Analysis & Opinion

Seven hundred pages into the book, I had mixed feelings or perhaps I was a bit too generous with my hope. Obama may no longer be as hampered by politics, but he is certainly haunted by legacy.

Why has Beijing muzzled an already toothless creature? Not because it fears its bite, but to ensure that others fear China’s power. Though Hong Kong’s legislative council offered the region a taste of democracy, its powers have always been extremely limited.

Whatever else emerges from the US’s 2020 election, one thing is clear: it has not delivered a comprehensive repudiation of Donald Trump. The shock of 2016 has not been undone. There is nothing in the result to expiate the humiliation of the last four years, the disgraceful vulgarity and illegality.

With U.S.-China relations at a decades-long nadir, it was fitting that Xi threw down the gauntlet on the anniversary of one of the only times the People’s Liberation Army and U.S. troops have faced off on the battlefield—a conflict still known in China as the “War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.”

In the United States, where hundreds of Black people fall victim to police brutality each year, very few police officers are ever prosecuted or convicted for the violence they inflict on the communities and individuals they are supposed to protect.

Mr Obama - the first black president and husband of Michelle Obama - said the book would "try to provide an honest account of my presidency".