to the next level, and on the global stage.
In a joint statement last week,
they declared, any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both.
Such mutual defence pacts are not so uncommon.