Racism in the Arab World: An Open Secret

A Weekly Political News Magazine

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Issue 1804- June - 12/06/2020

“ Travelling During the Pandemic Age “

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Editorial

A Weekly Political News Magazine

As people around the world have adjusted to life under quarantine, many have started new hobbies, or picked up new routines. Some have come to appreciate the fact that they no longer have to undertake long journeys to and from work, while others have grown tired of being forced to stay in doors all day. This week’s cover story is a diary, which Bryn Haworth has been keeping. The diary starts on December 2019, three months before lockdown as he highlights how the new Brexit Britain has been adapting to its new role in the world. The diary then goes into life during lockdown as the writer highlights how he has been reacting to the news around him, his new daily routines and how both society and the government have had to adapt to this new reality.

The murder of George Floyd in the US has sparked multiple protests across the globe, as the incident has highlighted the injustices and discrimination that black people around the world face everyday. One region that has a problem of covert racism towards blacks and dark-skinned people is the Middle East. This week’s second cover story by Yasmine El-Geressi focuses on this discrimination as she asks sociology and race history experts in the Middle East and beyond on examples of such latent racism and what can be done to address it.

As Joe Biden secured the delegates needed to become the Democratic nominee, Joseph Braude writes on the foreign policy stances of the senator. His voting record shows a mixed bag of policies, for instance while he voted against the Gulf War in 1990, he voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Furthermore, the writer notes two main takeaways from his expected policy positions, namely a confrontational stance against China, and a softer stance on Iran since he called for a return to pre-Trump “normal” relations with Iran, implying a return to the JCPOA agreement.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have all suffered economically on two fronts: the slashing of global oil prices, and the coronavirus pandemic.

Now as the world emerges out lockdowns, governments and businesses in the GCC will look to kick-start their economies. Yasmine El-Geressi interviews Scott Livermore, Chief Economist of Oxford Economics Middle East and Managing Director of Consultancy in the Middle East and Asia, and Jonathan Fulton, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Zayed University, in Abu Dhabi as they reflect on the recent challenges that have impacted the economies of the GCC and what those countries can do to recover their losses.

Many countries around the world rely on tourism for their economic wellbeing.

As such, since flights have been suspended during the coronavirus pandemic, many of said countries have suffered great losses. Nevertheless, as some nations are now emerging out of lockdown, many famous tourist destinations are now taking new measures to encourage travellers to come and visit. Ali El Shamy writes on how countries like Italy, Egypt and Greece are trying to attract tourists and how travelling might look like during the coming months.

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A Weekly Political News Magazine

24 How to Keep the United States in the WHO

Issue 1804- June - 12/06/2020

32 Exceptionalism Is Killing Americans

22 Imagining a Biden Foreign Policy

28 Surviving the Economic Shockwaves: The Im-

pact of COVID - 19 and Oil Prices on the Gulf

38 The World Is Watching

Matt Hancock: The Young Health Secretary Who Found 46 Himself Amidst Modern Britain’s Worst Health Crisis 3

12/06/20

on Pounds During COVID-19 52 Packing and How to Turn it Around

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Hospital patient Isidre Correa is taken to the seaside by intensive health care staff outside the Hospital del Mar on June 03, 2020 in Barcelona, Spain. - Getty

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The Compton Cowboys raise their fists in the air during a ‚peace ride› for George Floyd on June 7, 2020 in Compton, California. This is the 13th day of protests since George Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.

- Getty

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eekly news

Turkey Dismisses Egyptian Proposal for Libya Ceasefire Turkey on Wednesday dismissed Egypt’s proposal for a ceasefire in Libya, saying the plan aimed to save Khalifa Haftar after the collapse of his offensive to control the capital Tripoli, Hurriyet newspaper reported. Turkey supports Fayez al Serraj’s internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), whose forces have in recent weeks repelled a 14-month assault on Tripoli by Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia. Egypt called for a ceasefire starting on Monday, as part of an initiative which also proposed an elected leadership council for Libya. Russia and the UAE welcomed the plan, while Germany said U.N.-backed talks were key to the peace process.

However, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu dismissed the proposal as an attempt to save Haftar following the losses he suffered on the battlefield. “The ceasefire effort in Cairo was stillborn.

on Saturday to voice outrage over the government’s handling of a deep economic crisis, with security forces firing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse rock-throwing demonstrators. The first big protests since the government rolled back coronavirus lockdown measures come as Beirut negotiates an International Monetary Fund package it hopes will secure billions of dollars in financing to prop up its collapsing economy. Protesters burned garbage bins and ransacked a furniture shop in the capital’s upscale shopping district, smashing its storefront and hauling out a couch to block a road. Security forces responded by firing rounds of tear gas, footage from Lebanese broadcasters showed. Sectarian tensions appeared to flare even as the protests died down, If a ceasefire is to be signed, it should be done at a platform that brings everyone together,” Cavusoglu told Hurriyet. “The ceasefire call to save Haftar does not seem sincere or believable to us.”

Palestine Says it Will Declare Statehood if Israel Annexes West Bank Palestine will declare statehood over all of the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital, and push for global recognition if Israel goes ahead with plans to annex land it occupies, the Palestinian prime minister has said. Mohammad Shtayyeh described the possible step pledged by the Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, as an “existential threat” to a decades-long international effort for Israelis and Palestinians to reach an agreement that establishes two states side by side. He said Palestine would not continue to wait on statehood just to honour previous agreements made with Israel if it broke them by annexing territory. “It takes two to tango.” Shtayyeh said he was leading a concerted push to gather diplomatic pressure against Israel and wanted world powers to threaten sanctions on Netanyahu’s government so that “Israel does not get away with murder”. Palestinian leaders have declared statehood in the past, including Yasser Arafat in 1988. In 2012, Palestine gained UN observer state status. However, with the Palestinian territories remaining occupied

by Israel, and in the absence of an agreement, there has not been full international recognition.

Hundreds of Lebanese Join Anti-Government Protests as Lockdown Eased Hundreds of Lebanese protesters took to the streets

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with gunfire heard in some Beirut neighbourhoods and a tense standoff in a Christian-Shi’ite area associated with the start of the country’s 1975-1990 civil war, prompting security forces to deploy in large numbers, according to Lebanese media.

Iran Urges Russia, China to Resist U.S. Push to Extend Arms Embargo Iran on Wednesday called on Russia and China to resist a push by Washington to extend a U.N.-imposed arms embargo due to expire in October under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six powers. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has been taking a harder line with the United Nations to extend and strengthen the embargo on Iran, warning that its lifting would let Tehran acquire weapons that could fuel conflicts in the Middle East. Council veto-powers Russia and China have already signalled they are against re-imposing an arms embargo on Iran. If the U.N. Security Council does not extend the embargo, Washington has threatened to trigger a so-called snapback of all U.N. sanctions on Iran, including the arms embargo, using a process outlined

in the nuclear deal. However, Russia and China, both parties to the deal, have already started making the case at the United Nations against Washington’s claim that it can trigger a return of all sanctions on Iran at the Security Council.

with second-degree murder and three other officers with aiding and abetting Floyd’s May 25 death. All were dismissed from the department a day after the incident. Floyd’s dying words have become a rallying cry for hundreds of thousands of protesters around the globe who have since taken to the streets, undaunted by the coronavirus pandemic, demanding justice for Floyd and an end to mistreatment of minorities by U.S. law enforcement.

George Floyd Hailed as ‘Cornerstone of a Movement’ at Funeral; Family Calls for Justice George Floyd, a black man whose death under the knee of a white police officer roused worldwide protests against racial injustice, was memorialized at his funeral on Tuesday as “an ordinary brother” transformed by fate into the “cornerstone of a movement.” During a four-hour service broadcast live on every major U.S. television network from a church in Floyd’s boyhood home of Houston, family members, clergy and politicians exhorted Americans to turn grief and outrage at his death into a moment of reckoning for the nation.

The funeral followed two weeks of protests ignited by graphic video footage of Floyd, 46, handcuffed and lying face down on a Minneapolis street while an officer kneels into the back of his neck for nearly nine minutes. The video shows Floyd gasping for air as he cries out, “Mama,” and groans, “Please, I can’t breathe,” before falling silent and still. The officer, Derek Chauvin, 44, has since been charged

distancing rules still in place across much of the world. “While the job is not done, there is no denying this is a milestone ... Thank you, New Zealand,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a news conference, saying she had danced for joy at the news. “We are confident we have eliminated transmission of the virus in New Zealand for now, but elimination is not a point in time, it is a sustained effort.” New Zealand’s 5 million people are emerging from the pandemic while big economies such as Brazil, Britain, India and the United States continue to grapple with spread of the virus. Its 75 days of restrictions included about seven weeks of a strict lockdown in which most businesses were shut and everyone except essential workers had to stay home.

Potential COVID-19 vaccine from China shows promise in animal tests A potential COVID-19 vaccine being developed

by Chinese researchers showed promise in trials in monkeys, triggering antibodies and raising no safety

New Zealand Drops Covid-19 Restrictions After Nation Declared ’‘Virus-Free New Zealand lifted all social and economic restrictions except border controls after declaring on Monday it was free of the coronavirus, one of the first countries in the world to return to prepandemic normality. Public and private events, the retail and hospitality industries and all public transport were allowed to resume without the

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issues, researchers said, and a human trial with more than 1,000 participants is under way. The vaccine candidate, called BBIBP-CorV, induced high-level neutralising antibodies that can block the virus from infecting cells in monkeys, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits, researchers said in a paper published in online by the medical journal Cell on Saturday. “These results support the further evaluation of BBIBP-CorV in a clinical trial,” researchers said in the paper.

BBIBP-CorV, developed by Beijing Institute of Biological Products affiliated to state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), is among five candidates China is testing in humans.

More than 100 potential COVID-19 vaccines are in various stages of development around the world.

Among front runners currently in human trials are being developed by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, BioNtech, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Moderna, Sanofi and China’s CanSino Biologics.

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Racism in the Arab World: An Open Secret A Region in Denial Reflects Ignorance of History

by Yasmine El-Geressi The killing of George Floyd, facilitated by generations of systemic racism and police brutality, has spurred thousands to spill onto the streets across the United States. As news spread across the world of Floyd’s final nine minutes, solidarity marches expressing outrage that the richest and most powerful country in the world should continue to treat its people this way took place from Berlin to Mexico City. But attention has focused not just on the US and its abuses, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has also stirred a reckoning among many regions across the world as they reflect on the commonality of black struggles and confront some uncomfortable truths in their own backyards, the Arab world included.

Anti-blackness is deeply embedded within Arab countries and takes on many forms – from the horrific human trafficking of African migrants in Libya, to the expansion of colourism through the promotion of white beauty standards, to the colloquial use of the Arabic word for “slave”, to daily microaggression. All this plays out against a backdrop of misguided and distasteful media messaging echoed within the Arab world where blackface is commonly used to wring cheap laughs from demeaning stereotypes and prejudices. Much too often, the discourse on Black-Arab relations has been saturated with denial, defensiveness, and obfuscation. This culture of silence is symptomatic of a lack of awareness of the charged and complicated history of slavery, racism and the consequences of racial bigotry.

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A BITTER RECKONING

Syrian artists Aziz Asmar and Anis Hamdoun finished a mural in the town of Binnish, in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, depicting George Floyd, the unarmed man who died while being arrested and pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for nearly nine )minutes. (Gett

Arab social media users voiced their support for Black Americans and weighed in on the brutal crackdown on protesters in the US. Among them was Palestinian actress and film director Maryam Abu Khaled with a social media following of more than 200,000 people who slammed racism in the Arab world in a recent video posted on Instagram. In the video which quickly went viral, Abu Khaled, a black woman from Jenin, shared stories of everyday casual racism among Arabs, including hearing parents tell their children not to play in the sun for too long, otherwise they will “get sunburnt and start looking like Maryam”.

She then asks: “Do you know that the things you say ‘as a joke’ can break the spirit of the person before you and shatter their self-esteem?” before explaining that Arabs have grown used to this casual racism and she calls for more self-awareness to break the cycle by not passing these notions on to children.

Abu Khaled also highlighted that there are both distinctions and similarities in race relations in Arab and western communities by stressing that although black people in the Middle East are not being killed by police, racism is a deep-rooted problem in the region and is perpetuated by seemingly innocent comments that are very damaging.

While news stories emerge almost daily in the US about police being called over black Americans doing nothing more than being black, Afifa Latifi, a Tunisian doctoral student in Africana Studies at Cornell University and co-founder of the Voices for Tunisian Black Women collective, told Majalla that although black people do not face the same amount of gratuitous violence against them in the Arab world, that does not mean that their experiences are better. “Beyond the microaggressions and virtual hate speech, there are various instances of violence that prove that we’re not in a better off position,” she said.

“When you think of the predicament of black refugees, black migrant workers and the Kafala system as an example, the various incidents of police brutality in countries like Morocco, the multiple crimes committed against West African students in Tunisia and slavery in Mauritania which was only criminalized in 2007, it is hard to see a difference in experiences.”

“I find this unchecked verbal and non-verbal violence, impoverishment and marginalization of black people in the region, reminiscent of the social death that black Americans experience,” Ltifi said.

Dr Amro Ali, a Sociology professor at the American University of Cairo in Egypt, opined that there are some differences in the way anti-blackness operates in Arab countries. “The idea of race relations is just very, very convoluted. It doesn’t have that sort of clear demarcation lines that you find in the US.” Dr Ali opined that in Western communities, anti-blackness tends to be ideological due to a long history and structure of sustained racism. In the Arab case, however, “there is a very clear legacy of colonialism in the way colour is viewed. This is not to say that anti-black bias did not exist before colonialism, because I don’t want this to be an excuse to say that everything was paradise

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“Perhaps the current BLM movement is helping us confront these obscured layers of history and is mostly taking away the cloak of innocence that we are constantly latching onto when it comes to the issue of racism in the Arab world,” Ltifi said. before. It certainly wasn’t. But if there’s anything that I’m certain about is that the way blackness and whiteness is constructed has very clear Eurocentric influences,” he told Majalla.

SHADES OF RACISM One of the ways that anti-Blackness in predominantly Arab communities manifests itself is through Eurocentric perceptions and conceptualisations of beauty. “The billboards are the biggest giveaway. For example, in Cairo, you see the blue eyed, white skinned, blonde woman and who is not even representative of the Egyptian population in any way or advertisements for ‘Fair and Lovely’ whitening cream,” said Dr Ali. There are strictly enforced beauty standards in Arab countries that still favor fairer skin and straighter hair at the expense of diversity. One quick flick through a few Arabic TV channels can confirm that. These aesthetic standards translate into dangerous practices such as skin bleaching. In 2018, women in Egypt even began pouring chlorine in a bath to try to jumpstart the lightening process in a temporarily popular trend.

More importantly, these aesthetic practices set the foundation for a social structure in Arab countries rooted in colourism - the prejudice based on skin tone, usually with a marked preference for lighter-skinned people - and anti-Blackness.

The trauma caused by colourism is evident when it comes to marriage. “If one partner wants to bring a dark-skinned partner, there will be questions raised by the family. This is not unusual and it’s not limited to particular religious groups or particular minorities.

It seems to be across the board. It’s not unusual in Morocco for an Amazigh to refuse the marriage of dark skinned African,” Dr Ali explains.

The irony here is disturbing. In a world where Muslims and Arabs have long been subjected to racism, too many Arabs have failed to consider how they treat minorities. “I see brown skinned Arabs discriminate against dark skinned Africans and I’ve actually said to them, if you were in Europe, your brown skin would be discriminated against. The inability to feel empathy has a lot to do with not having to experience what dark skinned Africans

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or local Egyptians go through,” Dr Ali said.

THE KAFALA SYSTEM Global anti-racism protests have sparked calls for Arab governments to abolish an “exploitative” system of sponsorship for migrant workers. About 23 million migrants, mostly from poor African and Asian countries, work in the Arab world under a system known as kafala that generally binds them to one employer, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.

Labour rights campaigners in the region said those expressing support for protesters calling for an end to racism in the United States and elsewhere should look closer to home, where foreign workers faced exploitation and abuse under kafala. “These issues are very much systemic and engrained in racist rhetoric and perceptions toward other nationalities in our own countries,” Salma Houerbi, a researcher at the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre advocacy group, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The anti-Kafala initiatives are increasingly garnering attention in Lebanon where the suicide last month of a maid from the Philippines highlighted the struggles of migrant women in the country where migrant domestic workers are dying at a rate of two per week.

Joey Ayoub, an independent Lebanese activist campaigning to abolish kafala, told Reuters that the system amounted to legitimised racism. “If we want to speak of black lives matter, we have to talk about the actual black lives that do not matter in Lebanon,” he said, referring to the protests that have roiled the United States for the past two weeks. “Even if the kafala system is abolished tomorrow, racism would still exist, but it at least would allow people who are themselves victims of racism much more say and autonomy in what they can do about it.”

BACKFACE, IGNORING HISTORY, DENYING RACISM While many social media users have used their platforms to

“I see brown skinned Arabs discriminate against dark-skinned Africans and I’ve actually said to them, if you were in Europe, your brown skin would be discriminated against,” Dr Ali said.

express solidarity with BLM and raise awareness on the kafala system, others – including celebrities, have posted photos in blackface in tone-deaf attempts to support the movement. These incidents have once again drawn attention to the prevalence of blackface in Arab pop culture.

On television networks and movie screens, rarely will you see dark-skinned or black people on air, instead they are routinely represented by lighter-skinned performers who darken their faces in comedy skits to wring cheap laughs from demeaning stereotypes and prejudices.

“The representations of characters on Arab television are primitive. When not marginal or silenced, black characters are mostly ridiculed through blackface and the desensitized allusions to their slave descent. They are rehearsed in roles that deny them any complexity of being where they are mostly depicted as flat characters. At best, they are accorded roles that are similar to the American magical negro or the sassy or wise black friend who is always assisting the main character. But even those roles are rare, as black appearances are scarce,” said Ltifi.

The use of blackface also serves as another dangerous reminder of the widespread ignorance surrounding racism and anti-blackness in society. Blackface is a practice directly related to African slavery, and education about that is unfortunately not deep enough at best, or ignored at worst,” African-American historian Professor Eve Troutt Powell, from the University of Pennsylvania told Majalla.

While black slavery can seem like a peculiarly American institution, it is also a painful fact of history in the Middle East where countless East Africans were sold as slaves. It was primarily women and girls who were abducted into the Arabian slave trade, to then be turned into concubines. Historically, the absence of laws enshrining racial segregation (like those that existed in the US until the 20th century) enhances this sense of superiority that propagates the extraordinary wall of silence around this history across the region.

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19th-century engraving depicting an Arab slave-trading caravan transporting black African slaves across the Sahara. (Wikipedia)

clude that which we tend to take lightly such as “unintentional expressions of bias”, then perhaps we can start changing things,” said Ltifi.

“Even if blacks face discrimination in the West, there are still strong institutions and legal mechanisms for them to address the discrimination, whereas in the Arab world, such mechanisms don’t usually exist and so they’re disadvantaged in that regard,” said Dr Ali. Thirdly, we need to call out casual racism.

This culture of silence has helped to avoid challenging questions regarding the enduring legacies of slavery and anti-black racism in Arab societies that continue to affect social forms of life, and according to Prof. Powell, has led to a popular outright denial that racist attitudes against back people exist within Arab societies.

“My experience in the Arab world is that most people do not know the historical meanings behind the word “abeed” (slave), or they relegate the idea of racism to the United States, without seeing how it can exist amongst themselves, in their own countries,” said Professor Powell.

MOVING FORWARD Moving forward from widespread denial to overcome the stigmatisation of black people requires a multi-pronged approach.

Firstly, we need to stop glossing over of the history of slavery.

“I find it hypocritical to call black people “abeed” among many other epithets and demeaning slurs and yet we are too uncomfortable to discuss or teach the history of slavery. How is it that we are trying to avoid confronting the past, if we are literally invoking it all the time through the language with which we describe black people alone? We first need to write and face our history of slavery and then embark upon the belated all-encompassing emancipation project to bring about change,” said Ltifi.

Secondly, curing racism will take political will.

“I think that the political will of the state (through education projects, positive discrimination in politics, monitoring culture and art representation, etc.) can improve and even transform the lives of black people. When the state decides to confront the issues with laws and policies that will not only penalize overt racism but equally expand its definition and reframe its language to in-

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“The reason why many get away with racism is that it’s just not brought up. When you tackle it by saying that it is wrong, unethical or haram to help make a racist statement, then you get that person to start thinking about it, and at the very least, to make a dent in the way they behave. Any form of anti-black discrimination, whether it be from marriage prospects to your uncles to the desk officer in some ministry, needs to be spotlighted all the time until it is hopefully minimized and done away with,” said Dr Ali. “It is also important to remember that we are either part of Africa, for example, the North African Arab countries, we they need to acknowledge that this is a beautiful feature of what makes Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco rich and fruitful. And if we’re talking about the Gulf and the rest of the Middle East, then they also have a very strong and long history with Africa and with the idea of blackness that’s integrated into their societies” Thirdly, we need to all undertake some honest critical introspection.

“The worst form of Orientalism is the invisible self-orientalising syndrome by Arab states and societies, the ones that nauseatingly repeat lines like Arabs don’t care about freedom of speech as long as they have food on the table, or Palestinians are to blame for losing their land or Saudi women don’t have high aspirations anyway, etc. The loop of this broken record echoes into each individual’s sense of agency, making them question their selfworth, which then incapacitates their potential contribution to a better society. Collectively, this self-fulfilling malady aims to foster a passive citizenry. When we when the individual beats the odds, we certainly sometimes celebrate them. But until then, we will pave the path with misery, cynicism, pessimism, doom, gloom, depression, contemptuous inanities ripped out of the Guilt Wilders handbook,” said Dr Ali. “As both post-imperial and post-colonial subjects, we are constantly internalising oppression and reproducing forms of antiblackness and it’s about time that we recognise and face that.

Perhaps the current BLM movement is helping us confront these obscured layers of history and is mostly taking away the cloak of innocence that we are constantly latching onto when it comes to the issue of racism in the Arab world, pushing us, black and non-black, to put an end to this insidious culture of denial and silence,” said Ltifi.

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A Lockdown Diary The Idea that this is Over in Britain is for the Birds

by Bryn Haworth DECEMBER2019 - PREHISTORY

In days of yore, when no one knew the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic – apart from epidemiologists, whose job title nobody could yet pronounce – and when no one spoke of social distancing, except perhaps Marxists in reference to Royal Ascot; in that dim and distant time, the British public (including some people in traditional Labour voting areas of the country) decided to give the Tory party a majority of over eighty seats. Prime Minister Boris Johnson assured these erstwhile Labour voters who had lent him their vote that they would not regret it. I, however, was regretting everything, and I’d voted Labour. I was transported back to the string of such elections that people of like mind had commemorated with solemn wakes; well, as solemn as Irish ones.

False consciousness, that was the problem. What else could explain the choice the British electorate habitually made? The Tories and their compliant newspaper editors had the uncanny knack of making the working men and women of this country vote against their own interests. Johnson’s sloganeering was even more simplistic than Theresa May’s had been. Get Brexit done! It was reminiscent of an impatient lady of the night in Manchester when a client took an excessive amount of time removing his trousers: “Come on, lad, let’s get it over with!” Apparently, this was just the kind of enticing pillow talk the British electorate could not resist. The childishness of this old country sometimes made you wonder what our first childhood looked like. I think I just came up with an explanation for Stonehenge.

Nightmarish result as it was, at least I felt (like Lord Heseltine) that the matter of leaving was settled now and that I could say, without fear of contradiction, that Brexit voters

were the dumbass receptacles of false consciousness, though it was hard, given what they had just voted for, to credit them with consciousness at all. It was if they had never heard the old joke (no surprise, really, as I’d just made up): “What’s the difference between a good Tory and a bad Tory? Good Tories step over the homeless as they leave the opera.” This was based on something the former Conservative cabinet minister, Sir George Young, now Lord Young of Cookham, famously said: “The homeless are what you step over when you come out of the opera.” He later resigned the Tory whip over Johnson’s proroguing of parliament, so he really was one of the good Tories after all.

Perhaps, I mused, if we all join the Tory party, we can outnumber them. Perhaps this was the cunning plan behind the

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All the work of big kids

plague

huge Tory vote in the North: entryism on a massive scale.

Michael Gove has declared they’re the party of the working class now. The strategy goes way back to the inventor of ‘one nation’ Conservatism, Disraeli no less: impersonate the workers, fob ’em off with jingoism and populist slogans, football and punning newspaper headlines. The old jokes are still the best jokes, and this election (falling so close to Christmas) was a cracker.

JANUARY AND MOST OF FEBRUARY

Having reluctantly pulled the cracker, the nation started dreaming of a grey Christmas. Every visit to the supermarket you had to run the gauntlet of seasonal schmaltz. The New Year followed, joyless as ever, and then the incessant rain began, and the flooding. Boris Johnson soon began acquainting the British electorate with the folly of their decision by avoiding the flooded areas like the plague, then finally being caught on camera reinventing the mop.

1FEBRUARY DAY AFTER BREXIT

‘The optimists died in the gas chambers; the pessimists have pools in Beverly Hills.’ This was a profoundly dark comment from one of the escapees, but then Billy Wilder never was a master of polite circumlocution. Watched a bit of telly very briefly last night (through my fingers) to see how the Brexit brigade were behaving. I caught a glimpse of them singing ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ and realised I had foreseen all this.

I suppose that makes me a pessimist. More pessimistic than Wilder, as I am glumly convinced there’ll be no pool for me.

Perhaps the pools were only briefly available. My consolation is that I hate swimming almost as much as I hate the idea of Beverly Hills. If Wilder was right, though, it may be time to consider fleeing this shallow-pated, mean-spirited little coun-

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The Tories and their compliant newspaper editors had the uncanny knack of making the working men and women of this country vote against their own interests. try before things get any worse. It hardly matters where to.

When Brexit was announced and there was idle talk of Big Ben being rung to celebrate, Alastair Campbell predicted a lot of the remainers would be in bed by eleven, hiding under their duvets. Yup, that’s precisely what I did, without any prompting! I was content to be with my favourite cuddly toy who has always been a staunch remainer, but then she’s French.

29FEBRUARY

Nature is defying the gloom. It’s only daffodils so far, but the relief is profound. It is some time (approx. forty years) since I was a proper committed naturalist, before distractions got in the way. I remember when those distractions began, a sunny day on the Norfolk coast. As I scanned the sand dunes with my binoculars, no doubt in search of a ringed plover, I accidentally spotted something that persuaded me I was no longer interested in ornithology. Since the election, I’ve felt the same about politics. I used to watch the debates in the House of Commons with fascination. Now it’s so dull, I refuse to watch. Drama depends on conflict, and that is not to be had from a majority government, nor from the decision on

who leads a comprehensively defeated party, i.e. Labour. I’m giving up on politics for a few years and taking up my defunct hobby again. This time I shall avoid sand dunes.

8MARCH

Max von Sydow, the knight who played chess with Death while a plague ravaged the land, finally concedes defeat at the age of ninety.

11MARCH

People say Johnson’s good at devising slogans. I beg to differ, but then I’m not one of the duped souls shouting ‘traitor’ at him when he visits my flooded neighbourhood. He’s certainly not bad at recycling slogans, though. “Get Bewdley done!” was a classic of its kind. He’s like an inverted Churchill for our times, forever giving us the V sign the wrong way round.

There’s something even worse than floodwater heading for Bewdley.

14MARCH

Must I always start the day sentimental and end it cynical?

It’s as if every single day is a telescoped version of life itself, from innocence to experience in twenty-four progressively more disappointing hours. This morning I awoke to videos of locked down Italians singing from their windows and sat there with tears streaming down my cheeks. By this afternoon, I’d seen so many examples I was beginning to find it all a bit much. By tonight I was relieved to be living in England where nothing like that could possibly happen. How long before even the Italians start to lose patience with other people’s jollity in the face of death? It only takes a few people to lose patience with that bloke down the road who, admittedly, is a fine baritone, but who has sung the national anthem once too often.

20MARCH

Taking more solace from nature. We have great tits nesting in the backyard. I keep seeing them carrying bits of nesting material in their beaks. I’ve already learnt a lot I didn’t know about great tits, though googling them came as a bit of a shock.

23MARCH

Boris Johnson reluctantly declares lockdown, burbling that no British prime minister ever wants to be the one to close pubs. People are already reading books on topics related to the pandemic: Boccaccio’s bawdy tales, Defoe on the pestilence, Camus ditto. Surprised no one is recommending Xavier de Maistre’s ‘journey around my room,’ or Sir Walter Raleigh’s unfinished history of the world, written while in the Tower and abandoned because he was unable to account for a violent assault that happened right under his cell window. Which will it be, then? May as well suck both and see, there’s going to be plenty of time.

31MARCH

Now that Boris Johnson has discovered there ‘really is such a thing as society’ can we expect the rich to be taxed? Thought not.

THE WHOLE OF APRIL

Bit of a blank. Watched the entirety of a costume melodrama of dubious authenticity, Belgravia, for lack of anything better to do. Attempted to learn Arabic and got no further than the alphabet. PM is hospitalised and undergoing a ‘brush with death.’ Normal service to be resumed shortly. Paul McCartney has denounced wet markets. Attacks of giddiness diagnosed by my doctor as ‘benign vertigo,’ but what he prescribed made me feel worse. I discover it’s almost a century to the day after Eliot declared April to be the cruellest month.

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Death always cheats

Like me, he was in Kent at the time, though he may have been wrong about the lilacs.

1MAY

The Guardian runs an article entitled ‘A cavalier Tory leader and a botched pandemic response? It must be 1957.’ That time round, the leader was called Harold Macmillan and he was keen to stay upbeat although there was a flu pandemic.

At the party conference, which went ahead amid the height of the contagion, Macmillan managed not to mention it. Who says the past is a foreign country? Today’s Tories mention it all the time, but they botch the response nonetheless.

3MAY

Like a true Englishman, I am a creature of habit, even at the best of times. However, the number of habitual actions that I’ve developed since lockdown is getting pretty serious now.

I feel the same aches and pains at exactly the same time of day, dream the same dreams at night, and rant identical rants in the evening. Just now, at eleven o’clock in the morning, my bowel began to complain the minute I made my wife her second cup of coffee. Barbarians at the gate. The effect was Pavlovian, I had to make haste and attend to their demands. I will soon become a daylong repertoire of triggers and habits like this, with no respite. I shall be the creature of my habits.

4MAY

The swifts are back, screaming. They mate on the wing, in free fall, and drink raindrops in flight, but most notably, they screech at the tops of their voices. Nature can even voice our emotions when events render us speechless.

The male great tit

5MAY

Once more we are ‘the sick man of Europe.’ The death toll is

Our lockdown is definitely not over.

Last night, with silvery moonlight bathing the backyards and the occasional solar lamp glowing, I leant out of the window in a trance, feeling a little bit like Sir Walter must have felt when he finally gave up writing his history of the world. appalling. Like everyone else, I am increasingly dependent on the natural world for relief. No planes, no cars, the air fresh and filled with birdsong. The male blackbird hopped into the kitchen where my wife was working, looked up at her, then casually hopped right out again.

8MAY

The local collared doves have taken to cooing all day for no particular reason. Their call resembles a simple, but prudent, message for our times: “A bar of soap! A bar of soap!”

9MAY

Victory Parade in Belarus. Night Clubs open (briefly) in South Korea. The post of Expectations Manager in the government yet to be advertised, let alone filled. This feels like the long haul, yet there is talk of relaxing it, getting people back to work on bikes if necessary, opening schools. If anyone is suffering lockdown fatigue, it’s the Tories.

11MAY, FIRST HAPPY MONDAY

Murdoch having to forego his bonus, the Sun newspaper proclaiming Happy Monday. It doesn’t get more cynical than this, selling newspapers with the promise of normality, as if we could flout the rules and no one would mind one bit. Well, maybe the killjoys at the briefings would, but they’re experts. .Nuff said

12MAY

Prime Minister is keen to abandon the lockdown and entrust the fate of the nation to British common sense. Presumably, that would be the same common sense a majority of Brits exercised by electing his government back in December. The same good ole British common sense he displayed himself, by shaking the hands of sick people and bragging about it afterwards.

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over story

13MAY

The Mexican health minister gives a speech invoking the new normality. At least, that is what he intends to invoke, but instead he calls it the ‘new mortality.’ This virus certainly has a sense of humour. Admittedly, it’s not a very subtle sense of humour. Something like the preacher in the flagellating scene of The Seventh Seal.

16MAY

The BBC, in a valiant effort to deter people from making long journeys to beauty spots, shows them… ravishing pictures of beauty spots.

17 MAY

We have managed to get completely immersed in nature, even without leaving our little terraced house, since the great tits moved into the nest box on our back wall. At first the parent (the male; his mate is nowhere to be seen) was quite wary, but he has lost all his inhibitions now that he’s run ragged feeding the family. The other day he even followed the blackbird’s example and walked right into the kitchen. Whenever my wife and I step out of the kitchen door, we can hear the chicks squeaking and we just stand there, transfixed. It’s a tiny sound, like the tick of a wrist watch, then it surges in volume whenever dad arrives with a caterpillar. He is incredibly busy, dashing about and taking in food parcels at a rate of one or two per minute, and disposing of their droppings on his way out. Incredible to see how a bird can be so driven by instinct. Occasionally, if he is momentarily wary of going in, he waits on a branch and gulps down the juicy morsel

himself, but otherwise the paternal instinct has rendered him utterly selfless.

18 MAY

Matt Lucas entertains everyone with his Boris impersonation: “Go to work. Don’t go to work. Go to work.” It’s basically a reprise of yeah but, no but, yeah…. Meanwhile, the post of Expectations Manager in government is still vacant. Thinking of applying, but probably insufficiently weird.

20 May

Priti Patel (Home Secretary) shits on migrant health workers.

Not a pretty sight. Today I heard the young great tits testing their wings in the box, eager to fly the coop. One knows exactly how they must feel.

22 MAY

Story breaks (after joint investigation by The Guardian and The Mirror) of Dominic Cummings having fled the capital for a country house in Durham. At last, a proper political scandal involving privilege and elitist behaviour to entertain and outrage a locked-down populace. This promises to be more entertaining than Belgravia. Senior Flouter to the Prime Minister. I imagine Johnson frantically penning two conflicting notes to self as we speak. It’s going to be another long weekend.

23 MAY

The great tit’s workaholism is beginning to alarm me, particularly as it’s in such stark contrast to my own idleness. Have to keep filling the feeder with mealworms so he can transfer them to gaping beaks.

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A beauty spot

5 MAY: Once more we are ‘the sick man of Europe.’ The death toll is appalling. Like everyone else, I am increasingly dependent on the natural world for relief. No planes, no cars, the air fresh and filled with birdsong. the instincts of every father and every parent.’ Less instinctive fathers throughout the land are lost in awe at the man’s superabundance of instinct.

I recall Sajid Javid’s little joke about the ‘comings and goings, if you will’ at Number Ten. The Weirdo-in-Chief would be known as Goings from this day forth, if there were any (poetic) justice.

Glorious as ever to hear the cabinet defending the indefensible. Yes, time to drop the pilot, chaps, before the country drops the lot of you.

dropping the pilot

Otto von Bismarck getting dropped

24 MAY

Drop the pilot! [little Bismarck reference there, for the delectation of you-know-who]. Surely the time has come for the politician in Boris Johnson to abandon his liability? But, in the words of the old adage, the liability knows where the bodies are buried. If the PM tries to distance himself, he’ll need more than the statutory two metres, lest the departing adviser has a vengeful streak. And he surely has. Cummings is like a character in one of the old revenge tragedies, the creepy assassin who smears the lips of a skull with poison before persuading his unfaithful mistress to kiss it. Obvious enough who is whose ‘bitch’ in this relationship.

Cummings feeling ‘weird’ in his wife’s account is quite funny. How would he distinguish that feeling from what he experiences all the time?

He was overheard admiring the bluebells in a wood near Durham. Man’s a poet, yet all he ever gets is flack.

According to Johnson, his main political adviser ‘followed

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Svengali gives a press conference

25 MAY - CUMMINGS GOING NOWHERE

In the Rose Garden behind Number Ten, in a blaze of unseasonal sunshine, the journalists fidget for half an hour while they wait for Dominic Cummings to explain himself. Huge anticipation. There’s little expectation that Cummings will express contrition over his behaviour and resign. He’s more likely, given the pomp of the surroundings, to demand the Prime Minister’s resignation. ‘He has let me down. He has let himself down. Frankly, he has let us all down.’

Eventually Dom arrives, takes a seat at a rickety table, brusquely apologises for being late, then reads out a long and detailed account of his movements that easily rivals his blog for prolixity. The journalists, unable to absorb details on the scale of Tolstoy, reel with confusion. Cummings did what any ‘reasonable’ person would have done. The enemy

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is vanquished.

But the defence of the unapologetic adviser rests on the superfluity of his paternal instincts, a quality more normally associated with great tits. After the press conference, and once they have had a chance to consider his case, the reasonable minds of a grateful nation derive much amusement from his claim that he drove to a place called Barnard Castle, a beauty spot, to see if his eyesight was good enough for the journey back to London. It happened to be his wife’s birthday. It was also a round trip of sixty miles, but so strong was his urge to protect his family he took his wife and toddler along for the ride. It all smacks of “Do as I say, not as I do.” The Metro runs a merciless parody of the government’s health warning STAY ALERT:

Cummings – his best mate and a man you wouldn’t trust if there was a market for grandmothers. That fable about Barnard Castle could have been the one the Russian ‘tourists’ told about Salisbury. Gaslighting. Nice to know Cummings picked up something useful during his spell in Russia.

The albatross looks like staying round Johnson’s neck a while yet, and it stinks more with every passing day. I have just watched a PM lose all his authority, seen him visibly shredding it before my eyes, at a press conference. He became (before questions were even asked) a mere man in a suit. Hasn’t even heard the old instruction about not digging when you’re in a hole. He never seemed like a Prime Minister; it’s now crystal clear who our actual Prime Minister is. The Tories will not be as loyal to him as he has been to Rasputin. End of two shabby political careers?

27 MAY

Stay Elite

It was incredibly public-spirited of Cummings to provide the whole nation (apart from Brendan O’Neill, editor of Spiked) with a hate figure we can all unite in detesting. Suddenly, even the divines are revolting. The bishop of Penrith, Emma Ineson, exclaims “Goodness, Dominic Cummings must be really, really valuable to Johnson to be worth what he’s just risked by backing him, i.e. the trust of the British people.”

She doesn’t mention – not even in passing – Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport’s, momentous news concerning the A66 and its dualling all the way to… Penrith.

26 MAY

It was a stroke of genius to send the slimy Gove out to defend

Regarding the Star’s cut-out mask of Dominic Cummings, will the country soon be like a poster for the film Being John Malkovich?

We’re all would-be flouters now. Even the tits sound like they’re protesting over their confinement.

What a perfect story Cummings has provided the nation with in its hour of need. Surely, it’s only a matter of time before the balding American actor with the weird eyes gets to play Dom in a film entitled Being Reasonable, a gripping account of one megalomaniac’s midnight flight from the locked down metropolis in a fit of paternal instinct. It will run for an entire two hundred and sixty miles and only become thrilling for the last four, when his wife and son complain that they’re dying for the loo. “I told you to go before we left. You’ll just have to hold it in. Can’t you see this is a lockdown?” I can already see the harassed look on Malkovich’s face as those final, agonising four miles appear to go on forever.

Liars of the calibre of Dominic Cummings can even bend time, apparently. His blog has been altered to suggest he had foreknowledge of the pandemic, and one of his reasons for fleeing the pestilence in Islington was the targeting of his house, which certainly has happened lately, but which certainly did not happen before he became the poster boy of the elite, when everyone (his critics included) was confined to barracks by the lockdown. Time is a trivial matter when you are a misanthropic egotist with a pre-eminent genius for selfdeception. However, when you are charged with telling other people what to do, that way Madness lies: Oh, what fun we had, but did it really turn out bad? All I learnt at school was how to bend not break the rules.

28 MAY

I know, it’s easy to criticise with hindsight, but maybe the government’s slogan STAY HOME would have been clearer (and more honest) if it had been KNOW YOUR PLACE.

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The chirpy Chris Packham

When there’s a national crisis, it is very important that unquestioning forelock tugging is maintained by all serfs, and that the privileged classes are able to move freely from pestilential areas to remote estates for safety. The basic reasonableness of this policy hasn’t changed since the days of Boccaccio.

Well, it’s certainly enhanced Cummings’s visibility, all this.

There’s not just a danger he’ll eclipse the Prime Minister; soon he’ll be more famous than Benedict Cumberbatch himself. About time a new Brexit coin was struck with his head on it. Laurels would not go amiss.

1 JUNE, SECOND HAPPY MONDAY

The great tits’ lockdown has finally ended. Nice timing, fellas. I woke to find no sounds coming from the nest box.

My wife and I feel bereft. They might at least have followed the script in Springwatch, the BBC’s nature programme, and poked their little heads out before flying down, one by one, into the wisteria. But no, they stole out under cover of dawn chorus and could be in France by now for all we know. Meanwhile, the Tory press are declaring Happy Monday again, as if it’s all over. You must be twisting my melon, man. Only the very greatest tits among us would behave as if the danger has passed.

3 JUNE

Our next-door neighbour is very dismissive of Springwatch (compares it to Blue Peter). I reckon the slightly misjudged tone of the presenters is to blame, a bit too chirpy, but taken as a whole it’s excellent.

We’ve started hearing the chicks in the nearby bush, just

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12 MAY: Prime Minister is keen to abandon the lockdown and entrust the fate of the nation to British common sense. Presumably, that would be the same common sense a majority of Brits exercised by electing his government back in December. audible over the drone of bees on the blossom. The male, still completely manic, comes back for the odd mealworm and takes it to them. We also have a robin that comes for the mealworms that the sparrows, messy eaters, have tossed to the ground.

Our lockdown is definitely not over. Last night, with silvery moonlight bathing the backyards and the occasional solar lamp glowing, I leant out of the window in a trance, feeling a little bit like Sir Walter must have felt when he finally gave up writing his history of the world. I felt remarkably content.

May have been experiencing a uniquely pleasant case of passive smoking, as someone had lit a spliff. I would have been chirpier than Chris Packham himself if I’d had some of my own.

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olitics

Imagining a Biden Foreign Policy A Tougher Line on Beijing and Rapprochement with Tehran

by Joseph Braude On June 5, U.S. Senator Joseph Biden acquired the 1,991 delegates needed to formally secure the Democratic nomination for President. Though months remain before the forthcoming American elections in November, the Biden campaign has already given an indication of the contours of a potential Biden foreign policy. Foremost

among them, a tougher line on Beijing and rapprochement with Tehran.

BIDEN’S TRADITIONAL PROFILE Biden’s reputation in Democratic policy circles has traditionally been dominated by his views on foreign policy. They defy easy categorization into his party’s hawkish or dovish wings. For

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example, the Senator voted against the Gulf War in 1990, but for the Iraq War in 2002. As the America’ fortunes in Iraq waned, he argued that the solution lay in partitioning Iraq into three ethno-sectarian statelets — even as Iraqis themselves voted for cross-sectarian political lists. And while ostensibly a proponent of drone strikes and raids by special forces — which he has touted as the ‘Counterterrorism Plus’ strategy -- he opposed the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Indeed, in recent years, Biden’s political stances have often been somewhat mercurial. As recently as February 2019, a prominent survey identified him as one of the Democratic presidential candidates who wanted to “boost the defense budget.” In November, by contrast, Biden told defense journalists in an interview, “We can maintain a strong defense and protect our safety and security for less.” This March, Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution, whose personnel are often tapped for senior positions in incoming administrations, tentatively suggested that while “defense-budget cuts are possible” in a Biden administration, the “top priorities are reforming and modernizing the military to reflect new technologies and repairing civil-military relations.”

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event about the U.S. economy at Delaware State University in Dover, Delaware, U.S. June ,5 2020. (Reuters)

Recent reporting has suggested that, as coronavirus has unsettled the political landscape, Biden is “seeking big Democratic ideas” in order to reorient his campaign. In coordination with allies in Congress, the former vice president is “racing to assemble a new governing agenda” that is “far bolder than anything the party establishment has embraced before.” In response, in early May, the Biden and Sanders campaigns unveiled six “unity task forces” designed to foster reconciliation between the party’s progressive and moderate wings under the rubric of crafting a governing agenda that fuses Biden’s incrementalist tendencies with Senator Sanders’s more transformative ones. Tellingly, foreign policy was not among them.

CONFRONTATION WITH CHINA, DÉTENTE WITH IRAN One area where glimpses of a Biden foreign

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Recent reporting has suggested that, as coronavirus has unsettled the political landscape, Biden is “seeking big Democratic ideas” in order to reorient his campaign. policy can already be discerned is China policy, where most political incentives are pushing Biden to adopt a more confrontational stance. Polling indicates that levels of distrust of China have risen sharply among all segments of the American electorate in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. In a similar vein, an adversarial posture toward Beijing will deflect accusations of cronyism leveled by President Trump. And indeed, the Biden campaign has begun running campaign ads accusing Trump of having “rolled over for the Chinese” while a pro-Biden super PAC accused the president of “outright acquiescence to China.” From a more protectionist stance on trade to aggressively condemning Chinese behavior towards the Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang, Biden’s administration is likely to witness a notable escalation of tensions with Beijing.

Another area where the dynamics of the 2020 campaign give strong indication of future governance is Iran. A pillar of Biden’s messaging strategy has been to “return to normalcy” of the pre-Trump era. This would entail, inter alia, de-escalating tensions with Tehran and bringing the U.S. back into the JCPOA, which was his Democratic predecessor’s signal foreign policy milestone.

Biden has labelled the ‘Maximum Pressure’ campaign a “self-inflicted disaster,” arguing that instead Washington should demonstrate “renewed commitment to diplomacy to work with our allies to strengthen and extend the Iran deal” while also “push[ing] back against Iran’s other destabilizing actions.”

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How to Keep the United States in the WHO

Immediate Withdrawal Would Be a Global Health and a Legal Disaster

by Harold Hongju Koh, Lawrence O. Gostin

its funding for the World Health Organization (WHO). If carried out, especially in the middle of The same week that the United States passed the a pandemic, this move would mark one of the most grim milestone of 100,000 deaths from COV- ruinous presidential decisions of modern history— ID-19, President Donald Trump announced that a blow to global health security and to the rule of the United States would withdraw from and end law.

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Fortunately, neither the U.S. Congress nor the U.S. courts need stand by: the president’s call reflects a misunderstanding of both the WHO and its limitations and his own authority to withdraw from it unilaterally.

Congress should immediately hold hearings to clarify whether it is legal and wise to withdraw from the WHO, given the dire consequences for U.S. security and global health. And litigants should go to court to clarify that the president lacks the constitutional power he claims. As the novel coronavirus pandemic has made clear, public health is everyone’s problem. Congress, the courts, and concerned Americans should not stand mute while the United States is branded as the nation that turned its back on world cooperation during the greatest health crisis in modern history.

LESS THAN PERFECT In April, Trump sent a letter to the director-general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, demanding within 30 days “major substantive improvements” meant especially to establish the WHO’s independence from China. In announcing last week that he was terminating the United States’ relationship with the WHO, Trump attributed his decision to its failure to undertake the requested reforms—despite a resolution by the WHO’s governing body, the World Health Assembly, to conduct an independent evaluation of its COVID-19 response.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gives a press conference on the situation regarding the COVID19- at Geneva’s WHO headquarters on February 2020 ,24.

(Getty)

Apart from the virtual impossibility of the president’s demands—that an organization comprising nearly every government in the world make substantial reforms within a month while responding to a global health crisis—the charges were frequently false and misleading.

Trump asserted that the WHO knew of the novel coronavirus’s human-to-human transmission by December 31; it did not. And he claimed that the WHO was aware of the virus spreading in Wuhan in December based on reports in The Lancet medical journal; there were no such reports.

This is not to say that all of Trump’s criticisms of the WHO’s actions and its relationship with China are misguided. The organization (and Trump) did praise Beijing for its transparency in late January, by which time the world was fully aware that China had suppressed information about the virus’s spread. And the United States, along with other countries, including Canada, is correct to call for Taiwan to be invited as an observer

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The truth is that the WHO has no power to independently verify official government reports, nor can it conduct an investigation on a sovereign government’s soil without its permission. at the WHO; Taiwan has much to offer, including the tactics from its effective COVID-19 response, and it deserves a seat at the table.

But critics must remember that, as an intergovernmental body, the WHO is inherently a political organization.

The WHO is governed by governments, and with nearly 80 percent of its budget funded through voluntary contributions, it has limited room to maneuver. And although the WHO’s member states could and should cede more authority to the organization, they have not done so. The truth is that the WHO has no power to independently verify official government reports, nor can it conduct an investigation on a sovereign government’s soil without its permission. Indeed, early in the coronavirus outbreak, China blocked personnel from the WHO and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from going to Wuhan. WHO officials themselves were deeply frustrated at the lack of data that China was providing and debated how best to press for more information without losing access.

PAY UP The United States’ departure from the WHO is not as simple as Trump assumes. Legally, the president cannot just withdraw unilaterally from the organization.

After the United States helped draft the WHO’s constitution, it joined the organization in 1948 under a joint congressional resolution specifying that the United States could withdraw if it both provided one year’s notice and fully met the current year’s financial obligations. That resolution also authorized annual State Department appropriations for U.S. membership, thus invoking both Congress’s power to approve treaties

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and its power of the purse.

So the law is clear: for at least a year, the United States cannot withdraw from the WHO and is still a member.

By this time next year, Joe Biden may be president and could rescind the United States’ withdrawal notice.

Nor does the law permit Trump to immediately suspend funding that Congress has already appropriated, including the remainder of the United States’ 2020 dues, roughly $60 million, since Congress’s 1948 resolution bars U.S. withdrawal from the WHO unless all assessed dues are paid in full. The United States also has a remaining balance from its 2019 assessment.

Congressional silence on Trump’s decision to withdraw from the organization would not make the move constitutional. The United States joined the WHO through a joint resolution, so the president should need a similar joint resolution in order to approve withdrawal. Over the past 40 years, Congress has largely acquiesced in a president’s decision to leave bilateral agreements of lesser significance. But Congress may not be so compliant when considering withdrawal from vital multilateral organizations such as the WHO. Try as he might, Trump can’t skirt Capitol Hill—when a bilateral treaty withdrawal went to the Supreme Court in 1979, not a single justice took the position that a president, as a general rule, has the constitutional authority to unilaterally withdraw from treaties.

ESSENTIAL PUBLIC GOODS Even with its flaws and limitations, the WHO is essen-

The law is clear: for at least a year, the United States cannot withdraw from the WHO and is still a member.

By this time next year, Joe Biden may be president and could rescind the United States’ withdrawal notice.

tial during a global health crisis. Responding to a pandemic requires global solutions. To disengage from the WHO now would erode the United States’ influence as a global health leader. Exiting the WHO, for example, may require leaving other WHO treaties such as the International Health Regulations—the very treaty Trump complained China was violating when it failed to report COVID-19 cases. And although the State Department previously identified the WHO as a key partner in its Global Health Strategy to strengthen disease detection and response, exiting the organization would deny the United States access to the WHO’s global system for sharing outbreak data and vaccines.

Even more concerning, cutting off funding to the WHO will devastate the organization’s capacity to fight COVID-19 and other major health threats. The United States supplies about 15 percent of the WHO’s biennial budget, with U.S. contributions equaling $893

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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the daily briefing of the White House Coronavirus Task Force in the Rose Garden at the White House April 2020 ,14 in Washington, DC. President Trump announced that he is halting funding for World Health Organization WHO. (Getty)

Cutting off funding to the WHO will devastate the organization’s capacity to fight COVID19- and other major health threats. The United States supplies about 15 percent of the WHO’s biennial budget, with U.S. contributions equaling 893$ million in 19-2018. culosis, efforts already disrupted by COVID-19. The pandemic risks doubling the number of malaria and HIV/AIDS deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, and it has already delayed measles immunization campaigns in 25 countries. And although efforts to eradicate polio over the last two decades have reduced global cases by 99.9 percent, a withdrawal of U.S. funding would derail these efforts, potentially allowing annual global cases of polio to jump from a few hundred to 200,000 within a single decade.

million in 2018-19. The United States also provides the largest portion of funding for the WHO’s emergencies program, which means withdrawal will cut critical funding for the COVID-19 response. Loss of funding for testing and contact tracing, as well as vaccine development, would expand the scale and duration of the pandemic, costing many more lives. It would also harm U.S. security because COVID-19 outbreaks in other parts of the world would eventually arrive in the United States during a second or third wave of cases.

And without U.S. funding, the WHO will have less surveillance capacity to ensure that the next outbreak is quickly detected and contained, increasing the likelihood of another pandemic.

U.S. withdrawal would also deal a blow to many of the WHO’s crucial global health initiatives, such as polio eradication, child nutrition, vaccine distribution, and projects to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuber-

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The United States may attempt to maintain its role as a global health leader by rerouting WHO funding directly to countries or through global public-private partnerships, such as the Global Fund or Gavi Alliance. Yet this strategy would have a far more limited impact on global health outcomes. It would not be possible to stop an infectious disease outbreak, which can originate anywhere in the world, without the global coordination that is core to the WHO’s mandate. Even U.S.-led initiatives such as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which has made the United States the world’s unquestioned leader in responding to HIV/AIDS since 2003, have relied on the WHO for its expertise in delivering health messages, ensuring quality medications, and setting standards for expanding the health workforce. There is only one World Health Organization, and every other nation will remain a member. A single country, acting alone, simply cannot tackle global health on its own, today or in the future.

This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs.com.

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Surviving the Economic Shockwaves: The Impact of COVID - 19 and Oil Prices on the Gulf

Experts Share Insights on the Challenges and Opportunities of the Interrelated Crises and the Future of Economic Diversification Efforts Across the Region 28

12/06/20

by Yasmine El-Geressi The coronavirus pandemic is having a dramatic impact on economies across the globe, but Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — along with other oil-dependent economies, are experiencing dual shocks: the repercussions of the COVID19- and the associated slash in energy prices as well as overall global demand. We’ve asked Scott Livermore, Chief Economist of Oxford Economics Middle East and Managing Director of Consultancy in the Middle East and Asia, and Jonathan Fulton, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Zayed University, in Abu Dhabi, and a nonresident senior fellow for Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council, to weigh in on the profound challenges for Gulf economies and the opportunities they present, as well as the longerterm implications for economic diversification efforts across the region.

A man wearing a protective mask stands at a racetrack overlooking Dubai following the UAE›s decision to postpone the upcoming Dubai Horse Racing amid the COVID19coronavirus pandemic, on March 2020 ,23 in Dubai. (Getty)

The fundamentals of China’s economy haven’t changed dramatically because of the pandemic, and there’s no reason to expect that there won’t be a return to deep economic cooperation once things return to some semblance of normal.

How will the spending needs and constraints stemming from the coronavirus and low oil prices affect the fiscal health of the GCC? What critical challenges will they face in the coming months?

SL: I think low oil prices are making governments feel constrained and typically when oil prices fall, the government spending follows suit as was the case in 16/2015 when oil prices last What are your impressions of the efforts made by slumped. And we have seen moves to reduce the Gulf Arab states to address this crisis? fiscal deficit in Dubai, Oman and Saudi Arabia and these will work against the support measures Scott Livermore: Mixed. The GCC seems to have aimed at combatting the economic impact of the done a good job in slowing the spread of the virus. coronavirus.

Early restrictions and extensive testing means the authorities have kept the spread in check, especially However, most countries in the GCC have fiscal compared with the worst-hit countries. And now we headroom to increase spending this year – in are moving to the phase where restrictions are being international comparison, while deficits are expected eased, authorities are proving to be fairly agile in re- to be higher in the GCC, generally the GCC has lower implementing targeted measures if cases start to rise debt levels and greater financial assets. which reduces the risk of a second wave.

JF: They’re going to have to address the critical issue However, in addition to fiscal packages being relatively of supporting the businesses that have taken a massive small, they have been too narrow primarily focused on hit and putting some kind of safety net in place for reducing costs for business through deferred interest those who have been out of work for months. With payments, reduced fees and tax holidays, with limited government revenue suffering from low oil prices it’s employment and social support. a perfect storm really.

Jonathan Fulton: Well, here in the UAE the government seems to have been quite effective in its response.

It’s done a good job of testing, it’s made good use of technology to trace and hopefully contain the virus, and it has coordinated efforts with countries that have had an effective response. I’m not sure how effective other countries in the region have been but my sense is that there’s been quite a bit of coordination between them in tackling this.

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What options do these states have at their disposal to deal with these interrelated crises?

SL: I think the GCC has set their course and policy will be focused on the recovery phase rather than preventing large scale job losses and bankruptcies.

The focus will be then on supporting the recovery and trying to identify areas of the economy that will support the new economy and diversification.

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What do you believe will be the long term economic reaction from the coronavirus? Are you optimistic that as we emerge from this, it could be a chance to create a better economy?

SL: The coronavirus will leave an indelible mark on the economy and exactly how depends partly on how the pandemic evolves from today onwards.

For the GCC, there will be challenges and opportunities. For example, most GCC countries place emphasis on travel and tourism as part of diversification strategies but this sector will take a long time to recover. On the other hand, GCC countries have clear and ambitious visions and the financial clout and authority to accelerate moves into new sectors. However, authorities will also have to implement other reforms that enable the private sector to drive the development of new, modern sectors.

JF: I think this crisis presents an opportunity, although it will be painful to implement. The Gulf states have long articulated a need to diversify their economies, expand local representation in the private sector, and reduce reliance on the government for jobs and benefits.

What are the longer-term implications for economic

The economic consequences of covid19- on top of low oil prices will really strain their abilities to fund the economic diversification projects that are necessary to build sustainable post-oil economies

diversification efforts across the Gulf region, particularly Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030?

SL: I think Vision 2030 was already being reassessed prior to the crisis and this is likely to accelerate now with the Kingdom honing and refining priorities in order to cut costs and improve effectiveness of programs (particular to see a quicker return on investment in terms of jobs/growth).

It will be hard to step back from Giga-projects such as NEOM but it is likely elements will be scaled back and development slowed. The overall targets of the Vision will probably remain in place though becoming increasingly difficult to attain given they were ambitious in the first place, and the headwinds now from coronavirus/lower oil prices and scaling back/slowdown in mega projects.

We have also seen the government raising funds on debt markets as well as fiscal consolidation and this can be taken as maintaining availability of funds for the Vision. The Vision will be increasingly off budget

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Scott Livermore, Chief Economist of Oxford Economics Middle East and Managing Director of Consultancy in the Middle East and Asia.

There are reasons to expect the recovery in the GCC will be slower: oil production quotas, fiscal tightening, dependence on COVID19vulnerable sectors such travel and tourism, and the likely ex pat exodus.

Jonathan Fulton, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Zayed University, in Abu Dhabi, and a nonresident senior fellow for Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council.

JF: GCC countries have done a tremendous amount of trade with China in recent years. The value of trade has increased from around 10$ billion in 2000 to over 160$ billion last year. China has become the most important GCC trade partner and the largest extra-regional source of FDI into MENA, so an economic slowdown there has to be a concern. That said, the fundamentals of China’s economy haven’t changed dramatically because of the pandemic, and there’s no reason to expect that there won’t be a return to deep economic cooperation once things return to some semblance of normal. China’s domestic economic requirements remain, and its Belt and Road Initiative will continue to drive a lot of its and funded through PIF. interests in the Middle East. China has also been JF: This will be a major issue for Gulf governments very active in providing support to its partners in to address. The economic consequences of covid19- the MENA in battling covid19- so I expect we’ll see on top of low oil prices will really strain their abilities those relationships continue to deepen in the coming to fund the economic diversification projects that are years. necessary to build sustainable post-oil economies.

The short-term temptation – continue spending as the There›s one question everyone wants answered: population has grown accustomed to, and hope prices when will the economy recover? go up again - has to be ignored if they’re going to make a new model that can transition beyond a rentier SL: I think the low point is behind us but how economy. we move forward is largely an epidemiological question – how long will COVID19- linger?

In recent years China has emerged as the biggest Will there be a second wave? How close are we economic partner for the GCC. How is Beijing›s to a vaccine? Etc. However, even with a relative economic slowdown impacting the region? optimistic outlook for the pandemic, it will be surprising if GDP in most countries return to preSL: At the moment, not that much directly as GCC crisis levels before the second half of fiscal year is not really integrated with the Asia supply and the 2021. And there are reasons to expect the recovery economic situation in the GCC is being driven by in the GCC will be slower: oil production quotas, lockdowns to control the spread of the coronavirus. fiscal tightening, dependence on COVID19However, China beginning to recover will be helpful vulnerable sectors such travel and tourism, and the for the GCC in the second half of this year and it likely ex pat exodus. should help support oil prices.

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Exceptionalism Is Killing Americans An Insular Political Culture Failed the Test of the Pandemic

by Jeremy Konyndyk In early May, a 29-year-old man visited several bars and nightclubs in the South Korean capital of Seoul and soon after tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. South Korean health authorities promptly launched an enormous contact-tracing ef-

fort, tested 83,000 people, and identified and isolated nearly 250 newly infected cases. Their swift action prevented this “superspreading” event from reigniting a much wider outbreak. As of early June, there has not been a major uptick in cases in South Korea—new infections remain under 50 per day—and the country is carefully but safely returning to a semblance of normalcy.

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South Korea and the United States both confirmed their first COVID-19 cases on January 20. But the two countries’ outbreaks have since diverged radically.

The United States continues to record roughly 20,000 new cases per day. Five months into the pandemic, the United States has achieved the largest case count and death toll (now well over 100,000 deaths) in the world.

The crisis has brought large sectors of the economy to a standstill and forced 40 million workers to file for unemployment. The disease is moving rapidly into rural areas, ravaging meatpacking plants and long-term care facilities. Most U.S. states have nowhere near the testing and contact-tracing capacity exhibited by South Korea but are nevertheless relaxing their containment measures.

US President Donald Trump walks past a US flag during a visit to the Puritan Medical Products facility in Guilford, Maine on June 2020 ,5. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP)

How has the world’s richest country, home to worldclass health institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, produced one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world? Why is the United States, accustomed to seeing itself as the leader of the developed world, lagging so badly behind its peers? South Korea isn’t alone in faring better than the United States. Germany, Japan, and Norway have all had more success containing the virus and sustained less economic damage. New Zealand’s early and disciplined lockdown has driven new cases down close to zero, and the country is reopening its economy safely. Even hard-hit countries, such as Italy and Spain, have gotten their outbreaks under control more quickly than the United States.

American exceptionalism—the notion that the United States is unique among nations and that the American way is invariably the best—has blinded the country’s leaders (and many of its citizens) to potentially lifesaving lessons from other countries. garded lessons from countries that had faced the coronavirus earlier. American officials are now offering the public a brutal choice—between preventing more deaths or reopening the economy—that few other countries have foisted on their people. U.S. leaders could have borrowed lessons from the successes of other nations.

Ignoring them has yielded only staggering levels of sickness, death, and economic devastation.

ALARM BELLS

The catastrophic U.S. response to COVID-19 is not primarily the result of scientific or medical deficiencies.

Rather, it is the product of an insularity in U.S. politics and culture. American exceptionalism—the notion that the United States is unique among nations and that the American way is invariably the best—has blinded the country’s leaders (and many of its citizens) to potentially lifesaving lessons from other countries. The dark side of American exceptionalism is “hubris and closed-mindedness, and . . . ignorance about the rest of the world,” the eminent American historian Eric Foner has argued.

“Since the United States is so exceptional, there is no point in learning about other societies.” That mentality is now costing American lives.

As the virus spread earlier this year in China, South Korea, and then Italy, much of the United States indulged in magical thinking. Few institutions—public or private— prepared for the possibility that COVID-19 might affect the United States as catastrophically as it had other countries. The president and senior U.S. officials spent January and February repeating the mantra that the disease posed only a low risk in the United States. Rather than urgently shore up preparations for the virus, the administration stood by, confident in its travel bans and studies suggesting that the United States was the best-equipped country in the world to contain epidemics. The president insisted in late February that “whatever happens, we’re totally prepared” and that “we’re rated number one.”

Meanwhile, neither the government nor U.S. hospitals worked to build up stocks of crucial personal protective equipment (PPE) or to ready medical staffs and facilities for potential surges in cases. As the disease shut down China’s economy, the U.S. private sector didn’t price in the possibility that the crisis could do the same to the United States.

American exceptionalism finds its most recent and fervent expression in President Donald Trump’s “America first” rhetoric and policies. But the belief in exceptionalism isn’t confined to the White House. It is hardwired into American politics and society, and it explains many of the United States’ failures in combating COVID-19.

Congress, many states, and the private sector all disre-

There was no sound reason to think that a virus capable of overwhelming the health systems of China and Italy would prove any less dangerous in the United States.

Wuhan, the outbreak’s original epicenter, is a major metropolis with a modern health-care system and sophisticated public health capacities. Northern Italy has more doctors and hospital beds per capita than the United

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States and a stronger public health system. Many public health experts (including me) sought to raise the alarm in February but were largely ignored. When Scott Gottlieb, Trump’s former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, delivered an urgent warning to Republicans in Congress in early March, many legislators dismissed him as unduly alarmist.

It is likely that earlier and more explicit warnings from the federal government would have helped awaken U.S. society to the threat of the virus. But it is still incredible that so many leaders and institutions ignored the reality of the coming outbreak. U.S. corporations span the globe; the U.S. stock market is intimately linked with the world at large; New York City is a deeply interconnected, international hub. But leaders across American society imagined that somehow the United States would be spared the ravages of the disease.

An outbreak of some magnitude in the United States was inevitable, but the country’s leaders did not reckon with that inevitability. The official reluctance to spend February preparing for the virus was a deliberate and catastrophic choice—one that stemmed from incompetence but also from irrational confidence in the United States’ capabilities compared with other nations. And the failure to consider how other countries had either struggled or succeeded in grappling with the disease would set the stage for what followed.

THE PANDEMIC ARRIVES Health officials uncovered local transmission of COVID-19 in northern California on February 26. Within

According to researchers at Columbia University, imposing social-distancing policies across the United States just one to two weeks earlier—acting proactively rather that reactively—would have saved tens of thousands of lives.

days, the spread of the disease was also detected in Oregon and Washington. By March 7, the United States was generating over 100 new cases per day; just nine days later, new cases began exceeding 1,000 per day. Countries that had experienced earlier waves of COVID-19 had shown how to slow and contain the disease. China had brought its official daily case count below 100 by March 6 (just as the United States passed that threshold in the opposite direction). China’s use of lockdowns, testing, contact tracing, and isolation had prevented major outbreaks outside of Wuhan, and by mid-March, even Wuhan’s hospitals were no longer overwhelmed.

Some scepticism about China’s official numbers is warranted, but China’s strategy undoubtedly brought a raging outbreak to heel.

Other countries had success with similar tactics. The early waves of transmission provided blueprints for slowing and containing the virus: aggressive initial distancing to slow the explosive spread of the disease, followed by a transition to a long-term suppression strategy centred around testing, contact tracing, and targeted quarantine.

After South Korea peaked at over 500 new cases per day in late February, its infection rate went into a steep decline in early March. Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan,

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An MTA worker hands out free hand sanitizer and face masks at the Grand Central Station subway during morning rush hour on June 2020 ,8 in New York City. (AFP)

rather that reactively—would have saved tens of thousands of lives. The lack of decisive and clear direction from the federal government in turn left states and cities making wildly different decisions—with deadly consequences. Early-hit communities on the West Coast took anticipatory measures to prevent a major outbreak, but most other states did not. San Francisco and Seattle began putting measures in place in late February that helped avoid significant rates of transmission; New York City moved more slowly and invited a cataclysm of over 21,000 COVID-19-related deaths.

and Vietnam were all beginning to successfully contain the virus by that time. Japan, too, had avoided a major outbreak by mid-March (although it later experienced large flare-ups after relaxing distancing measures too quickly). U.S. officials and leaders could have proactively incorporated these lessons into their own preparations—reinforcing hospitals, preparing for social distancing, and aggressively ramping up early testing and surveillance.

Instead, U.S. authorities dithered. By early March, the high costs of delay were abundantly clear. Countries that had swiftly applied physical-distancing measures and scaled up widespread testing and contact tracing had mostly fended off the worst of the disease. Countries that were slow to detect and act upon the threat were hit the worst during the early phase. Still, the federal government continued to downplay the threat well into March and did not even release policy guidance on distancing until March 16, weeks after the first detection of the spread of the virus within American communities.

According to researchers at Columbia University, imposing social-distancing policies across the United States just one to two weeks earlier—acting proactively

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Most countries mounted robust, centrally led responses to the crisis guided by scientific advice. The United States did not. Instead of mobilizing the unified buying power of the federal government to scale up supplies more rapidly, the White House delegated decisions on testing to the states and left them at the mercy of the private market. The resulting competition between states has failed to deliver testing capacity anywhere near what the country requires. Although the United States is now running more daily tests than any other country, it has only recently caught up to peer countries in terms of per capita testing, and it remains near the bottom of that pack when it comes to the more important metric of tests per new case (which provides a better measure of the thoroughness of testing). Vietnam’s testing strategy reportedly generated an astounding 791 tests per confirmed case; the United States is still languishing in the low twenties.

The story is similar when it comes to procuring PPE— crucial for protecting frontline health workers and avoiding outbreaks in nursing homes. While other countries have put their national governments in charge of PPE procurement, the United States has created a Lord of the Flies-esque competition among the states. When the federal government has supplemented state procurement—notably through “Project Airbridge,” led by the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner—it has delivered comparatively little. By early May, federal efforts had acquired just 85 million N95 medical masks, for instance (and fewer than one million through Kushner’s project). France, which centralized procurement of supplies through the national government, acquired 400 million N95 masks for a population one-fifth the size.

Federal support has also been woefully insufficient when it comes to contact tracing, which, alongside testing, is central to safely reopening the economy. China deployed 9,000 contact tracers to contain the outbreak among Wuhan’s 11 million people. South Korea, as mentioned above, was able to identify hundreds of new cases that had spread from a cluster of Seoul nightclubs

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in a matter of days. In the United States, many communities could not maintain contact tracing once they had surpassed a handful of cases, because their public health departments lacked the sufficient bandwidth and the federal government did not provide enough support.

Some states and cities are now attempting to build up armies of contact tracers on their own; but without a clear federal framework, they have had to turn haphazardly to private and non-profit partners for help. New York City aims to hire 2,500 new employees as tracers; the state of Michigan instead plans to rely largely on volunteers.

These tasks are now straining already stretched state and local health budgets. The lack of federal leadership on tracing has meant that legislators short-changed states and localities in the stimulus bills that passed in recent months, and the United States continues to make slow and halting progress. The governor of Maryland recently boasted that his state would soon have the ability to trace 10,000 contacts per day. That may be impressive, but the World Health Organization and the Congolese government were tracing 25,000 contacts per day during the peak of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2019. And they were doing so in a war zone.

Maryland’s state budget of $41.2 billion is four times the size of Congo’s national budget.

BAD OMENS As exceptionalism continues to shape the U.S. response to the pandemic, the number of new coronavirus cases

It is hard to foresee an adequate economic recovery as long as close to 1,000 Americans are dying every day from the outbreak and vulnerable groups (the immunosuppressed and the elderly, for example) remain unable to safely participate in society.

in the country has remained high while the numbers in peer countries have declined precipitously. The two worst-hit European countries, Italy and Spain, experienced high peaks in their new case counts (higher than that of the United States on a per capita basis). Yet neither country’s case curve plateaued for as long as the United States’ curve has. By the 85th day of each country’s outbreak (roughly May 25 for the United States, as calculated by the Financial Times) Italy had shown an 84 percent decline from its peak of new daily cases.

Spain’s new case levels had declined by 94 percent. But in the United States, new daily cases had declined only 31 percent over the equivalent time period.

That comparative failure to contain the outbreak has produced another situation unique to the United States: a widespread perception that the country must now choose between defeating the virus and rehabilitating the economy. Apart from Sweden, which has intentionally (and damagingly) pursued a strategy of allowing the virus to spread largely unimpeded through low-risk populations in hopes of attaining herd immunity, no wealthy country has tried to reinvigorate its economy without first suppressing the outbreak. Strong social safety nets

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FILE - In this May 2020 ,15, file photo, healthcare workers at New Orleans East Hospital wave handkerchiefs and dance to a jazz serenade, as a tribute for their care for COVID19- patients, by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, outside the hospital in New Orleans.

An act of generosity or self-sacrifice. (AP)

The president has urged the American people to be “warriors” and risk contracting the disease in order to get back to work.

This is a false choice. It is hard to foresee an adequate economic recovery as long as close to 1,000 Americans are dying every day from the outbreak and vulnerable groups (the immunosuppressed and the elderly, for example) remain unable to safely participate in society.

But more to the point: other countries are not accepting this tradeoff between health and prosperity, and there is no reason the United States should either. A different strategy, one more in line with the lessons from around the world, would have enabled both the suppression of the virus and a more rapid economic recovery. The persistent refusal of U.S. leadership—and society at large— to learn from the rest of the world leaves the country in this predicament.

That bodes ill for the future. As the U.S. outbreak has spread, the White House has reacted not by building bridges with international partners but by setting those bridges on fire. The administration has escalated counterproductive fights with China, pledged to withdraw from the World Health Organization, barred aid organizations from purchasing PPE for the developing world, declined to participate in cooperative international efforts to develop a vaccine, and competed with allied nations for supplies of PPE and testing materials. and government-financed employment support in other countries have better blunted the economic pain of lockdowns, helping minimize the kinds of mass layoffs and reopening protests seen in the United States. Those countries could then emerge from lockdown more cautiously and judiciously, ensuring that the virus had been contained to a manageable level before relaxing restrictions. They have simultaneously scaled up other public health measures to suppress the transmission of the virus once lockdowns are lifted.

The United States now faces the worst of both worlds.

Lax adherence to stay-at-home orders and social distancing—potentially exacerbated by the protests that have understandably followed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis—and inadequate testing have left the United States with a higher baseline level of ongoing transmission than its peer countries. The failure to procure more protective equipment and adequately ramp up testing and tracing capacity has left much of the country unable to suppress transmission after local lockdowns are eased. As a result, Trump and many governors are now framing the policy choice at hand as a decision between containing the virus or preserving the economy.

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This pandemic is not a crisis that the United States can solve on its own. The country must begin to adopt practices that are proving successful elsewhere in the world.

It must partner with other nations to tackle shortages of PPE and testing supplies. It must collaborate on vaccine development and begin laying the groundwork for sharing those vaccines in the future. And U.S. officials must expedite support to the developing world, recognizing that even if they succeed in containing the virus at home, the country will not be truly safe as long as fires are burning elsewhere.

All of these steps are essential to protecting Americans, and all of them require a kind of globally engaged U.S. response to the pandemic that Trump seems incapable of delivering. If the United States cannot adapt its approach to reflect lessons learned from around the world, it risks an indefinite limbo of intolerable mortality levels and sustained economic stagnation. Breaking out of that limbo will entail first breaking out of the insular mentality that sees the United States as exceptional and holds it apart from the rest of the world.

This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs.com.

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The World Is Watching Crisis at Home Makes the United States Vulnerable Abroad

by Richard Haass Analysts of international affairs rarely focus on how the domestic condition of the United States shapes the country’s influence and role in the world, but today the connection could hardly be more relevant. The United States is currently experiencing three upheavals simultaneously: the COVID19- pandemic, the economic aftershocks of that emergency, and the political protests and in some cases violence sparked by the videotape of the killing of George Floyd, a -46year-old African American man, by police officers in Minneapolis.

The three crises of this moment will undoubtedly affect the foreign policy of the United States, which for three-quarters of a century has been the preeminent power in the world.

Indeed, recent developments could have a profound and enduring impact on American influence. Unless the United States is able to come together to address its persistent societal and political divides, global prospects for democracy may weaken, friends and allies of the United States may rethink their decision to place their security in American hands, and competitors may dispense with some or all of their traditional caution.

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THE WORLD IS WATCHING The example the United States sets at home and the image it projects abroad can either magnify American power or detract from it. For all that foreign policy is commonly understood to be the province of officials and diplomats—consultations, negotiations, communiques, démarches, summits, and more— foreign policy by example is no less real. Through example, a country communicates its values and furnishes a context for all that its representatives say and do. At times, the United States has stood as a paradigm to countries that demanded accountability from their leaders; at other times, the United States has failed to live up to its highest ideals and thereby undermined its calls for other countries to treat their people better.

Today’s American travails have been widely seen and heard outside the United States. Globalization is a conveyor belt— one that in this instance carried stark images of police brutality across the globe. If one lesson of COVID19- is that what starts in Wuhan does not stay in Wuhan, one lesson of the killing of George Floyd is that what happens in Minneapolis does not stay there. Comparisons between the current situation and the United States of 1968 are overdrawn, in no small part because what is going on now is arguably more serious, but one mantra from that time remains apt: “The Whole World is Watching.”

A demonstrator raises their fist as a fire burns in the street after clashes with law enforcement near the Seattle Police Departments East Precinct shortly after midnight on June 2020 ,8 in Seattle, Washington. (Getty)

As if to prove that point, spontaneous demonstrations against racism and police brutality have sprung up around American embassies in Europe and elsewhere. But the context in which they did so is worth elucidating. Confidence in the American example has been waning for years, the result of prolonged political division and dysfunction within the United States—the pervasive gun-related violence that no other society allows or can identify with, the prevalence of opioid addiction and related deaths, the financial mismanagement that led to enormous global hardship in the crisis of 2008, the rise of inequality, the poor infrastructure that greets most visitors to the country, and much else. U.S. President Donald Trump, moreover, has proven to be as controversial, and in many cases as unpopular, abroad as he is at home.

The American response to the COVID19- pandemic reinforced doubts about American competence. That the novel coronavirus would reach American shores was inevitable, given the nature of the pathogen and the initial failure of both China and the World Health Organization (WHO) to contain it and warn the world of it. What was not inevitable was that the disease would take the toll it did. The lack of protective equipment for first responders and hospital staff; the inability to produce at scale accurate, quick tests for either the virus or the antibodies; the delayed and then inconsistent messaging about wearing masks and social distancing—these failures are the country’s own. The result is more than 100,000 fatalities, millions of infections, and a deadly American course no one wishes to follow.

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If one lesson of COVID19is that what starts in Wuhan does not stay in Wuhan, one lesson of the killing of George Floyd is that what happens in Minneapolis does not stay there.

The United States has long retained many positive features when seen from abroad: excellent universities, innovative companies, and a tradition (currently compromised) of openness to immigration. The election of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 seemed to show that racism had abated to a significant degree; the gains of the civil and women’s rights movements were a source of inspiration elsewhere; and even the country’s multiple experiences with impeachment seemed to showcase a system in which no person was above the law. Now, however, the image of a United States consistent with former President Ronald Reagan’s “shining city on a hill” grows ever more distant in the eyes of the world.

As that image recedes, the capacity diminishes for the United States to present itself as a model for others to emulate. So, too, does the ability of the United States to criticize or pressure other countries for their failings. A good deal of evidence suggests that Chinese leader Xi Jinping was on the defensive at home for China’s initial inadequate response to the COVID19- outbreak.

But the United States’ poor showing essentially took Xi off the hook, as invidious comparisons could not be drawn. For all of Washington’s talk, it squandered the opportunity to take a tough stance vis-à-vis China on the pandemic.

The current political crisis, moreover, has likewise hindered U.S. prospects for promoting and protecting democracies abroad.

Human rights and democracy promotion have long been a staple of American foreign policy—partly for normative reasons, because Americans believe that such principles enhance the meaning and value of life, and partly for practical reasons, because many U.S. policymakers believe that democracies act with restraint not just toward their own citizens but toward others and in so doing, make the world less violent. Now, democracy is in recession around the world, and the ability of the United States to arrest that retreat is likewise in decline. A case in point is China, which has countered Washington’s criticism of its actions in Hong Kong by pointing to U.S. behavior at home.

What happened in Washington, D.C. on Monday night, June 1, was particularly consequential in this regard. A peaceful protest in

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the public space across from the White House was broken up, not because it was a threat to order but to serve a political purpose. The White House made a bad situation worse by deploying military units to Washington. But the rights of free speech and assembly, including public protest, are constitutionally guaranteed and stand at the core of American democracy. Public trust requires that federal law enforcement agencies and the military not be politicized. Terrible images from that night travelled across the world. Not lost on either international viewers or American citizens was the dangerous precedent the incident set in a country just five months away from what is sure to be a hard-fought election.

POWER IN RETREAT The turmoil in the United States, set before the eyes of the world, raises questions about American power. To distinguish between absolute power and available power is useful here. The country’s absolute power, above all military and economic power, is still considerable. The bigger question concerns its available power. Is a country with 42 million people unemployed, a declining GDP, shuttered factories, widespread protest that at times turns violent, and deep internal divisions in a position to act internationally?

The answer to this question is anything but clear. Available power consists not just of military and economic instruments but also the ability and the will to use them—and this measure is the one most sensitive to the condition in which the United States now finds itself. The impulse to turn inward and do less in the world was already rising after the United States overreached in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, the country faces formidable domestic strife, which will likely quell much of the remaining appetite to intervene abroad, however justified on occasion it might be. Some of those who bemoan American missteps over the past two decades may welcome such an inward turn. But no less dangerous than overreach is underreach—a United States that fails to act to protect its interests. Such a United States will not be

A traditional security agenda has reemerged, including a revisionist Russia, a rising and more assertive China, and ever more capable hostile middle powers, such as Iran and North Korea.

able to isolate itself from a world in which viruses, greenhouse gases, terrorists, and cyberattacks cross borders at will.

The perception that the United States has been shorn of much of its available power will likely affect the decision-making of other countries. The danger is that foes will see a United States weakened and distracted and move to take advantage. Some, arguably, already have. China has moved or spoken aggressively on Hong Kong, its contested border with India, and Taiwan.

Russia has brazenly interfered with the operation of U.S. planes and ships. North Korea is continuing to expand its arsenal of nuclear weapons and missiles, and Iran is slowly but steadily breaking through the limits established by the 2015 nuclear agreement. Such opportunism has been growing for some time, given the U.S. withdrawal from international undertakings, the current administration’s failure to vocally support U.S. alliances, and reports that Washington is seeking to negotiate the departure of American forces from Afghanistan absent conditions of anything approximating peace. Where would-be foes are tempted to advance, allies will feel anxious, with some choosing to defer to a powerful neighbour and others choosing to take matters into their own hands by accumulating or using military force. U.S. interests and stability will suffer either way.

The moment is therefore dangerous. Three decades after the end of the Cold War on terms more favourable than any optimist could

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Janice Brown recovered from coronavirus symptoms, waves hand as she leaves the Desert Valley Medical Group hospital. The first time Janice Brown landed in the hospital on March 24, she complained of cough and congestion for one week and of an intermittent fever.

(Getty)

The American response to the COVID19- pandemic reinforced doubts about American competence. have hoped, the state of the world is deteriorating. A traditional security agenda has re-emerged, including a revisionist Russia, a rising and more assertive China, and ever more capable hostile middle powers, such as Iran and North Korea; what is more, these concerns share the field with a new security agenda that includes terrorists with global reach, climate change, and pandemics.

The United States that faces this daunting agenda is weakened, divided, and distracted. But the threats will not manage themselves or disappear; nor can the United States shield itself from the adverse consequences of inaction. History has no pause button: the world cannot be expected to wait until the United States sorts itself out. To the contrary, the need is urgent for the United States to come together—to root out racism, restore its economy, and bridge its political divisions—sooner rather than later, for both its own sake and the world’s.

This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs.com.

A protester (C) holds a photo of George Floyd while pro-democracy activist Leung Kwokhung (R), also known as Long Hair, holds a Black Lives Matter sign outside the US consulate during a demonstration against racism and police brutality in Hong ,2020 ,7 Kong on June following the death of George Floyd on May while being ,2020 ,25 arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota. - Getty

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o

pinion

Lebanon’s Failed Sectarian System is to Blame for Hezbollah and its Weaponry

by: Elie Fawaz

Hezbollah’s “opponents” no longer want to address the Lebanese militia’s weapons. These so-called opponents continually emphasized the dangers of the militia’s arms which restrict the state’s sovereignty and independence for over a decade and a half, since the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to the historic settlement that led to the election of Aoun as president. In fact, they claim that the timing is inappropriate to put forward this “slogan” - they, of course, consider it a slogan- arguing that it may divert attention from more important issues such as the immense economic, financial and social crises.

Each political party has its own motives for calling on the protestors not to raise the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons. The most important of these motives is the knowledge that any politician’s advancement in the higher echelons of power is subject to the approval of Lebanon’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Then there is the belief among some that the solution to the problem of Hezbollah’s arms will come externally, either in the form of an Israeli invasion like the one in 1982 which uprooted the Palestinian Liberation Organization from Beirut, which would have returned to Lebanon had it not been for the veto of Hafez Al-Assad, or in the form of US sanctions which will weaken Hezbollah and end its control over the country, dissolving all its remaining powers.

Hezbollah’s “opponents” praise the bloody sacrifices taking place in Iraq and Iran by those who object to or seek to change the regime in those countries. They support the Syrian “revolution” but refuse to pursue such path in Lebanon. Why? Because Lebanon is unique in its structure, and violence will only aid in destroying this paradigm. Hezbollah’s “opponents” find it sufficient to complain about the militia which can land them a neat spot in the government.

And when those same opponents are asked how they can work with a party that is classified as a terrorist organization by the West and the Gulf, which are Lebanon’s economic “lungs”, they say that Hezbollah’s problem is a global one, and therefore they cannot confront it. They believe Americans should impose more sanctions or the Israelis should attack their enemy from the Southern Gate without putting the whole “state” of Lebanon in danger, thus risking the dismantling of the Lebanese version of “coexistence” and the loss of the Lebanese “paradigm” which is considered a gift from God to all humanity.

Lebanon is experiencing serious consecutive political, security, military, economic, and financial crises ever since weaponry invaded the Lebanese political field which has resulted in becoming isolated internationally. Domestically, it has resulted in sectarian tension that is pushing the country into a kind of territorial violence that may one day accelerate into civil war. History proves that this is not the first serious crisis that the country has gone through since the state was founded a hundred years ago.

Therefore, the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons is first and most an important one that should be raised not only as a slogan for a demonstration, but as one of the main problems that hinder the establishment of a state, whatever its form, and prevents the impedes the rule of law and emboldens corruption. Criticism of the regime is essential today, not because Hezbollah and its weaponry are the cause of the economic, financial and social crisis, but rather because it is the result of this failed sectarian system.

There are questions that the Lebanese people need to frankly ask themselves to figure out the reasons that lead to Hezbollah taking over the sovereignty and independence of the country. Why and how did Hezbollah become so powerful? How did this militia contain and control the country? How did the state abandon its role in favour of an armed party? What laws made the state attached to such a party? These questions and others need answering if there is any intention to rebuild the state.

This is the foundation for any political discussion in the country. Anything else is just a waste of time while we await the emergence of another political party like Hezbollah and will allow history to repeat itself.

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A Weekly Political News Magazine

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Issue 1804- June - 12/06/2020

“ Travelling During the Pandemic Age “

www.majalla.com

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Matt Hancock: The Young Health Secretary Who Found Himself Amidst Modern Britain’s Worst Health Crisis

by Majalla-London Early Life and Education Matt Hancock was born on 2 May 1978 in Chester, Cheshire, England. His family did not have a political background, as they owned and ran a software company. The young Matt seemed poised to got into the family business since he studied computing at West Cheshire College. However, when it came time to choose university studies, he decided to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Exeter College, Oxford. Little did he know that later in his life, the abbreviation PPE would cause him a lot of trouble, but we’ll get to that later. He then obtained an MPhil in Economics at Christ’s College, Cambridge. It was around that time when he joined the Conservative Party in 1999. While he did briefly spend some time working at his family’s software business, he later moved to London to work for the Bank of England.

2005-2010: Rising Among the Tory Ranks In 2005, Hancock became an advisor to George Osborne, who was then the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer; Osborne was impressed with Hancock and as result promoted him to become his chief of staff.

Hancock later ran to become the MP for West Suf-

folk in the 2010 General Election, and he successfully secured the seat having gained 24,312 votes, almost double the amount of votes his runner up won.

2010-2018: Backbenches and Junior Ministerial Roles

From 2010 to 2012, Hancock served in the backbenches working for the Public Accounts Committee and the Standards & Privileges Committee. His first ministerial role came during the Cameron years as he was appointed as the Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise, a position he held from 2013 to 2014; during his tenure he expanded apprenticeships for young people. From 2016 to 2018 he became the Minister of State for Digital and Culture and from January 2018 to June 2018, he was the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, during these years he was committed to moving Britain further into the digital age and promised nationwide ultrafast broadband by 2020. He did not remain in the ministry long enough to ensure that promise. During the 2016 Brexit Referendum, Hancock voted in favour of remaining in the EU, but later stated that the vote should be honoured and championed leaving the bloc with a deal.

2019 Bid for Premiership Following Theresa May’s resignation as Prime

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Minister in May 2019, a contest for the leadership of the Conservative Party and the premiership was triggered. Hancock threw his hat into the race, campaigning in favour of leaving the EU with a deal and opposed tactics such as proroguing parliament to get Brexit done. However, he later withdrew after gaining a low number of votes during the first round. He then endorsed Boris Johnson for leadership.

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Hancock replaced Jeremy Hunt as the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in 2018, following the latter’s promotion as the new Foreign Secretary. Although, Hancock had been loyal to May during her tenure, his endorsement for Johnson saw keep his ministerial position. In 2019, Hancock was accused of privatising some parts of the National Health Service (NHS), after news broke out that the government was offering 127 million pounds worth of contracts to private companies. He nevertheless insisted that no privatization of the NHS would happen on his watch.

2020: COVID-19 Crisis and 100,000 Tests a Day On January 31, 2020 was a significant day in Britain for two reasons. First, it was the day in which the UK officially exited out of the EU, causing jubila-

tion for some and misery for others. It was also a significant day because it was the day in which the first cases for Coronavirus were confirmed in Britain. Like most European governments, the British government was slow in responding to the looming crisis. By early March, the virus was rapidly spreading across the UK and the government only responded by giving advice on maintaining social distancing and frequently washing hands. The government also controversially applied a policy of herd immunity, after consulting a group of scientists. It is still unclear weather or not Hancock endorsed such a policy. He would nevertheless write an article for the Sunday Telegraph attempting to clarify the government’s plan: «Herd immunity is not a part of it (the government’s plan). That is a scientific concept, not a goal or a strategy. Our goal is to protect life from this virus, our strategy is to protect the most vulnerable and protect the NHS through contain, delay, research and mitigate.»

Eventually, by late March, the government enforced a lockdown on the UK, in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus. During the next weeks, Hancock had come under criticism for not being able to provide enough personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS doctors and staff working on the frontline of the crisis. Furthermore, the ministry was also criticised for not conducting enough coronavirus tests across the country. To address the second criticism, he had promised that 100,000 tests a day would be conducted in the country by the end of April. As the deadline loomed, the Health Secretary was placed under hard scrutiny, what made matters worse was when he contracted the virus shortly after the Prime Minister had contracted it himself. He nevertheless had mild symptoms and made a quick recovery. He also somewhat stayed true to his promise, as 100,000 tests were successfully sent out on the last day April, however some reports indicated that 40,000 of those tests weren’t completed yet, thus bringing many to question the authenticity of the claim.

Now Hancock is working closely with the government to help it gradually ease lockdown measures, however many critics have said the government is moving too fast and that strict lockdown measures should remain for the coming weeks. Only time will tell if the government’s moves were too hasty.

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ravel

From Free Accommodation to Sanitising Luggage

How the World’s Top Tourist Destination are Vying to Reopen for Travellers

by Ali El Shamy

first there’s the contention that the government has been too late in introducing the guidelines and that The UK has recently adopted a new travel policy, it should have been part of the lockdown plan from which dictates that anyone arriving into the country the very beginning. Second, the airline industry is is required to quarantine themselves for 14 days. not happy with the measure, as it will add more to There are certain people who are exempt from the the losses it has suffered from since the start of the requirement such as government workers, diplomats, lockdown. To alleviate itself from further losses, fruit pickers and lorry drivers or in short key workers. three major British aviation companies are attempting The policy has been criticised for a number of reasons, to persuade the government to allow people from

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Amazing evening landscape of Fira, infinity pool caldera view of Santorini, Greece with cruise ships at sunset.

(Getty)

Sicily has decided to give travellers incentives like offering reduced hotel accommodation costs, as the scheme is offering travellers one night of a three-night trip for free, or two nights of a six-day trip. will effect the industry on both the long term and the short term, however as many countries around the world are opening up and attempting to move away from lockdowns, major tourist destinations are taking different approaches to reinvigorate their own respective travel industries.

GREECE’S EXCLUSIVE TRAVELLERS LIST

countries with low inflection rates to travel to the UK, an approach that has been taken by countries such Greece. Although the UK isn’t overly reliant on tourism, 9 per cent Britain’s GDP is generated from the industry. Furthermore, it is one of the country’s fastest growing industries as pre-COVID19- figures showed that tourism in the UK was set to see an annual 3.8 per cent expansion until the year 2025.

Thus far, it is still too early to tell how the pandemic

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Out of most of the world’s tourist destinations, Greece has probably come up with the most scientific approach towards restarting the tourism industry. On May 29, the Greek Ministry for Tourism announced that it had studied the epidemiological profiles of countries and from that survey it came up with a list of 29 countries from which it will allow travellers from. Most, if not all, of the countries that made the cut were ones that took swift actions towards tackling the pandemic, thus keeping infection/death rates low. Among these countries are South Korea, Japan, Germany, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Lebanon, Israel and Malta. Unsurprisingly, countries with high infection and death rates such as Italy and Spain have not been included in the list in spite of being Schengen countries. Starting from June 15, travellers from the 29 countries can come into Greece and move freely without any quarantines or restrictions, and it is hoped that once infection rates start going down in other countries, Greece will start adding more countries to that exclusive list.

ITALY’S MORE LAISSEZ FAIRE APPROACH During the early days of the pandemic, Italy became Europe’s epicentre for the virus. In spite of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s early decision to enforce a nationwide lockdown on March 9, the country still

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ravel

suffered from 34,000 deaths and 236 thousand cases.

However, now that infection rates have dramatically gone down, the government is ready to reopen the popular tourist destination just in time for the summer holidays. To do this, the Italian government has decided to open up to travellers coming from the EU and the Schengen Area, as tourists from such countries will be able to arrive at Italy and not undergo a -14day quarantine. June is set to be a big month for Italy, as bars, museums, galleries and cinemas will be set to reopen, and tourists will easily find many activities to do and many places to go to. However, the government did say that it would reapply restrictions again if infection rates start to rise again, as only time will tell if this laissez faire approach to tourism will work during these crucial next months.

The island of Sicily, which heavily relies on tourism, has taken further steps to encourage travellers to bask in its beaches. The island has decided to give travellers incentives like offering reduced hotel accommodation costs, as the scheme is offering travellers one night of a three-night trip for free, or two nights of a sixday trip. The scheme has also offered tourists with vouchers for cultural and heritage sights.

fit countries, which it will welcome travellers from.

Starting from June 9, Cyprus will begin phase one of reopening the tourism industry, during said phase travllers from 13 countries will be allowed within CYPRUS GOES THE EXTRA MILE the country. This exclusive list includes Greece, Germany, Austria and Israel. Travellers from these Fifteen per cent of Cyprus’s GDP comes from the countries will have to undergo a COVID19- test tourism industry, as such the country will be eager to three days prior to their travel date, and then provide re-welcome visitors after a nearly 3 month lockdown. proof of a negative result upon arrival. Those who are In spite of the country’s massive need for tourists, it unable to provide this proof will not be allowed in is still not taking a relaxed approach to reopening the Cyprus. June 20 will see the beginning of phase two, country. Instead, it has taken a similar approach to that by which those from the initial thirteen countries will of Greece’s and published a list of epidemiologically no longer have to provide a health certificate, however Cyprus will add six more countries to the exclusive list and travellers from those six countries will need to provide proof of health upon arrival. If tourists catch the coronavirus during their stays in Cyprus, then the Cypriot government will cover their accommodation and hospital costs.

If tourists catch the coronavirus during their stays in Cyprus, then the Cypriot government will cover their accommodation and hospital costs.

CANCUN HOPES TO WOO TOURISTS Mexico is home to some of the world’s most popular tourist hotspots, as the state of Quintana Roo is home to the scenic beaches of Cancun and Playa Del. Mexico has implemented a “traffic light”

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An aerial view of the beach at Punta Cancun on April 2020 ,21 in Cancun, Mexico.

(Getty)

strategy towards COVID19, as “red states” had strict restrictions placed on it, while “orange states” could have some restrictions lifted. Recently, Quintana Roo moved from red to orange and as a result, the state had permission to kick-start plans to reopen its popular tourists destinations for travellers. Quintana Roo is now allowed to reopen hotels, hotel beaches, restaurants, historic sites and theme parks, however these facilities are only allowed to operate at a 30 per cent capacity. Moreover, other popular tourist destinations such as public beaches and nightclubs will not be allowed to reopen. Hotels in this area are also set to launch the #Come2MexicanCaribbean campaign which will offer travellers up to a 50 per cent discount on hotel accommodation.

Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism has given a set of requirements for hotels; such requirements include operating at a 25 per cent capacity, regularly sterilizing hotel rooms, lobbies and luggage and regular temperature checks for guests.

of Tourism has given a set of requirements for hotels, such requirements include operating at a 25 per cent capacity, regularly sterilizing hotel rooms, lobbies and luggage, regular temperature checks for guests, Egypt is still enforcing strict travel restrictions for requiring guests and staff to maintain a safe social international travellers, as most flights to Cairo and distance, requiring staff to wear face masks and even other airports have been halted since March. While using only disposal pens during check in. If such a the North African country is still not allowing measured approach works, then this might serve as international tourists, it is looking to restart its a prototype of how to welcome international tourists domestic tourism industry. To do this, the Ministry once travel restrictions are lifted in Egypt.

EGYPT’S SLOW AND STEADY APPROACH

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H

ealth

Packing on Pounds During COVID-19 and How to Turn it Around The “Quarantine 15” is Likely Due to a Disruption in Daily Routine and Habits

by Mayo Clinic

home guidelines went into effect — is likely due to a disruption in daily routine and habits.

If you’ve gained weight during the COVID-19 pandemic, you aren’t alone. The “Quarantine 15” — referring to weight gain some people have experienced since stay-at-

“People’s habits have changed quite a bit since we’re spending more time at home,” says Dr. Donald Hensrud,

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medical director of Mayo Clinic’s Healthy Living Program.

And those changes in habits can lead to health and medical issues down the road. Dr. Hensrud shares his thoughts on the disruption of habits and how people can find new habits.

“Now, I want to make a point for some people: getting enough food, getting enough calories and maintaining weight may be an issue,” says Dr. Hensrud. “Some people may have to worry about maintaining their weight not unintentionally losing weight. But for many of us, our habits have changed.”

CHANGE IN MOVEMENT “For example, people think about exercise right away, and they should,” says Dr. Hensrud. “Fitness centers are closed, people may be doing less exercise and burning less calories through activity that way. What people don’t think quite as much about though is low-level activity throughout the day.

Even if we have a desk job, we have to walk at least to our car to get to work. We may walk throughout the day; we may walk to lunch. And, so, for spending time at home, that low-level activity may be causing us to burn fewer overall calories.”

CONSUMING MORE CALORIES “We may be consuming more calories. On the good side, we’re eating out less at restaurants. Sometimes that can be high-calorie. We still may be taking takeout at home, so there might be a little bit of a good thing there, a decrease in calories. However, many people are stocking up frozen foods and processed foods that have a long shelf life. Many times, they’re higher in calories and less healthy. On the flip side, for example, fruits and vegetables. They don’t last as long, and we may be consuming less of them. There are a number of reasons why we might be at risk for weight gain through our habits that have changed, both in burning activity and in consuming more calories,” says Dr. Hensrud.

WHY WEIGHT GAIN MATTERS “A few pounds short term may not make a difference. It could be fluid. It might be just a little weight gain while we establish new routines. Obviously, the more weight we gain and the longer it’s maintained, the more it affects our health,” says Dr. Hensrud. “For children, for example, it’s been shown that children’s weight tracks to some extent.

If children establish those habits, or lack of healthy habits when they’re young and they gain weight, that might persist as they go into adolescence and adulthood.”

“Similarly, with adults, as we maintain those habits, if we

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Just a modest amount of weight gain in some people, if they’re sensitive to that, can increase their blood glucose and blood pressure, and they won’t have as well a good control over these factors, over these conditions. can establish a new routine, the longer this goes on, then we can arrest that weight gain and try and maintain a normal weight. It’s more important for some people than others.

For example, people who have diabetes or high blood pressure. Just a modest amount of weight gain in some people, if they’re sensitive to that, can increase their blood glucose and blood pressure, and they won’t have as well a good control over these factors, over these conditions. So, it depends on the individual, it depends on their health conditions, and it depends on long-term habits or routines,” says Dr. Hensrud.

ESTABLISH NEW HABITS “With all habits, it takes time to establish them, so everybody is getting accustomed to this new normal. I’d encourage people to establish those new healthy habits now. You have to be a little proactive about this, and that’ll make it easier in the long term. Break out of your comfort zone,” says Dr. Hensrud.

“Instead of giving in to large amounts of comfort food, this can be an opportunity to take foods that we may not think of as healthy — you can make burritos, bean burritos or even pizza. If you make it in the correct way, it can be a healthy food. Invest some time. Planning is a real key here if you plan ahead rather than just grabbing something at the last moment. Try and raise your culinary skills and do a little bit more cooking. It’s an opportunity for that, too. So, if we can embrace this, embrace our new normal, look for opportunities to establish new healthy routines.”

“Eating healthy and eating well don’t have to be drudgery. It can and should be an enjoyable way to live. And if we can do that, then we can better manage our weight and our overall health during this pandemic,” says Dr. Hensrud.

o

pinion

Assad’s Divide and Conquer Strategy in Syria

by Alia Mansour

Divide and conquer is a political-military-economic term policy of maintaining control over one’s subordinates or opponents by encouraging dissent between them. We have long read about the divide and conquer strategy of colonialism by the British in India, the French in Africa, and the Israelis in Palestine.

Imperialist and reactionary forces have espoused this strategy to control Syria, embedding it in the country’s collective memory.

While it may be true that every leader pursues their own self-interests in their own way, the Assad regime, from father to son, has been the most effective in adhering to the policy of divide and conquer to dominate Syria.

Since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, the regime has continually adhered to this tactic. While the Syrians were chanting “ Syrians stand united”, the regime found new ways to sow discord between Syrian regions and among people of the same region from different religious sects. The Syrian regime succeeded most of the time due to the unprecedented violence used specifically against members of the Sunni community, and which later facilitated the emergence of extremist groups embracing sectarian rhetoric that further served the regime’s strategy of division.

fact, in most cases, Assad’s regime was responsible for crafting those feuds. This strategy was even used years prior to the start of the revolution to initiate quarrals between the two regions. The events that took place in the Suwayda desert in the year 2000 were named the “Bedouin clashes” by the regime to foster permanent strife that it can control.

Since the beginning of the revolution that started in Daraa and spread to other cities and towns, the regime has used sectarian and religion as a to create a rift between Sunni-majority Daraa, and Druze-majority Suwayda. The Syrian regime set up blockades and military barracks in some areas of Suwayda to launch military attacks against Daraa.

And when the Free Army responded, the regime exploited the situation further to incite sectarian and territorial feuds between the two provinces.

Suwayda was involved in the revolution from the beginning and lawyers from the province Suwayda’s free lawyers were renowned for their agility and their support of the revolution. The people of Sawayda helped to protect displaced the residents of Daraa from Al-Assad’s oppression. However, as the revolution evolved, protests significantly declined in As-Suwayda, and residents began taking a neutral approach towards the uprising. It was estimated that more than fifty thousand young men refused to join the Some of the most affected regions by military service and the regime forces in the divide and conquer policy were the the province. governorates of Daraa and Suwayda.

During the past nine years, the regime When the Syrian regime failed to signifiexploited every opportunity to trigger cantly penetrate the province, it resorted feuds among the two governorates. In to bringing in support from Lebanon 54

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who tried to establish sectarian militias under the names of the Salman Al-Farsi and Abu Ibrahim’s forces. However, the province’s youth rejected and expelled them from Jaramana and Suwayda when they spoke ill of the Syrian revolution.

After Jabhat Al-Nusra attempted to enter Druze villages during the Dama battle (Dama is a village in the Suwayda Governorate) between Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Syrian regime’s forces, in which Sheikh Al-Balaous and young men from Suweyda fought alongside the regime, Balous accused the regime of withdrawing its forces and leaving the AsSuwayda to fight alone.

Subsequently, Al-Balaous turned against the regime and called on young men in Suwayda not to fight alongside the regime and the Iranian militias. Al-Balaous began shifting his rhetoric from a local sectarian one to a national one. As a result, the Syrian regime assassinated him in September 2015.

The Syrian Centre for Legal Studies and Research and Democratic Republic Studies Center recently published a study that concluded that the Assad regime “used the existence of ISIS in the province of Suwayda to frighten residents of the uncontainable savagery of the terrorist organisation and to quell the protest movements while draining the power of the civil factions.” The study also addressed the coordination between the Syrian regime and ISIS where the former supplied the latter with arms through its militias and smugglers.

In July 2018, ISIS committed a series of terrorist bombings in several areas in the province of Suwayda which claimed the lives of around 250 civilians. During this period, Assad’s regime failed to send forces to deter ISIS and instead sent military planes to bomb the battle lines.

tack, under an agreement sponsored by Russia between ISIS and the Assad regime, Iranians and local Palestinian organizations in the Yarmouk camp, approximately 1,600 ISIS fighters moved from southern Damascus to eastern Suwayda to join hundreds of ISIS fighters in East Suwayda.

Moreover, the Governorates of Daraa and Suwayda recently overcame the sectarian strife which had increased due to kidnapping gangs that operated during the revolution.

Those gangs are linked to the Syrian regime and operate under its supervision but there are no attempts to end such acts.

Although Russia has always tried to appear as a mediator that eases tensions whenever there is a dispute between the people of Suwayda and the regime or pro-Russian associates, in reality Moscow has always tried to take control of the strings of discord.

Today, the revolution has regained its life from Suwayda. The youth are out again demanding the disbanding of the regime and saluting the revolutionaries all over Syria.

The people of Suwayda await solidarity from Daraa, Idlib and other Syrian regions. They also waiting for Syrians to come out in support of their demands in a unified spirit. Did the new generation of revolutionaries learn from the mistakes that were made by their predecessors?

Will the Syrian regime along with the Russians and Iranians be distracted by the consequences of Caesar’s Law which will impede the use of their divide and conquer policy?

Or is the Syrian regime still capable of sowing the divisions it has been feeding on for the past fifty years?

The Syrians must be careful because a leopard cannot change its spots, and Al-Assad Almost two months before this terrorist at- grew up wearing his father’s spots.

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