HMBR and Co.

The happiest place on earth will be even jollier on Friday, as celebrations begin at Disneyland for the company’s 100th birthday. Disney’s first century has been a triumph: today the studio rules the worldwide box office, it has more streaming subscriptions than any of its competitors, and its theme parks are once again bustling now lockdowns have been lifted.

But its boardroom is less cheery. Fewer people watch films in the cinema and cable-TV, Disney’s main source of profit, is being replaced by streaming. Plus, despite all those subscribers to its streaming service, Disney is losing more than $1bn a quarter. In November the company fired its chief executive. His replacement, Bob Iger, now faces a challenge from Nelson Peltz, an activist investor who wants a board seat. Mr Iger, who previously ran Disney from 2005 to 2020, has been given two years to steady the ship and find a successor. Disney’s second century is starting with a bumpy ride.

In recent days India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its leader Narendra Modi have provided a textbook example of the Streisand effect. That occurs when attempts to suppress something—in this case a controversial documentary—draw more attention to it. When “The Modi Question”, a BBC production, aired last week, the BJP immediately dismissed it as a “propaganda piece” for its account of the riots that killed more than 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, in Gujarat when Mr Modi was the state’s chief minister in 2002. The Hindu nationalist party then invoked an emergency law to ban the video on the internet.

Twitter and YouTube have complied by taking down videos, but clips continue to proliferate on social-media channels. Activists and students have planned more screenings, even though some have been arrested. Media watchdogs have condemned the BJP’s heavy-handed response, which raises more questions about the commitment to democracy of the party and its leader.

Some old-fashioned politicking is under way at the lavish waterfront Waldorf Astoria hotel in Dana Point, California. On Friday the Republican National Committee will choose its chair, who is responsible for fundraising and party messaging. For the first time since 2013, the race is contested. The incumbent of three two-year terms, Ronna McDaniel, is facing a stiff challenge from Harmeet Dhillon, a conservative lawyer.

Ms McDaniel will probably win. But the contest has emboldened her detractors. Mike Lindell, a conspiracy theory-oriented businessman who is also running, has counted the “failures” of her leadership: the 2018 midterm elections, when Republicans lost the House of Representatives; the 2020 presidential election; the 2022 midterms; and two run-off Senate races. Ms McDaniel’s ties to Donald Trump have alienated Never-Trumpers, while more insurgent types are calling for an organisational overhaul. But at a moment when the word “Republican” frequently precedes “division”, her message—of “unity and certainty”—may prove sufficient to get her over the line.

On Friday Spanish government officials will meet domestic-violence experts to discuss a worrying increase in femicides—murders of women because of their sex. There have been six in January, as well as the killing of an eight-year-old girl, following 11 in December. (Since records began in 2003, the annual average has been 59.) The government is reportedly considering allowing authorities to inform abused women if their partners have previous convictions for violent crimes.

The country has made strides to protect women since 2016, when a court ruled that a woman’s lack of physical resistance to the five men who raped her meant that the crime was not violent and therefore merely “sexual abuse” (the Supreme Court later found the men guilty of rape). In 2020 the country recorded proportionately fewer cases of femicide than several of its neighbours, including France and Germany. And unlike other countries, Spain counts any murder of a woman by a man, where gender is deemed to have played a role, as femicide.

The culture wars are coming to Hulu. In 2019, the New York Times magazine released a controversial set of essays that put slavery and the black American experience at the centre of the country’s founding and development. The 1619 Project divided opinion: it won a Pulitzer prize for commentary in 2020 while being denounced by some historians for factual inaccuracies. Several school districts, such as Chicago, embraced it as a curriculum for pupils; elsewhere whole states, such as Florida, have banned it, favouring more traditional views of American history.

Now the controversy will be streamed in a six-part series produced by Oprah Winfrey and Nikole Hannah-Jones, the project’s creator, among others. Each episode adapts an essay from the collection to show how slavery impacts the present day. So far reviews have been mixed. Some praise it as innovative; others say it falls short of some more original documentaries about the black experience.

Spinning a battle tank around on the spot is referred to by cavalry officers as a “180-degree pivot steer”. Germany is now doing something similar. On Wednesday morning, after days of dithering, Olaf Scholz’s government finally agreed to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks—a company’s worth—to Ukraine. Other countries will also be allowed to send their German-made ones, too. America may also grudgingly be sending about 30 of its M1 Abrams tanks, which could ease Mr Scholz’s angst.

The decision comes not a moment too soon. Western countries are rushing to build up Ukraine’s armoured forces for the next phase of the war, dispatching hundreds of armoured vehicles, including German ones. The omission of heavier main battle tanks—apart from 14 British Challenger 2 tanks—was glaring. The pity is that it took intense friendly fire, at home and abroad, to rattle Mr Scholz’s carapace hard enough to force him into a clanking Panzerwende.

Twelve years ago, when tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo to demand the removal of President Hosni Mubarak, they also chanted for food and freedom. Mr Mubarak resigned, but for many of Egypt’s 104m citizens life has become worse.

Egypt’s economy is in a dire state. With inflation pushing past 20% and the Egyptian pound tumbling to an all-time low against the dollar this month, food has become unaffordable for many. The price of chicken has more than doubled in the past year; eggs have become a luxury. And Egyptians are no closer to freedom. There are 65,000 political prisoners in Egyptian jails, significantly more than under Mr Mubarak. Many are held without trial and in miserable conditions.

Despite growing disillusionment with the government of Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who has been in power since 2014, it is unlikely that protests similar to those in 2011 will break out soon. The cost of living is high, but the cost of dissent remains higher.

Chris Hipkins was sworn in as New Zealand’s prime minister on Wednesday, less than a week after the surprise resignation of Jacinda Ardern. An ally of Ms Ardern, Mr Hipkins is something of a political utility man. Most recently minister of education and police, he has also served as health minister, from where he oversaw New Zealand’s stringent response to covid-19. Mr Hipkins was the only candidate for the premiership nominated by his Labour Party.

Outside party ranks, Mr Hipkins faces a bumpier ride. Labour is trailing the opposition National Party in polls as the cost of living spirals. He says he will tackle the “pandemic of inflation” and make “the tax system fairer”. He may also claw back support by ditching unpopular reforms pushed by Ms Ardern, including an expensive merger between the national television and radio broadcasters. If all that fails, Mr Hipkins’s term could be brief—New Zealand goes to the polls in October.

In November a Dutch court convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian separatist (in absentia) for shooting down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, killing 298 mainly Dutch passengers and crew. On Wednesday the European Court of Human Rights will decide whether it can hear a case charging the Russian state itself with responsibility for the attack. The case, brought by the Netherlands and Ukraine, hinges on whether Russia exercised control over the forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR).

Russia says the separatist mini-state in eastern Ukraine acted alone. That seems less plausible since the separatist states obediently let Russia annex them after invading Ukraine last year. In its November ruling the Dutch court determined that Russia had “overall control” over the DNR, and was thus involved in downing MH17, after hearing evidence such as an intercept of the DNR’s then-prime minister phoning Moscow and asking to speak to “the boss”.