IMF, EU 3bn Loan Welcomed in Balkans Despite Unknowns
EU candidate countries from the region have greeted an offer of 3 billion euros in emergency loans to deal with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic – although the terms of the loans have yet to be clarified. EU candidate states from the West Balkans have welcomed the offer of 3 billion euros in e…
Weekend Roundup: Time to Redefine Defense and Redesign Global Cooperation
Geopolitical orders, including the balance of power, arise to contain threats and promote the interests of nations that benefit from the stability they maintain. The present order is still primarily a legacy of past world wars. National arsenals and multilateral institutions established to fortify t…
Security for a Post-Pandemic World
In the pandemic, for the first time in living memory, humanity is confronting a common threat that it must defeat collectively. Most arguments currently revolve around the cost of that victory in terms of loss of life and economic damage. The disruption will indeed be huge, comparable only to that w…
Macron, Merkel, and Europe’s “moment of truth”
The Macron thunderbolt struck again. In his recent interview with the Financial Times, the French president set about whipping up a political storm. Ahead of this week’s meeting of European Union heads of state and government, he raised the stakes skyward by linking financial solidarity, or joint bo…
The end of economic growth
What economies face now may not be solely a coronavirus-triggered meltdown. As devastating as the coming recession—or depression—is likely to be, the health crisis is exacerbating problems in a system that was already under strain. A view of Times Square hours ahead of the implementation of ‘New Yor…
Coronavirus: World risks ‘biblical’ famines due to pandemic – UN
The world is at risk of widespread famines “of biblical proportions” caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the UN has warned. David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme (WFP), said urgent action was needed to avoid a catastrophe. A report estimates that the number suffering from hunger could go f…
U.N. chief says there’s a bigger threat than coronavirus
NEW YORK — United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will use a speech marking the 50th Earth Day on Wednesday to confront President Donald Trump and directly link coronavirus with climate change. The stark language of Guterres’ prepared remarks, obtained by POLITICO, marks a new willingness…
The Pandemic and the Myth of Government Competence
Though it is taking place amid some of the most terrible circumstances imaginable, the coronavirus outbreak is also a real-world experiment. We are testing many of the assumptions shared by those who invest a lot of trust in public knowledge and government competence. The experiment isn’t going so w…
Without a central plan, Europe risks a weakened coronavirus recovery
Ignoring painful lessons from the disastrous response to the 2008-2009 financial crisis has become a habit for northern European countries. Betting against their own futures during the recent European Union finance ministers’ gathering, they rejected the idea of a Eurobond or any other new centraliz…
COVID-19: ‘Phased process’ for lifting restrictions is key, WHO chief urges G20
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) told a virtual meeting of the G20 leading global economies on Sunday that although it was encouraging for some countries to be planning to ease lockdowns against COVID-19, “it is critical that these measures are a phased process”. Tedros Adhanom Ghebre…