Moscow’s exit from the deal generated alarm in a number of populous lower-income countries dependent on Ukrainian grain.

Saudi Arabia has made unprecedented investments in international sports. Critics accuse the kingdom of “sportswashing” its reputation for human rights abuses.

The Assad regime and Arab capitals will reap the greatest rewards, but ordinary citizens and certain foreign governments involved in Syria’s war have less to gain.

Cuba’s authoritarian regime has failed to avert an economic crisis, repair decaying state institutions, and prevent the country’s largest outflow of migrants since the 1960s.