In The News

China Could Cut US Debt Holdings: SCMP

Karen Yeung May 7, 2020
As tensions between the United States and China rise, analysts point out that China could reduce its holdings of US treasury securities. The United States borrows heavily to pay for its Covid-19 response, and the administration blames China for the pandemic. News reports suggest that some US officials have questioned if the $1 trillion in debt owed to China could be cancelled. Such an extreme...

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...

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...

Hate Goes Viral in India: Diplomat

Siddharthya Roy May 5, 2020
Questions emerge over India’s Covid-19 response with displaced migrant workers, food shortages and low testing rates. Analysts also continue to criticize the Indian government’s abrupt lockdown imposed with four hours’ notice. “Mandating social distancing in a country where cities have high population densities, and also announcing a complete shutdown of transportation necessary for people to...

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...

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...