In The News

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...

Millions of Farm Animals Culled: Guardian

Sophie Kevany May 5, 2020
As much as 40 percent of food goes wasted in the United States, about 30 percent of which is meat. The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the United States particularly hard, with the world's largest total confirmed cases and high infection rates among food-processing employees. Europe does not report problems, but US factory farming and industry consolidation left little room for error. Shutdowns of...

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...

Proposal to Ban Chinese From STEM Studies? Newsweek

Benjamin Fearnow April 27, 2020
The spread of Covid-19 has put economies on hold, alarming the world, and leaders look for scapegoats. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton has accused China of releasing inaccurate data on confirmed Covid-19 cases, and called it a “scandal” that US colleges and universities train so many Chinese. China is the leading source of international students for US colleges and universities. On a television news...

Depending on Billionaires to Save Us: Vox

Theodore Schleifer April 10, 2020
Inequality has widened as governments rely on tax cuts for the wealthy and delay investment in infrastructure, disaster preparedness, education or other social programs that benefit entire societies. Starved of revenues, many governments fail in their pandemic response. “The US government has repeatedly proven to be sluggish at best and impotent at worst at controlling the carnage of the...

US Energy Independence Is Dying: OilPrice.com

Irina Slav April 8, 2020
As COVID-19 spread worldwide, Saudi Arabia and Russia failed to agree on oil production limits. Russia suggested it would slash production only if the United States did likewise, putting a dagger into any notion of US energy independence. Many US firms reject a deal with OPEC or Russia. Production continues, global oil storage is running out; the US economy remains dependent on fossil fuels and...

Trump Threatens to Withhold Funding for WHO: NYT

Michael D. Shear April 8, 2020
Critics have blasted Donald Trump’s delay in recognizing COVID-19 as a crisis and failing to implement strong public health measures early on. In a press conference, he directed a similar charge against the World Health Organization and raised the threat of withholding US funding from the global group. The US contribution represents about 10 percent of the WHO budget. “They called it wrong,” the...