A Soviet super chicken and other stories: Weekend Reads

[Balance of Power]( From [Bloomberg Politics]( [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( [SUBSCRIBE [Subscribe]](  It was all about the U.S. midterms this week – click [here]( to read more on the still-undecided Florida Senate race and [here]( for the latest on other contests that remain too close to call. You’ll find the best of Bloomberg’s coverage on [this special page](. The focus now shifts to a coming wave of investigations by newly empowered House Democrats who’ve vowed to [probe everything]( from cabinet members’ ethics scandals to conflicts of interest involving President Donald Trump’s business empire. In Europe, [WWI]( centenary commemorations are spurring reflection over the international order under threat from nativist, protectionist forces. You’ll find these stories, and others, in this edition of Weekend Reads. - [Caroline Alexander]( Demonstrators outside the White House on Thursday. Click [here]( to read how Jeff Session's ouster as attorney general could endanger the special counsel's Russia election meddling probe. For more photos from our weekly slideshow, Political Focus, click [here](. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg [Trump’s Trade War is Making Russia and China Comrades Again]( The U.S.-China realignment that began with President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to Beijing has been reversed in the most consequential geopolitical shift since the fall of the Berlin Wall, [Marc Champion]( writes. China and Russia are now as close as at any time in their 400 years of shared history. [Even Lobsters Can’t Escape Trump’s Trade War]( To understand the modern global economy, the implications of climate change, and the unintended consequences of the president’s trade wars, you ought to “consider the lobster.” [Shawn Donnan]( shows how Crustacean economics was a textbook study in supply and demand until Chinese buyers lost their appetite. [A Century after WWI, Europe’s Latest Empire Ponders the Future]( A hundred years ago this month, Europe’s imperial powers negotiated an end to the global conflict that ravaged the continent. The map was redrawn and independent states born. Today, the struggle is over its future as a unified entity with shared values rooted in the lessons of two world wars. [Helene Fouquet](, [Wojciech Moskwa]( and [Rodney Jefferson]( look at whether the EU — like the continent’s old empires — will be swept away.  Reenactor soldier/Photographer: Francois Mori/AP [Putin Resurrects the Soviet Super Chicken]( [Stepan Kravchenko](, [Anatoly Medetsky](, and [Evgenia Pismennaya]( explore President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to breath new life into the chicken that kept Russians fed in the dying days of communism. The revamped Smena broiler, first developed by Soviet scientists in 1972, may start market trials next year, a project Russia sees as a safeguard against potential future U.S. sanctions on shipments of the eggs and chicks that eventually become the country’s main source of protein. [Billionaire Partner of Imprisoned Chapo Consolidates Empire]( With Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman on trial in New York on drug-trafficking charges, Justin Villamil profiles his long-time partner — a 70-year-old former poppy-field worker known as “El Mayo,” who's fighting to keep a grip on the world’s largest drug cartel and a fortune that the Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates is at least $3 billion. [You Do the Math: Can May Get Her Brexit Deal Through Parliament?]( Theresa May may be edging closer to a Brexit deal, but she still has to get it past Parliament, where she doesn’t have a majority and her Conservative Party is split. [Robert Hutton]( examines the ways the U.K. prime minister could cobble together the votes.  [A Struggling Spanish Town Pins Hopes on Elon Musk’s Hyperloop]( [Thomas Gualtieri]( reports on a surprising plan from the may of El Puerto de Santa Maria – which has a 27 percent unemployment rate and more than 14,000 retirees in a population of 88,000, and struggled to create jobs beyond tourism and local wineries even before the recession that rocked the country during the early years of this decade. [New Tax Evokes Memories of 2008 Crisis in Zimbabwe]( [Brian Latham]( and [Antony Sguazzin]( tell the fascinating story of how a Cambridge-trained economist's efforts to fix Zimbabwe’s economy have so far just made things worse.  What to watch this weekend: - A march celebrating Poland’s [independence centennial]( tomorrow may give far-right forces new exposure after they drew condemnation for racism at the same event a year ago. The city’s mayor, who’s in opposition to the nationalist government, banned the march, but President Andrzej Duda said he’ll lead a rally at the same time and place. - French WWI centenary commemorations culminate in a [ceremony]( in Paris on Sunday hosted by President Emmanuel Macron and attended by Trump, Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. - While world leaders are in Paris, Russian-backed [separatists in eastern Ukraine]( will hold elections on Sunday to try to legitimize their control of two breakaway regions after four years of fighting that’s killed at least 10,000 people. [And finally …]( Thanksgiving is around the corner and Snoop Dog – erstwhile rapper, entertainer, and co-host of the Emmy-nominated series Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party – has some solid and in some cases brilliant tips, [Kate Krader]( writes, better than what’s in a lot of cookbooks.    There’s a new way to get the latest business news and analysis from Bloomberg: We’re now on WhatsApp. [Sign up here]( to get on-the-ground updates from reporters, breaking markets news, and more.   You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Politics newsletter Balance of Power. You can tell your friends to [sign up here](.  [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022