No country has been spared the impact of Covid-19. But some—the world’s most ‘fragile states’—face a particularly difficult set of challenges. Before the pandemic arrived, Yemen, Sudan, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Venezuela and other …
Chinese diplomats have long had a reputation as well-trained, colourless and cautious professionals who pursue their missions doggedly without attracting much unfavourable attention. But a new crop of younger diplomats are ditching established diplomatic norms …
The small landlocked Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, which lies between China and India, is not only a tourist mecca. The country has also long pioneered the concept of ‘gross national happiness’, which its architects regard …
Herewith a preliminary assessment of losers and winners from the global pandemic. The list is subject to change without notice. Losers The United States may turn out to be the biggest loser of all. Washington’s …
The world has spent the past 30 years trying to redefine ‘national security’ in ways that will allow nation-states to prepare for and tackle a wider range of threats to our existence and wellbeing. Alternatively, …
Even before the outbreak of Covid-19, the level of global debt was high by historic standards. According to the Institute of International Finance, by late 2019 global debt (including private and public debt) was more …
The social isolation driven by the worldwide pandemic is providing opportunities to think, not just about Covid-19, how we got here or even why people hoarded toilet paper. While some have helped to put the …
One of Covid-19’s paradoxes has been the way in which some wealthy, high-capacity countries (particularly the United States and the United Kingdom) failed to contain the virus, while some poorer countries and regions with less …
The rules of global trade went out the window between February and April as nations fought like cats to secure supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE). It was each for themselves and the devil take …
The global backlash against China over its culpability for the international spread of the deadly coronavirus from Wuhan has gained momentum in recent weeks. And China itself has added fuel to the fire, as exemplified …
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s penchant for theatrics has had deadly consequences for India’s poor. That was certainly the case with his disastrous demonetisation policy in 2016 and his government’s rushed implementation of a national …
How will the Covid-19 mega-crisis end? I don’t know, and nor does anyone else. So, perhaps it would be more productive to reflect on how it started. By addressing that issue, we might be able …
