Cover Story

How we chose this week’s images

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We have two covers this week, on the bonanza in the Gulf and Italy’s next prime minister.

In most of the world we look at how the energy crisis and fresh alliances are making the Gulf more powerful—and more volatile. The region is in the midst of a $3.5trn energy boom, courtesy of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. The Middle East is also adapting to a multipolar world in which America is no longer a reliable guarantor of security. This is reflected in the Abraham accords, signed by Israel and two Arab states in 2020.

The three-humped camel focuses on the growth in the six Gulf states—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. If we had thought humour was the way to go, a whole caravan of camel jokes would have been possible: camels with money-bags as humps, camels spouting oil, party camels with streamers and silly hats.

However the story is about politics as well as growth—and it is not altogether a happy one. Amid wars and uprisings, a million people have died violently in the Middle East. America has cut its military presence there, leaving old allies, including the Gulf states, fearful of a security vacuum filled by Iran and its proxies. The Gulf states are autocracies facing a long-run decline in world demand for fossil fuels, even as they suffer from lower rainfall and higher temperatures because of climate change.

Aladdin’s wish-granting lamp reflects this by neatly combining energy with aspiration. It poses the question of how the Gulf countries will choose to take advantage of their bonanza to deal with their threats.

We thought that the full significance of the lamp might be obscure. Instead, we opted for a series of designs featuring the Dubai skyline—and in particular the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Nothing says success like the thrust of shimmering skyscrapers.

This is the restrained version. It is dawn and Dubai is silhouetted against the morning mist. But you know the day will be hot. And the conversion of the Burj’s needle-sharp spire into a gigantic dollar sign towering over the city promises that money will change hands.

Some of us liked this cover’s hush, but most wanted more excitement.

This is the version for television. The Burj has turned into Thunderbird 1. Across the desert sands, International Rescue’s rocket ship is drowning Dubai in smoke and thunder as it reaches for the stratosphere.

And this is the bling version. It is evening and the setting sun has turned the desert into dunes of gold. No longer comical, the camels now seem left behind. You have the sense that the foundations of this boom are not stable. The Gulf’s autocrats think they have the long-term perspective to make good use of the rents from the energy crisis and from their position as an entrepot between the West and the rest. But they are prone to oppression, cronyism and vanity projects. The going for the Gulf will be erratic—and impossible for the world to ignore.

Our cover in Europe features Georgia Meloni. She is leader of a three-party alliance expected to win more than 60% of the seats in parliament in Italian elections on Sunday. She also makes liberals shudder. Her party, the Brothers of Italy, has its beginnings in neo-fascism. In speeches Ms Meloni hammers away at illegal immigrants and “woke ideology”. Bankers fret that she will tangle with the European Union, go soft on reform and lose control of Italy’s mountainous debt stock, worth $2.7trn, or over 150% of GDP.

We wanted the cover to feature a photograph of Ms Meloni. Hers is a new face too little-known to caricature in an illustration or a collage. But a straight portrait would have been dull. Our cover is not only introducing Italy’s next prime minister, but also passing judgment on her.

We thought about squeezing her head into the Brothers’ party logo. The origins of the tricolour flame are unclear. One story is that it was the insignia of a special unit of the Italian army; another that it represents the eternal fire on the tomb of Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator—though the Brothers deny that version. Unfortunately, it made her look like an elf.

Ms Meloni has worked hard to distance her party from its roots. She has clearly stated that she has no plans to strike down the law that permits abortion, she no longer talks about scrapping the euro and she has committed herself to follow the reform plan drawn up by her predecessors and approved by the European Commission. Insiders say she is trying to find a reassuring banker to serve as her new finance minister and a respected pro-European to be her foreign minister. For the time being, reassurance is Ms Meloni’s mission.

We have tried to reflect our mixed assessment by placing the green panel of the Italian flag behind Ms Meloni’s back and the red panel across her face. We had a choice of photograph: she could be animated or enigmatic. If Italy gets into trouble, nobody knows how Ms Meloni will react. We went for enigmatic.