The Economist Magazine Cover For 02-15/2025

The Economist Read in browser February 15th 2025 How we chose this week’s image SUBSCRIBER ONLY Cover Story How we chose this week’s image Insert a clear and simple description of the image Edward Carr Deputy editor We had two covers this week. In America and Asia, as Donald Trump and Elon Musk prepare to take on the Pentagon, we weigh up whether DOGE will reform it or wreck it. In our British and European editions, we feature an interview with Friedrich Merz, who is the clear front-runner to become Germany’s next chancellor. America’s armed forces face a real problem. Not since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik and built huge tank formations at the height of the cold war have America’s military vulnerabilities been so glaring. In the killing fields of Ukraine the United States is being out-innovated by drone designers; in the seas and skies off China’s coast it is losing its ability to deter a blockade or invasion of Taiwan. Our task on the cover was to get across the importance of reform as well as the risks that it descends into chaos or corruption. We start with the latest in our attempts to depict Mr Trump by showing ever smaller parts of his body. A hand will do—though the Pentagon has been reduced to a tiny steel nut. However, although Mr Trump is the immediate reason to write about the Pentagon, we wanted to get across the fact that our coverage is broader than that. Our main focus is the technological, industrial and bureaucratic weakness of America’s defence establishment. That led us to a second, more promising, idea of the Pentagon and the drones. This design doesn’t quite work—we weren’t sure whether this swarm was emerging from the DoD or (more appropriately) attacking it—but, as you will see, it figured in our final cover. The Economist Here we have the Pentagon implanted in a circuit board, in a misty, atmospheric sketch—with a hint of the film “Blade Runner”—and a crystal-clear worked-up final cover. America struggles to turn technology into a military advantage. The drones over Ukraine are upgraded every few weeks, a pace that is beyond the Pentagon’s budgeting process, which takes years. American and European jammers in electronic warfare cost two or three times as much as Ukrainian ones, but are obsolete. The good news is that a new generation of mil-tech firms, including Anduril, Palantir and Shield AI, is banging on the Pentagon’s doors. Indeed, Palantir is now worth more than any of the five big prime contractors, such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Again, however, the Pentagon in this treatment is awfully small. And, although the focus on its problems with technology is justified, they are just symptoms of a deeper malaise. This took us in a different direction. We have the drones, we have DOGE battling the bureaucracy and we have a truly massive Pentagon somewhere in deep space—less “Blade Runner” than “Star Wars”. The space connection makes sense, because NASA shows how to introduce competition, risk-taking and innovation into a procurement system dominated by incumbents. In the 2010s, to escape the ignominy of paying for rides to the International Space Station on Russian spacecraft, NASA put fixed-price contracts out to tender. Boeing offered Starliner; Mr Musk’s SpaceX offered Crew Dragon at a much lower cost. Crew Dragon has been a huge success. Starliner has yet to fly a successful mission. We liked this idea and asked for it to be worked up into a cover. This was almost there. We needed a bit more going on, so we added some drones and explosions and brightened up the background nebulae. We called this the battle for the Pentagon. Mr Trump and his insurgents will be taking on pork-barrelling politicians, as well as the bureaucracy. They guard their control over defence spending so jealously that, without congressional permission, the Pentagon cannot as a rule shift more than $15m from one line to another—too little to buy even four Patriot missiles. And yet it could all go very wrong. If Mr Trump prefers sacking generals for supposedly being “woke” or disloyal, he will bring dysfunction upon the Pentagon. If Mr Musk and his mil-tech brethren use DOGE’s campaign to wreck, or to boost their own power and wealth, they will corrupt it. Their work could not be more important, or more risky. We also published our interview with Friedrich Merz, the Christian Democrat from North Rhine-Westphalia who, after elections later this month, looks very likely to become Germany’s next chancellor. Outside Germany, the beanpole from Brilon is an unfamiliar figure, so we decided to use a photograph from the interview. Mr Merz has a difficult task ahead of him. Germany has been in recession for the past two years. Unhappiness at migration has led to a surge in support for the xenophobic right, fragmenting politics and causing paralysis in government. For years Germany has relied on importing cheap gas from Russia, selling expensive exports to China and outsourcing its security to America. That business model lies in ruins. Here are two standard shots. In our interview Mr Merz came across as confident, intelligent and remarkably calm considering the stakes. His instincts lie in the right direction. He understands the concerns of business and promises a crusade against red tape. He believes in free markets, free trade and the Atlantic alliance. He knows that fixing immigration is crucial to weakening the appeal of Germany’s hard-right party, the Alternative for Germany. These would make fine covers, but they are a bit dull. We wanted to get close up. The frown tells a more accurate story than Mr Merz’s optimistic gaze into the middle distance. Our worry about the next chancellor is that Mr Merz favours what sounds like incremental change over the radical shake-up that Germany and Europe need. He behaves as if the hard part will be to get elected. Yet governing will be much harder. To command his coalition and to carry through difficult reforms in a time of turmoil, he will need a mandate for sweeping change. To capture that tension we zoomed right in on Mr Merz, who is looking straight into the camera. Some Germans may see this as a harsh portrait. In fact it dramatises the man and the hard road that lies ahead of him. Cover image • View large image (“Battle for the Pentagon”) • View large image (“Can Friedrich Merz save Germany?”) Related stories → Will Donald Trump and Elon Musk wreck or reform the Pentagon? (Leader)