May 6, 2020

Weekly World News Update

An Uncertain Future; Pandemic Leadership; China Corner; Europe on the Edge; Crises in Africa; Failure in Venezuela; and Daily Dose of History

Quote of the Week " If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what's out there now, [the scientific evidence] is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated." -- Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in a Monday interview with National Geographic discussing the origins of COVID-19.

An Uncertain Future

“ The Day After Tomorrow” Harold James -- Project Syndicate, May 5, 2020     “ The Post-Coronavirus World Is Already Here” Josep Borrell -- European Council on Foreign Relations, April 30, 2020  “ The End of Emerging Markets?” James Crabtree -- Foreign Policy, May 3, 2020  “ Power and the Rise and Fall of Nations” George Friedman -- Geopolitical Futures, May 5, 2020

Pandemic Leadership

“ The Pandemic Has Revealed the Weakness of Strongmen” Helen Lewis -- The Atlantic, May 6, 2020  “ Japan’s Response to COVID-19: A Preliminary Assessment” Glen Fukushima -- Japan Times, May 5, 2020    “ Irresponsible Superpowers Must Cooperate” Amitav Acharya -- YaleGlobal, May 5, 2020

China Corner

“ Global Backlash Builds Against China Over Coronavirus” Steven Erlanger -- New York Times, May 3, 2020  “ China Ramps Up COVID-19 Diplomacy in Mideast” Sabena Siddiqui -- Al-Monitor, May 5, 2020    " ‘Not the World’s Number One’: Chinese Social Media Piles on the U.S.” David Wertime -- Politico, May 4, 2020  “ Will Russia Be the Real Loser in the New U.S.-China Cold War?” Dimitri Simes -- The National Interest, May 2, 2020  “ How Not to Win Friends and Influence People” Jonathan Eyal -- The Strait Times, May 4, 2020

Europe on the Edge

“ A German Court Has Plunged the Eurozone Into Fresh Crisis” Matthew Lynn -- The Spectator, May 5, 2020    “ Coronavirus Lays Waste to British Exceptionalism” Otto English -- Politico, May 5, 2020

Crises in Africa

“ Zimbabwe Was Already on the Verge of Famine. Then the Coronavirus Hit” Andrew Green -- World Politics Review, May 1, 2020    “ Coronavirus Crisis Threatens What Trust South Africans Have Left in Their Government” Mark Gevisser -- The Guardian, May 5, 2020    “ Africa Still Sees Massive Pandemic in Its Future, but Partnership May Lessen Blow” Katherine Walla -- Atlantic Council, April 29, 2020    “ They’re Back: Trillions of Locusts Descend on East Africa in Second Wave” -- Max Bearak and Luis Tato -- The Washington Post, May 5, 2020

Failure in Venezuela

“ A Bay of Pigs-Style Fiasco in Venezuela” Ishaan Tharoor -- The Washington Post, May 6, 2020    “ Venezuela ‘Failed Coup Plot’: What We Know So Far” Al Jazeera, May 6, 2020

Daily Dose of History “ Our Dark Past Is Our Bright Future: How the Kremlin Uses and Abuses History ” Andrei Kolesnikov -- Carnegie Moscow, May 5, 2020