In The News

World Health Assembly Excludes Taiwan: Taipei Times

Lee I-chia May 19, 2020
Taiwan demonstrated skill in tackling and controlling the spread of Covid-19 among its population of 23 million. Even so, the World Health Assembly, hesitant to antagonize China, excluded Taiwan from its virtual meeting. Taiwan sent a letter of protest to the World Health Organization Secretariat. “While the focus of this year’s WHA should be on the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan’s performance in...

Covid-19 “Overreaction” a Success in Vietnam: BBC

Anna Jones May 15, 2020
After taking aggressive measures against Covid-19 in early January, Vietnam reported no new cases in more than a month. “Vietnam saw a small window to act early on and used it fully,” reports Anna Jones for BBC News. “But though cost-effective, its intrusive and labour intensive approach has its drawbacks and experts say it may be too late for most other countries to learn from its success.” The...

Failed State or America Stronger? The Atlantic

Kori Schake May 6, 2020
Analysts question US influence and capabilities, as the Covid-19 exposes corruption, a health system struggling with preventive care and other failures. The United States, with 4 percent of the world’s population, represents about 35 percent of Covid-19 confirmed cases and more than 25 percent deaths. “Our democracy doesn’t produce fast, elegant solutions to problems, and it often fails to...

Unprecedented Isolation: El País

Moisés Naím May 6, 2020
Covid-19 confounds humans with its exponential growth and cases doubling in increasingly shorter periods of time, resulting in steep curve. The United States responded swiftly on the economic front, approving more than $2 trillion in stimulus spending. Still, the largest economic stimulus package in history won’t prevent economic recession, job losses, bankruptcies and evictions. All countries...

Tragedy Knocking at Latin America’s Door: Este Pais

Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León May 4, 2020
The health and economic shocks of Covid-19 could surpass any challenge of the previous century for Latin America and the Caribbean. Mixed responses – some swift and efficient with a focus on saving lives; others incompetent and political – could devastate the region. With global economic interdependence or not, governments must contend with errors made by other countries. Too many leaders around...

Governance and Climate Disruption: Mail & Guardian

Sipho Kings May 4, 2020
Climate change is changing communities and their surrounding environment, exacerbating floods, droughts, wildfires, storms and other challenges associated with human interventions. “It has a cruel way of exposing existing failures, which is why good governance is so important in countries preparing for a changing climate,” explains Sipho Kings for the Mail & Guardian. He offers examples: Dams...

Enemies Circling China’s Xi? New Statesman

George Magnus April 24, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic is roiling governments around the globe, even China, despite a propaganda push that maintains China contained the virus with success. After centralizing control, China’s President Xi Jinping can expect to bear responsibility for pandemic-related challenges, including high debt levels, unemployment, an aging population and families hesitant to have more than one child,...