When the founders’ long-term orientation and instincts align with what the business genuinely needs, structural coupling is a durable competitive asset. When they diverge, for instance when the founders’ personal horizon shortens as retirement approaches, or when their risk tolerance no longer matches the company’s strategic requirements, this same coupling becomes a constraint. The business continues to behave according to values that are no longer adequate. This is why succession is not primarily an ownership or governance problem, as you framed it. It is a structural one. The question is not only who takes the chair, but whether the decisions embedded through decades of founders’ influence can be made conscious, examined and where necessary revised. Otherwise the next generation inherits not only the business but its invisible architecture. Jean BettingenPartnerBettingen, Dahl & PartnersLuxembourg City The statue in Cambodia honouring a mine-detecting rat is not the only tribute in the world to a life-saving rodent (“Putting the rat in commemoration”, April 11th). In Novosibirsk, Russia, stands the Monument to the Laboratory Mouse. The lab mouse has helped save and improve more lives than we will ever know. What I find particularly inspiring about this little creature is that it has done this without any fanfare or much acknowledgment. I keep a 3D-printed replica of the monument on my desk. Sid EfromovichChief executiveRegeneration GroupMillburn, New Jersey Anduril and Palantir, two of the AI defence companies mentioned in your report on how America is changing the way it wages war, have taken their names from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” (“Shooting to prominence”, April 25th). Other firms somewhat related to defence or critical minerals, such as Durin, Mithril, Valinor and Valar, are also named after elements of Tolkien’s fantasy universe. One would think that the Pentagon’s speechwriters would feel inspired to channel more Tolkien. One line from “The Two Towers” comes to mind. “I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”
Alex BrechtAlexandria, Virginia This article was downloaded by zlibrary from https://www.economist.com//letters/2026/05/14/can-gwadar-port-compete-with-the- port-at-jebel-ali
How Israeli terror begets Palestinian terror Settler violence in the West Bank undermines Israel’s security, its moral fabric and its global standing, argues Nimrod Novik May 14th 2026 IN BIOLOGY CLASS we were taught that evolution takes generations. A genetic mutation, by contrast, can occur within a single generation. Last week, during a tour of the West Bank, I witnessed such a mutation taking shape. I saw a young Palestinian man—for his and his family’s security, let us call him Ali—who had never concerned himself with politics, never joined any organisation, never demonstrated for national rights, never held a weapon. I saw a man wholly focused on earning a living and providing for his family, now on the verge of becoming a fighter, perhaps even a shahid (martyr).
Even though nothing in his words or conduct betrayed any intention on his part to change course, hearing him speak—quietly, chillingly calm—and seeing the helplessness, I could not but fear for the next chapter of his life. During the visit I met others too. It is quite possible that some of what I attribute to Ali, I heard from them. However, Ali is merely a parable for what is unfolding a 40-minute drive from home. He is a young man in his late twenties, tall, athletic-looking, with a direct gaze and neither arrogance nor submissiveness. Someone who’s straightforward, who doesn’t beat around the bush—what we Israelis call tachles. The moment he opened his mouth, it became clear to me that he was also articulate, intelligent and sober-minded. He was born ten months after his 13-year-old brother was shot and killed by our forces. Ali was named after him. The family lives on a plot of land they have owned for generations and makes—or, more precisely, made—its living from herding sheep. There is no more precise Hebrew expression for their home and surroundings than kivsat ha-rash—a poor man’s only lamb. It is half ruin, half tent, surrounded by ageing, dilapidated equipment. Electricity and water arrive—or rather, arrived—through improvised piping. And yet, until recently, they clung to their land without complaining about their bitter fate. Then, a few months ago, the Israeli arrived. Equipped with a gleaming caravan and an SUV (a gift from Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and the state budget), he raised a proud blue-and-white flag, established an “outpost” or “farm” just dozens of metres from Ali’s house, and settled himself like a hand on their throat. From then on, the armed “Lord of the Land” has made Ali’s family’s lives miserable in every possible way. This has included interference with water and electricity supply; theft of sheep and property; routine incursions—day and night—into their cramped living space, terrifying the women and children; demands to dismantle every “illegal” structure (in areas where Palestinians are never granted permits, whereas Israelis who violate the same law, like the neighbouring Lord of the
Land, face no enforcement). It often includes terrifying “friendly advice” to vacate the area and move on “or else”. The family’s fear of this man, backed by armed Israeli representatives of law and order, is paralysing. Every provocation is met with politeness lest it escalates into violence and arrest, as happened recently to Ali’s younger brother, who dared ask why he had to dismantle a shed he had built in his own yard. The West Bank tour, one of many initiated by Major General (Res.) Mendi Or, a former Israel Defence Forces (IDF) regional commander, was made up of a group of former senior officials from Israel’s security and diplomatic establishments. Having devoted the best years of our lives to defending the state, we remain informed, connected and active in various frameworks, including Commanders for Israel’s Security (CIS), a movement of more than 550 retired senior military, security-agency and foreign-service figures with which I am affiliated. We were exposed to a single surprising finding: everything we thought we knew about the deeds of violent settlers pales in comparison with the reality on the ground. One cannot fully grasp the meaning, scope and damage of Jewish terror without seeing and hearing about it first-hand. Even before these tours, CIS had warned all those responsible—within the government, the Knesset (parliament), the IDF and the Shin Bet internal- security agency—of the dangers of allowing or encouraging violence by Jewish settlers in their push to expand settlements and control land far beyond them. Hundreds of West Bank Palestinians have died at the hands of settlers or Israeli soldiers since Hamas’s attacks on October 7th 2023; thousands have been displaced. The violence has escalated further since Israel and America went to war with Iran in February. Failure to heed these warnings has helped create a Wild West Bank of terror, pogroms, looting and murder. These crimes are not just personal tragedies for those directly affected. They undermine the security of the Israeli state, its moral fabric and its international standing. I have no way of predicting when something inside Ali will snap, when he will pick up a weapon, or whether he will join Hamas or act alone. I do not
know whether he will murder the neighbouring Lord of the Land or a random victim. Only one thing seems plausible to me: the day after something inside him bursts, the settler-trespassers and their enablers will declare, “We told you so. They are all terrorists.” They will then mobilise for their distorted “Zionist response” and emplace an Eternal Lord of the Land on the soil of the shahid they created. And the cycle of terror and subjugation will grind on until the explosion of violence. ■ Nimrod Novik, a former senior adviser to the late Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres, is a distinguished fellow with the Israel Policy Forum, a member of the leadership of Commanders for Israel’s Security and a fellow with the Economic Co-operation Foundation. This article was downloaded by zlibrary from https://www.economist.com//by-invitation/2026/05/12/how-israeli-terror-begets- palestinian-terror
Indonesia’s president is jeopardising the economy and democracy Prabowo Subianto is too spendthrift and too authoritarian May 14th 2026 From time to time Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia’s president, evinces magnanimity towards his critics. “Am I really an authoritarian?” he asked last year. “I don’t think so…Criticism is good. [We] must not be driven by anger or resentment.” At other times a harsher side emerges. “Foreign powers”, he fumed last June, “fund NGOs to sow discord among us. They claim to be upholders of democracy, human rights, freedom of the press, when in fact, those are their own versions.” For a thuggish general who has refashioned himself as a cat-cuddling grandpa, a little ambiguity is inevitable. But Mr Prabowo’s temperament is so mercurial that even his allies fear for Indonesia’s macroeconomic stability and for its democracy.