Dear reader,

A few words before you turn the page.

Thank you for opening this issue. Before you turn the page, we wanted to say a few words about what we are trying to do here, and why.

Most of the stories we care about are told from the moment they succeed. We hear about the company, the product or the breakthrough, and very little about what came before it.

We want to begin earlier.

That means looking at the decisions, the people and the slow work that sit behind a headline. It means taking one question at a time and following it patiently, even when the answer turns out to be less tidy than we hoped.

We will write in plain words. We will show where our understanding stops, and we will come back to a story when it changes.

In the pages that follow, we hope to:

• Explain how things were built, not only what was built
• Ask the questions that come before the headline
• Leave you with a clearer way of thinking about the region

Thank you for reading, and for your time. We are glad you are here.

* * *

— The editors

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