csmonitor--2020-07-16--Paging through pandemic: Reading gets a COVID lift

Two years ago , pediatrician-turned-author Sayantani DasGupta published the first in what became a best-selling trilogy of children ’ s books .
Revolving around an Indian girl who makes her home in New Jersey before embarking on an adventure to save the multiverse , the “ Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond ” series may be fanciful but it began with a serious goal : to broaden the idea of who a hero or heroine can be .
“ It ’ s hard to be what you can ’ t see , ” says Ms. DasGupta , a writer of Indian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ States .
Yet it ’ s not just the fictional Kiranmala who serves as a role model but also Ms. DasGupta herself .
The writer prizes face-to-face interactions with fans during school visits and book tours .
“ They ’ re able to change their notion of who an author is , ” she says .
Those in-person visits came to a screeching halt in early March , when the coronavirus began to surface .
Ms. DasGupta was on the West Coast promoting the third book in the series , “ The Chaos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and she had planned to attend several book festivals .
Quickly , she found herself reckoning with a new reality in which she needed to promote her work from an electronic remove .
The pandemic has wreaked havoc with the plans of not just authors but also publishers and booksellers .
It ’ s a major adjustment for an industry that , until the spring , had seen numerous high-profile releases garnering attention and sales holding steady year to year , with some 689.5 million print books sold in 2019 , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , represented uncharted territory .
On the one hand , e-book sales were rising because people were stuck at home , but on the other bookstore closures since March eliminated consumer browsing and eradicated in-store sales .
“ Even during World War I and World War II , bookstores remained open , ” says Albert Greco , a business professor at Fordham University in New York who follows the publishing industry .
“ We were bracing ourselves for Armageddon , ” says Jennifer Enderlin , a publisher at St. Martin ’ s Press @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spend on books ?
Will they want to be reading ?
” As it turns out , while reader preferences have undergone changes – in June , books on racism were selling out online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble – the demand for print books remains .
During the pandemic , reader interest has surged in specific categories of books .
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt president of trade publishing Ellen Archer has noted readers falling back on “ trusted brands , ” including existing titles by popular young adult writers Kwame Alexander , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ There ’ s less risk-taking right now , ” Ms. Archer says .
Titles that nourish more than challenge have proven popular , including cooking and lifestyle titles , as well as juvenile nonfiction .
For new and emerging authors , such retrenchment among readers can be worrisome .
Unable to register with readers through traditional means , and facing a public clinging to past enthusiasms , such writers must work harder to have their efforts noticed .
“ People want to be comforted , ” says New Yorker staff writer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ books .
“ They want to return to familiar reads .
...
There ’ s a lot less bandwidth in the cultural imagination for new works.
” Among the authors concerned about this state of affairs is Veronica Roth .
Widely popular as the creator of the young adult-focused “ Divergent ” series , Ms. Roth recently debuted a novel for adults , “ Chosen Ones , ” which Houghton Mifflin Harcourt released on April 7 .
“ It was very much a step toward something new for me , and that made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says .
“ For anyone who ’ s taking a step in a new direction , [ the timing ] is not the best.
” Having scrapped a multicity tour , Ms. Roth has participated in the sort of online events that have become omnipresent during the pandemic .
Somewhat to her surprise , Ms. Roth found herself reaching readers she might not have encountered in real life .
“ There are a lot of places that I wasn ’ t going to go on the tour , ” she says .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in person , but you also gain something.
” Over the past few months , e-book sales have risen due to their instantaneous availability – a consideration among consumers with stores closed and Amazon deliveries taking longer – but publishers express an ongoing commitment to print books .
“ If you are a dyed-in-the-wool print book reader , you ’ re not going to suddenly switch to e-books because of the pandemic , ” Ms. Enderlin says .
“ You ’ ll just go out of your way to find your print books.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ meant not just relying on Amazon but making a special effort to support local bookstores .
“ Retail bookstores , both chain and independents , are selling print books to customers through their websites and offering curbside or home delivery in addition to online fulfillment , ” says Alison Lazarus , the executive vice president , group sales director , at the Hachette Book Group .
“ For us this isn ’ t just a bookstore .
It ’ s a place of community and gathering , ” says Leonard Egerton , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Nubian Square .
“ Before our store , there were no black-owned bookstores in Boston.
” With the pandemic , Mr. Egerton wasn ’ t sure he could keep the store afloat , despite selling books online .
“ But our community has turned out to support us in ways that ’ ve just blown us away .
Their actions are saying to us , ‘ We want and need this bookstore here.
’ ” The famous Powell ’ s Books in Portland , Oregon , initially anticipated suspending all operations – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before seeing upticks in online ordering , which has continued .
“ Depending on the day , it would ’ ve been five times a previous day ’ s sales online , ” says owner Emily Powell .
“ Which doesn ’ t begin to make up for the stores , but it ’ s certainly more than our processes were prepared for.
” Although Ms. Archer of Houghton Mifflin has seen “ huge spikes ” in e-book sales , those who imagine an all e-book future overlook the significant revenue still generated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ We want all of these stores to come out OK from this , ” she says .
Book sales at mass-merchant retailers , among them Costco and Kroger , have helped lessen the blow for publishers , but can independent bookstores – which , over the last decade , have quietly grown in number – survive the shutdowns ?
“ Probably the independents will struggle , ” Professor Greco says .
“ One of the key things that made the growth of independents so successful , between 2009 and 2019 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ centers.
” Such bookstores presented a social experience , something that is difficult to replicate online .
The Lit .
Bar in New York , the only independent bookstore in the Bronx , is owned by Noëlle Santos , who is black .
It provides “ an essential part of community programming , ” says Khalea Underwood , a writer and editor who before the pandemic closures patronized the bar .
“ It ’ s a place for people of color to connect , not just about literature , but about life in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ publishing community sees the pandemic as a period to struggle through rather than as a harbinger of major changes .
Current preferences for escapism notwithstanding , readers ’ behavior is likely to return to normal .
“ Readers are going to resume their familiar patterns and tastes , ” says Paul Bogaards , a publisher at Knopf .
“ People are still going to read ... commercial fiction , they ’ re still going to read literary fiction.
” “ There ’ s always been a feeling that books are kind of recession-proof @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We didn ’ t know if they were pandemic-proof , but they ’ re turning out to be .
”

Two years ago, pediatrician-turned-author Sayantani DasGupta published the first in what became a best-selling trilogy of children’s books. Revolving around an Indian girl who makes her home in New Jersey before embarking on an adventure to save the multiverse, the “Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond” series may be fanciful but it began with a serious goal: to broaden the idea of who a hero or heroine can be.
“It’s hard to be what you can’t see,” says Ms. DasGupta, a writer of Indian heritage who was raised in the United States.
Yet it’s not just the fictional Kiranmala who serves as a role model but also Ms. DasGupta herself. The writer prizes face-to-face interactions with fans during school visits and book tours. “They’re able to change their notion of who an author is,” she says.
Why We Wrote This Will buying e-books and chatting virtually with authors be enough to keep readers engaged while they’re largely stuck at home? Authors, bookstore owners, and publishers ponder the way forward.
Those in-person visits came to a screeching halt in early March, when the coronavirus began to surface. Ms. DasGupta was on the West Coast promoting the third book in the series, “The Chaos Curse,” published by Scholastic Press, and she had planned to attend several book festivals. Quickly, she found herself reckoning with a new reality in which she needed to promote her work from an electronic remove.
The pandemic has wreaked havoc with the plans of not just authors but also publishers and booksellers. It’s a major adjustment for an industry that, until the spring, had seen numerous high-profile releases garnering attention and sales holding steady year to year, with some 689.5 million print books sold in 2019, according to Publishers Weekly.
COVID-19, however, represented uncharted territory. On the one hand, e-book sales were rising because people were stuck at home, but on the other bookstore closures since March eliminated consumer browsing and eradicated in-store sales.
“Even during World War I and World War II, bookstores remained open,” says Albert Greco, a business professor at Fordham University in New York who follows the publishing industry.
“We were bracing ourselves for Armageddon,” says Jennifer Enderlin, a publisher at St. Martin’s Press. “Will people have money to spend on books? Will they want to be reading?” As it turns out, while reader preferences have undergone changes – in June, books on racism were selling out online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble – the demand for print books remains.
During the pandemic, reader interest has surged in specific categories of books. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt president of trade publishing Ellen Archer has noted readers falling back on “trusted brands,” including existing titles by popular young adult writers Kwame Alexander, Lois Lowry, and Linda Sue Park. “There’s less risk-taking right now,” Ms. Archer says. Titles that nourish more than challenge have proven popular, including cooking and lifestyle titles, as well as juvenile nonfiction.
For new and emerging authors, such retrenchment among readers can be worrisome. Unable to register with readers through traditional means, and facing a public clinging to past enthusiasms, such writers must work harder to have their efforts noticed.
“People want to be comforted,” says New Yorker staff writer Katy Waldman, who frequently writes about books. “They want to return to familiar reads. ... There’s a lot less bandwidth in the cultural imagination for new works.”
Among the authors concerned about this state of affairs is Veronica Roth. Widely popular as the creator of the young adult-focused “Divergent” series, Ms. Roth recently debuted a novel for adults, “Chosen Ones,” which Houghton Mifflin Harcourt released on April 7. “It was very much a step toward something new for me, and that made it more challenging,” Ms. Roth says. “For anyone who’s taking a step in a new direction, [the timing] is not the best.”
Having scrapped a multicity tour, Ms. Roth has participated in the sort of online events that have become omnipresent during the pandemic. Somewhat to her surprise, Ms. Roth found herself reaching readers she might not have encountered in real life. “There are a lot of places that I wasn’t going to go on the tour,” she says. “You lose something by not having it in person, but you also gain something.”
Will e-books overtake print?
Over the past few months, e-book sales have risen due to their instantaneous availability – a consideration among consumers with stores closed and Amazon deliveries taking longer – but publishers express an ongoing commitment to print books. “If you are a dyed-in-the-wool print book reader, you’re not going to suddenly switch to e-books because of the pandemic,” Ms. Enderlin says. “You’ll just go out of your way to find your print books.”
For many readers, that has meant not just relying on Amazon but making a special effort to support local bookstores. “Retail bookstores, both chain and independents, are selling print books to customers through their websites and offering curbside or home delivery in addition to online fulfillment,” says Alison Lazarus, the executive vice president, group sales director, at the Hachette Book Group.
“For us this isn’t just a bookstore. It’s a place of community and gathering,” says Leonard Egerton, the owner of Frugal Bookstore in Boston’s Nubian Square. “Before our store, there were no black-owned bookstores in Boston.” With the pandemic, Mr. Egerton wasn’t sure he could keep the store afloat, despite selling books online. “But our community has turned out to support us in ways that’ve just blown us away. Their actions are saying to us, ‘We want and need this bookstore here.’”
The famous Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, initially anticipated suspending all operations – both its physical stores and website – before seeing upticks in online ordering, which has continued. “Depending on the day, it would’ve been five times a previous day’s sales online,” says owner Emily Powell. “Which doesn’t begin to make up for the stores, but it’s certainly more than our processes were prepared for.”
Although Ms. Archer of Houghton Mifflin has seen “huge spikes” in e-book sales, those who imagine an all e-book future overlook the significant revenue still generated by print book sales in physical stores. “We want all of these stores to come out OK from this,” she says. Book sales at mass-merchant retailers, among them Costco and Kroger, have helped lessen the blow for publishers, but can independent bookstores – which, over the last decade, have quietly grown in number – survive the shutdowns?
“Probably the independents will struggle,” Professor Greco says. “One of the key things that made the growth of independents so successful, between 2009 and 2019, was the fact that they were community centers.”
Such bookstores presented a social experience, something that is difficult to replicate online. The Lit. Bar in New York, the only independent bookstore in the Bronx, is owned by Noëlle Santos, who is black. It provides “an essential part of community programming,” says Khalea Underwood, a writer and editor who before the pandemic closures patronized the bar. “It’s a place for people of color to connect, not just about literature, but about life in general.”
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empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
Books are ‘pandemic-proof’
In the end, the publishing community sees the pandemic as a period to struggle through rather than as a harbinger of major changes. Current preferences for escapism notwithstanding, readers’ behavior is likely to return to normal. “Readers are going to resume their familiar patterns and tastes,” says Paul Bogaards, a publisher at Knopf. “People are still going to read ... commercial fiction, they’re still going to read literary fiction.”
“There’s always been a feeling that books are kind of recession-proof,” Ms. Enderlin says. “We didn’t know if they were pandemic-proof, but they’re turning out to be.”


csmonitor--2020-07-17--A model for letting go of the past

A model for letting go of the past

Reconciliation among peoples is hard work .
Just ask officials of Vietnam and the U.S. On July 11 , the two countries celebrated the 25th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties .
Working through the bitter legacy of their long war has taken that many years .
Yet even though much mending is still to be done , Vietnam is now regarded as America ’ s closest ally in Southeast Asia and a major business partner .
The two have built up valuable trust by helping each other locate their missing soldiers and by jointly reducing the everyday damage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ military ’ s use of Agent Orange .
Further progress in their friendship , says Vietnam ’ s Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong , depends on “ a mentality to let go of the past.
” One bonus of all this hard work is the people ties .
Nearly 30,000 Vietnamese attend U.S. schools while more than 1,200 Americans study in Vietnam .
For the first time , Hanoi has agreed to allow the Peace Corps to operate in the country .
And the U.S. ambassador recently visited Vietnam ’ s cemeteries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ steady healing of the war ’ s aftermath is not the only reason for the closeness .
The two are slowly forming a strategic partnership to counter China ’ s growing use of naval force against Vietnam , Malaysia , Indonesia , and the Philippines over disputed islets , fisheries , and oil deposits in the South China Sea .
Vietnam is allowing more U.S. warships to visit its ports .
And for the first time , the United States has taken the position that China ’ s claims to the South China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may further help Vietnam beef up its maritime forces .
Hanoi , meanwhile , is reportedly weighing whether to take Beijing to an international court over its persistent bullying tactics in Vietnamese waters .
Hanoi remains wary of being a close ally of any major power .
And the U.S. hardly embraces the Communist Party ’ s suppression of dissent .
Yet the two have squarely faced the pain of their history and are replacing it with lasting bonds .
The U.S. , for example , is now Vietnam ’ s biggest export @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hanoi ’ s leadership in the region and its remarkable success in preventing COVID-19 deaths .
As the two keep working on the physical and moral legacies of the war , they are opening a future that few people imagined a few decades ago .

Reconciliation among peoples is hard work. Just ask officials of Vietnam and the U.S. On July 11, the two countries celebrated the 25th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties. Working through the bitter legacy of their long war has taken that many years. Yet even though much mending is still to be done, Vietnam is now regarded as America’s closest ally in Southeast Asia and a major business partner.
The two have built up valuable trust by helping each other locate their missing soldiers and by jointly reducing the everyday damage from unexploded war ordnance and the American military’s use of Agent Orange. Further progress in their friendship, says Vietnam’s Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, depends on “a mentality to let go of the past.”
One bonus of all this hard work is the people ties. Nearly 30,000 Vietnamese attend U.S. schools while more than 1,200 Americans study in Vietnam. For the first time, Hanoi has agreed to allow the Peace Corps to operate in the country. And the U.S. ambassador recently visited Vietnam’s cemeteries for its “war martyrs.”
This steady healing of the war’s aftermath is not the only reason for the closeness. The two are slowly forming a strategic partnership to counter China’s growing use of naval force against Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines over disputed islets, fisheries, and oil deposits in the South China Sea.
Vietnam is allowing more U.S. warships to visit its ports. And for the first time, the United States has taken the position that China’s claims to the South China Sea are “completely unlawful.” Washington may further help Vietnam beef up its maritime forces. Hanoi, meanwhile, is reportedly weighing whether to take Beijing to an international court over its persistent bullying tactics in Vietnamese waters.
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Hanoi remains wary of being a close ally of any major power. And the U.S. hardly embraces the Communist Party’s suppression of dissent. Yet the two have squarely faced the pain of their history and are replacing it with lasting bonds. The U.S., for example, is now Vietnam’s biggest export market. The Trump administration has lauded Hanoi’s leadership in the region and its remarkable success in preventing COVID-19 deaths.
As the two keep working on the physical and moral legacies of the war, they are opening a future that few people imagined a few decades ago.


csmonitor--2020-07-17--America has bungled the pandemic. Now what?

“ That ’ s what makes America great , ” says Dr. Zerhouni .
“ And it will remain great as long as we have that unselfish behavior.
” Scientific and health care workers continue to risk their lives to save patients .
Collaboration in the scientific community has been unprecedented .
Entire states have locked down to some degree , sacrificing economic stability for human life .
There is still hope for American unity , despite the halting government response , says Elias Zerhouni , director of the National Institutes of Health from 2002 to 2008 .
The point @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , say experts .
The greatness of the U.S. has often depended on its ability to rally and improve after initial disaster .
How did the richest nation bungle the pandemic so badly ?
Bad planning .
Poor leadership .
Politicization .
Inconsistent communication .
Unconnected and ineffective action .
Not the United States .
Four months into the crisis , cases here are skyrocketing , the death toll is ticking ominously upward , and the outlook for August and beyond looks worse .
Many nations that suffered severe initial COVID-19 outbreaks are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life , with restaurants , sports , and schools beginning to reopen .
In North Carolina , as in much of America , coronavirus cases are on the rise again .
Nash County , a largely rural area in the north of the state , hasn ’ t yet been overwhelmed by the pandemic .
But people there are anxious about the persistence of the virus and uncertain about the road ahead , as summer ticks away and autumn begins to glimmer in the distance .
Melody Boyd already lost her father to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ post office in Nashville , the county seat , she says he was 75 and had no underlying health conditions .
Now her sister has contracted the virus .
She worries about her grandchildren returning to classrooms and wishes politicians would stop pushing so hard to reopen schools .
“ I just thought this would have died down by now , ” she says .
“ This feels like our new life going forward , and I thought it would be over by now.
” Editor ’ s note : As a public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ free .
No paywall .
Laura and Randy Wood opened a coffee shop and café in downtown Nashville on June 1 .
They say that so far , they ’ ve exceeded their sales goals and are excited for what the business might be like post-pandemic .
But they ’ d thought the virus would be gone by July , and it isn ’ t .
They have two kids and are nervous about schools and their uncertain future .
“ I ’ m scared for my kids .
How will the new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ What we know of as a childhood , I just feel like that ’ s been taken away from them – and I don ’ t think things will be normal again soon.
” Four months after COVID-19 erupted into a crisis in the United States of America , the nation continues to struggle to contain and respond to the virus , as cases skyrocket , the death toll ticks ominously upward , and health officials warn that far from improving , the outlook for August and beyond looks worse .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ as Italy that suffered severe initial outbreaks , have rallied to produce coherent country-wide responses that knocked down their outbreaks .
They are now cautiously returning to something resembling normal life , with restaurants , sports , and yes , schools beginning to reopen .
Not the U.S. How did the richest nation on earth – indeed , by some measures the richest and most powerful nation the earth has ever seen – bungle the pandemic so badly ?
Bad planning .
Poor leadership .
Politicization .
Inconsistent communication .
Unconnected and ineffective @ @ @ @ @ @ @ basically blew it , ” says Kenneth Bernard , an epidemiologist who was the lead for public health issues on the National Security Council staffs during the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations .
The point now is to recover , refocus , and keep going , say experts .
The greatness of the U.S. has often depended on its ability to rally and improve after initial disaster .
And there is hope for American unity , despite the halting government response , says Elias Zerhouni , director of the National Institutes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Collaboration in the scientific community has been unprecedented , he says .
Scientific and health care workers continue to risk their lives to save patients .
Congress moved quickly to pass a massive economic aid bill , though more may be necessary .
Entire states have locked down to some degree , sacrificing economic stability for human life .
“ That ’ s the value of courage , ” says Dr. Zerhouni .
“ That ’ s what makes America great .
And it will remain great as long as we have that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. set a new record for the number of coronavirus cases recorded in a day : 75,600 .
It was the 11th time in the past 30 days that the daily case number represented a new high .
The upturn began in mid- to late June .
It followed a period of almost two months when new daily cases , as measured by a seven-day rolling average , had plateaued between 22,000 and 28,000 , according to Centers for Disease Control numbers .
Initially , deaths from COVID-19 did not rise along @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lagging indicator of the pandemic , experts note , and the daily death rate has begun to rise in recent days , reaching 977 on Thursday .
It has been below 1,000 since the beginning of June , and on some days last month it fell into the 200s .
Among developed countries , the U.S. stands out for its worsening pandemic numbers .
Last Sunday , Florida alone reported 15,000 new cases – 3,000 more than all of Europe combined .
By early June , more than 20 countries had reopened @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Denmark , Austria , Singapore , and Australia .
In the U.S. , President Donald Trump is pushing for schools to reopen , but many parents and teachers remain worried about possible transmission , as trends in most states continue to go in the wrong direction .
Several large school districts have already announced that they will be online-only in the fall .
So how did the U.S. get into this mess ?
The mistake from which many others flowed , according to Dr. Bernard , was ignoring existing plans after it became @ @ @ @ @ @ @ America .
Those plans exist , he says – the George W. Bush administration drafted a National Biodefense Plan in 2004 .
The Obama administration drafted a 57-page checklist following its experience with the Ebola epidemic .
“ We had a plan out there .
We should have exercised that plan , ” he says .
Particularly unfortunate was the denial , early on , that the virus was a major threat .
On February 28 , President Trump said the coronavirus in the U.S. was “ going to disappear.
” Other administration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American people it was a problem well under control .
Other White Houses have engaged in this sort of evasion before .
Prior to 9/11 , a number of administrations downplayed the dangers of terrorism to the U.S. homeland .
But happy talk can itself be infectious .
Administration officials should have been planning for the worst-case coronavirus scenario , instead of just hoping things would work out , says Georges Benjamin , director of the American Public Health Association .
“ We pretended like it wasn ’ t going to happen to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ happened to us , ” says Dr. Benjamin .
When bad things began to happen – the shortage of masks and other personal protective equipment , the failure of early CDC tests and the testing shortage , the need for more hospital equipment and the rising death toll – the federal government didn ’ t take centralized action .
Instead , it decentralized responsibility to the states , ensuring conflicting and contradictory responses nationwide .
It is important to remember that COVID-19 would have been enormously dangerous and costly under any U.S president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ without regard for who leads them .
It is an entirely new virus , and public health experts at first had no idea how to treat it .
Scientists still haven ’ t definitively answered many basic questions about its effects , and how it ’ s transmitted .
And some things have gone right .
Communication and cooperation between states within some regions , such as New England and the mid-Atlantic , has been impressive .
Initially , the U.S. did flatten the curve of new cases .
That ’ s not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Founding Director and Senior Advisor at the Morehouse School of Medicine .
But asked about problems in the U.S. response , every expert contacted for this article at some point used the word “ leadership.
” The U.S. is not in a pandemic due to President Trump ’ s inconsistencies , poor communication , and disjointed actions , they say .
But the president ’ s moves have in some ways made the pandemic worse , and have contributed to the fact that the nation is now facing an anomalous resurgence in cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ normal life receding in the distance for entire regions .
“ We do not have the kind of leadership that it takes to succeed in dealing with something like this pandemic , ” says Dr. Satcher , who served as an Assistant Secretary of Health and Surgeon General of the United States in the Clinton and Bush administrations .
In Hampton , Virginia , the coronavirus trend has been heading in the wrong direction .
Cases have tripled since Virginia began reopening at the end of May .
Still , the city – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Hampton Roads coastal area – has had trouble with young people crowding beaches and big social gatherings , says Donnie Tuck , Hampton ’ s mayor .
Mayor Tuck , a political independent , says he also hears from older people who don ’ t want to wear masks or social distance because they perceive such orders as government tyranny .
He ’ s received countless emails saying that things should reopen and that prevention measures violate constitutional rights .
Asked whether the response to the pandemic has become a matter of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ Oh yeah.
” “ You have a polarization , and you have also individuals who believe that ‘ I have a right to do any and everything that I want to do , ’ ” Mr. Tuck says .
Experts say that ’ s another underlying reason why the U.S. response to the coronavirus has not been as organized and cohesive as in other developed nations .
Countries such as France have strong central governments and a tradition of collective action .
The United States , in contrast , has a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ countries I have seen , [ citizens ] might push back , but for the most part they trust the leadership to do what they think is in their best interest , ” says Mr. Tuck , who was recently elected to a second term .
The Hampton mayor says the Trump administration could have helped with a consistent public health message .
It ’ s not those citizens who are willing to wear masks or stay home who need a nudge from leaders to act in the community ’ s best interest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s those who are unwilling to face inconvenience – or who believe the whole thing is a hoax – who need convincing .
Yet throughout the crisis , President Trump himself has sent mixed messages that often contradict the advice given by his own administration ’ s health officials and scientists , point out public health experts .
This has produced a clear credibility problem , according to recent polls .
Six in 10 respondents in a new Washington Post-ABC poll say they do not trust what their own president says about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the president ’ s handling of the crisis continue to deteriorate .
According to the Post-ABC survey , only 38 % of Americans approve of President Trump ’ s handling of COVID-19 , down from 46 % in May , and 51 % in March .
The nation does not need to accept defeat in this battle .
America can still fight back .
It does not have to hunker down and wait for the arrival of a vaccine or other magic bullet .
As former NIH chief Dr. Zerhouni points out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among developed nations in its still-rising COVID-19 numbers , but it is also exceptional in its ability to rally scientific and technological tools in service of a defined goal .
That kind of multi-faceted response is what helped win World War II .
It can work again .
“ You only win these battles with logistics , not heroics , ” he says .
We ’ re still learning about the intricacies of the virus day-by-day .
But we generally know some basic , effective guidelines for individuals .
Social distance , wear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people need to do is listen .
All government needs to do is organize , ” Dr. Zerhouni says .
To see how this can work , look back at the example of Ebola , says former NSC official Dr. Bernard .
The Obama administration downplayed the risks at first and ignored existing plans .
“ People forget that the beginning of the Ebola outbreak was a mess in the United States .
We did not have a coordinated response , ” Dr. Bernard says .
But eventually , the CDC began delivering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crisis every day .
The president appointed an effective ex-official as an “ Ebola czar , ” and bickering agencies began operating like a “ well-oiled machine.
” This sort of approach is in everyone ’ s best interest – including , in an election year , President Trump ’ s , says Dr. Benjamin of the American Public Health Association .
“ The health problem is the secret to the economic problem , which is the secret to being perceived as a person in charge of properly managing the outbreak , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ memories.
” Editor ’ s note : As a public service , all our coronavirus coverage is free .
No paywall .

“That’s what makes America great,” says Dr. Zerhouni. “And it will remain great as long as we have that unselfish behavior.”
Scientific and health care workers continue to risk their lives to save patients. Collaboration in the scientific community has been unprecedented. Entire states have locked down to some degree, sacrificing economic stability for human life.
There is still hope for American unity, despite the halting government response, says Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health from 2002 to 2008.
The point now is to refocus and keep going, say experts. The greatness of the U.S. has often depended on its ability to rally and improve after initial disaster.
How did the richest nation bungle the pandemic so badly? Bad planning. Poor leadership. Politicization. Inconsistent communication. Unconnected and ineffective action.
COVID-19 would have been devastating under any president. But ineffective leadership and a lack of centralized action has made the crisis worse, and created a more difficult road ahead.
Not the United States. Four months into the crisis, cases here are skyrocketing, the death toll is ticking ominously upward, and the outlook for August and beyond looks worse.
Many nations that suffered severe initial COVID-19 outbreaks are now cautiously returning to something resembling normal life, with restaurants, sports, and schools beginning to reopen.
In North Carolina, as in much of America, coronavirus cases are on the rise again. Nash County, a largely rural area in the north of the state, hasn’t yet been overwhelmed by the pandemic. But people there are anxious about the persistence of the virus and uncertain about the road ahead, as summer ticks away and autumn begins to glimmer in the distance.
Melody Boyd already lost her father to COVID-19 in April. Interviewed outside a post office in Nashville, the county seat, she says he was 75 and had no underlying health conditions. Now her sister has contracted the virus. She worries about her grandchildren returning to classrooms and wishes politicians would stop pushing so hard to reopen schools.
“I just thought this would have died down by now,” she says. “This feels like our new life going forward, and I thought it would be over by now.”
Why We Wrote This COVID-19 would have been devastating under any president. But ineffective leadership and a lack of centralized action has made the crisis worse, and created a more difficult road ahead.
Editor’s note: As a public service, all our coronavirus coverage is free. No paywall.
Laura and Randy Wood opened a coffee shop and café in downtown Nashville on June 1. They say that so far, they’ve exceeded their sales goals and are excited for what the business might be like post-pandemic. But they’d thought the virus would be gone by July, and it isn’t. They have two kids and are nervous about schools and their uncertain future.
“I’m scared for my kids. How will the new normal be?” says Ms. Wood. “What we know of as a childhood, I just feel like that’s been taken away from them – and I don’t think things will be normal again soon.”
Four months after COVID-19 erupted into a crisis in the United States of America, the nation continues to struggle to contain and respond to the virus, as cases skyrocket, the death toll ticks ominously upward, and health officials warn that far from improving, the outlook for August and beyond looks worse.
Most developed nations, including those such as Italy that suffered severe initial outbreaks, have rallied to produce coherent country-wide responses that knocked down their outbreaks. They are now cautiously returning to something resembling normal life, with restaurants, sports, and yes, schools beginning to reopen.
Story Hinckley/The Christian Science Monitor View caption Hide caption Laura and Randy Wood opened Corner Coffee Cafe in Nashville, North Carolina, on June 1, 2020, in the midst of the pandemic shutdown. They say they feel nervous about schools opening back up, but they don't require masks in their store nor do they wear them themselves. "This isn’t going to go away," says Ms. Wood. "Unless we shut everything down, you’re not going to escape it.”
Not the U.S. How did the richest nation on earth – indeed, by some measures the richest and most powerful nation the earth has ever seen – bungle the pandemic so badly?
Bad planning. Poor leadership. Politicization. Inconsistent communication. Unconnected and ineffective action. And more.
“We basically blew it,” says Kenneth Bernard, an epidemiologist who was the lead for public health issues on the National Security Council staffs during the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.
The point now is to recover, refocus, and keep going, say experts. The greatness of the U.S. has often depended on its ability to rally and improve after initial disaster.
And there is hope for American unity, despite the halting government response, says Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health from 2002 to 2008.
Collaboration in the scientific community has been unprecedented, he says. Scientific and health care workers continue to risk their lives to save patients. Congress moved quickly to pass a massive economic aid bill, though more may be necessary. Entire states have locked down to some degree, sacrificing economic stability for human life.
“That’s the value of courage,” says Dr. Zerhouni. “That’s what makes America great. And it will remain great as long as we have that unselfish behavior.”
A new record
On July 16, the U.S. set a new record for the number of coronavirus cases recorded in a day: 75,600. It was the 11th time in the past 30 days that the daily case number represented a new high.
The upturn began in mid- to late June. It followed a period of almost two months when new daily cases, as measured by a seven-day rolling average, had plateaued between 22,000 and 28,000, according to Centers for Disease Control numbers.
Initially, deaths from COVID-19 did not rise along with case numbers. But that is a lagging indicator of the pandemic, experts note, and the daily death rate has begun to rise in recent days, reaching 977 on Thursday. It has been below 1,000 since the beginning of June, and on some days last month it fell into the 200s.
Among developed countries, the U.S. stands out for its worsening pandemic numbers. Last Sunday, Florida alone reported 15,000 new cases – 3,000 more than all of Europe combined. By early June, more than 20 countries had reopened schools shut by the pandemic, including Denmark, Austria, Singapore, and Australia. In the U.S., President Donald Trump is pushing for schools to reopen, but many parents and teachers remain worried about possible transmission, as trends in most states continue to go in the wrong direction. Several large school districts have already announced that they will be online-only in the fall.
So how did the U.S. get into this mess?
The mistake from which many others flowed, according to Dr. Bernard, was ignoring existing plans after it became clear a pandemic had taken hold in America. Those plans exist, he says – the George W. Bush administration drafted a National Biodefense Plan in 2004. The Obama administration drafted a 57-page checklist following its experience with the Ebola epidemic.
“We had a plan out there. We should have exercised that plan,” he says.
Particularly unfortunate was the denial, early on, that the virus was a major threat. On February 28, President Trump said the coronavirus in the U.S. was “going to disappear.” Other administration officials took his cue and assured the American people it was a problem well under control.
Other White Houses have engaged in this sort of evasion before. Prior to 9/11, a number of administrations downplayed the dangers of terrorism to the U.S. homeland.
But happy talk can itself be infectious. Administration officials should have been planning for the worst-case coronavirus scenario, instead of just hoping things would work out, says Georges Benjamin, director of the American Public Health Association.
“We pretended like it wasn’t going to happen to us and then seemed surprised that it happened to us,” says Dr. Benjamin.
When bad things began to happen – the shortage of masks and other personal protective equipment, the failure of early CDC tests and the testing shortage, the need for more hospital equipment and the rising death toll – the federal government didn’t take centralized action. Instead, it decentralized responsibility to the states, ensuring conflicting and contradictory responses nationwide.
It is important to remember that COVID-19 would have been enormously dangerous and costly under any U.S president. It has ripped through many countries without regard for who leads them. It is an entirely new virus, and public health experts at first had no idea how to treat it. Scientists still haven’t definitively answered many basic questions about its effects, and how it’s transmitted.
And some things have gone right. Communication and cooperation between states within some regions, such as New England and the mid-Atlantic, has been impressive. Initially, the U.S. did flatten the curve of new cases. That’s not easy, points out David Satcher, Founding Director and Senior Advisor at the Morehouse School of Medicine.
But asked about problems in the U.S. response, every expert contacted for this article at some point used the word “leadership.” The U.S. is not in a pandemic due to President Trump’s inconsistencies, poor communication, and disjointed actions, they say. But the president’s moves have in some ways made the pandemic worse, and have contributed to the fact that the nation is now facing an anomalous resurgence in cases, with a return to anything like normal life receding in the distance for entire regions.
“We do not have the kind of leadership that it takes to succeed in dealing with something like this pandemic,” says Dr. Satcher, who served as an Assistant Secretary of Health and Surgeon General of the United States in the Clinton and Bush administrations.
Fighting the tide in Virginia’s Tidewater region
In Hampton, Virginia, the coronavirus trend has been heading in the wrong direction. Cases have tripled since Virginia began reopening at the end of May.
Still, the city – one of the jurisdictions that make up the Hampton Roads coastal area – has had trouble with young people crowding beaches and big social gatherings, says Donnie Tuck, Hampton’s mayor.
Mayor Tuck, a political independent, says he also hears from older people who don’t want to wear masks or social distance because they perceive such orders as government tyranny. He’s received countless emails saying that things should reopen and that prevention measures violate constitutional rights.
Asked whether the response to the pandemic has become a matter of political polarization, he laughs and says, “Oh yeah.”
“You have a polarization, and you have also individuals who believe that ‘I have a right to do any and everything that I want to do,’” Mr. Tuck says.
Experts say that’s another underlying reason why the U.S. response to the coronavirus has not been as organized and cohesive as in other developed nations. Countries such as France have strong central governments and a tradition of collective action. The United States, in contrast, has a culture of individualism.
“In other countries I have seen, [citizens] might push back, but for the most part they trust the leadership to do what they think is in their best interest,” says Mr. Tuck, who was recently elected to a second term.
The Hampton mayor says the Trump administration could have helped with a consistent public health message. It’s not those citizens who are willing to wear masks or stay home who need a nudge from leaders to act in the community’s best interest, he points out. It’s those who are unwilling to face inconvenience – or who believe the whole thing is a hoax – who need convincing.
Yet throughout the crisis, President Trump himself has sent mixed messages that often contradict the advice given by his own administration’s health officials and scientists, point out public health experts.
This has produced a clear credibility problem, according to recent polls. Six in 10 respondents in a new Washington Post-ABC poll say they do not trust what their own president says about the coronavirus outbreak.
Overall, poll ratings for the president’s handling of the crisis continue to deteriorate. According to the Post-ABC survey, only 38% of Americans approve of President Trump’s handling of COVID-19, down from 46% in May, and 51% in March.
How to bounce back
The nation does not need to accept defeat in this battle. America can still fight back. It does not have to hunker down and wait for the arrival of a vaccine or other magic bullet.
As former NIH chief Dr. Zerhouni points out, the United States may be exceptional among developed nations in its still-rising COVID-19 numbers, but it is also exceptional in its ability to rally scientific and technological tools in service of a defined goal.
That kind of multi-faceted response is what helped win World War II. It can work again.
“You only win these battles with logistics, not heroics,” he says.
We’re still learning about the intricacies of the virus day-by-day. But we generally know some basic, effective guidelines for individuals. Social distance, wear masks, wash hands.
“All people need to do is listen. All government needs to do is organize,” Dr. Zerhouni says.
To see how this can work, look back at the example of Ebola, says former NSC official Dr. Bernard.
The Obama administration downplayed the risks at first and ignored existing plans.
“People forget that the beginning of the Ebola outbreak was a mess in the United States. We did not have a coordinated response,” Dr. Bernard says.
But eventually, the CDC began delivering a consistent, televised message on the crisis every day. The president appointed an effective ex-official as an “Ebola czar,” and bickering agencies began operating like a “well-oiled machine.”
This sort of approach is in everyone’s best interest – including, in an election year, President Trump’s, says Dr. Benjamin of the American Public Health Association.
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“The health problem is the secret to the economic problem, which is the secret to being perceived as a person in charge of properly managing the outbreak,” he says. “Americans have short memories.”
Editor’s note: As a public service, all our coronavirus coverage is free. No paywall.


csmonitor--2020-07-17--Points of Progress: Elk return to strip mining sites, and more

Elk have returned to Kentucky , providing an economic boost to 16 counties of coal country .
Elk were once common in the western part of the state , but development pushed away many native game species by the 20th century .
In eastern Kentucky , mining ’ s mountaintop removal process decimated local landscapes and ecosystems , but as the industry has receded , it has left behind a new landscape of uninhabited , grassy plateaus where elk can thrive .
Through an aggressive reintroduction effort , the reclaimed mines are now home to roughly 13,000 elk , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The state fish and wildlife department reports the emerging elk market – including sightseeing tours and hunting guides – contributes $ 5 million to local economies , which have some of the highest poverty rates in the country .
( The New York Times ) Feminist organizer Eileen Flynn has become the Republic of Ireland ’ s first Traveller senator .
There were about 30,000 Travellers , a formally recognized Indigenous ethnic minority , living in Ireland during the 2016 census .
Travellers face many forms of discrimination , including barriers to education @ @ @ @ @ @ @ service at shops and hotels .
Ms. Flynn made headlines in 2008 when she and her sister became the first Travellers from their neighborhood to pursue higher education .
She narrowly missed out on an elected Seanad seat earlier this year , but landed one of 11 appointed seats in the new coalition government .
Ms. Flynn , a community development worker with the National Traveller Women ’ s Forum , aims to introduce anti-hate crime legislation and to help “ break down the barriers for Traveller people and also for those at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ BBC ) Germany has committed to banning the sale of single-use plastic products , bringing the country in line with a European Union directive to reduce plastic waste .
As of July 3 , 2021 , people will not be able to buy plastic cutlery , straws , cotton swabs , and other single-use products that take decades to degrade .
Environment Minister Svenja Schulze hopes the move will combat Germany ’ s “ throw-away culture , ” saying many of the banned products “ are superfluous and non-sustainable use of resources.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the country collected a record 18.7 million tons of packaging waste in 2017 , and up to 20 % of trash found in public spaces is single-use plastic .
( Deutsche Welle ) Real Madrid has officially launched its first women ’ s soccer team after merging with Madrid-based women ’ s club CD Tacon .
The acquisition was approved last year , but Tacon operated under its original name for the last season .
Now , it is Real Madrid Femenino .
Worth $ 4.24 billion last year , Real Madrid is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world .
Women ’ s soccer has long been popular in Spain , and fans criticized the 118-year-old organization for being one of the last elite clubs to not offer a women ’ s team .
But now , there ’ s hope that Real Madrid Femenino will inspire long-term investment in the sport .
“ It ’ s a huge positive that you have the biggest men ’ s club in the world now investing in the women ’ s side , ” said Ada Hegerberg , a Norwegian soccer player .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ other clubs .
...
I hope they go all in.
” ( CNN , Yahoo News ) The city of Lagos is giving 300,000 children cellphones preloaded with data and an educational app called Roducate in an effort to level the playing field for remote students .
The city has already distributed 20,000 phones .
Nigeria has seen a rise in smartphone and internet use in recent years , but the high cost of data and devices means many families with children in public school don ’ t have as much access to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ private school .
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted the education department to find ways to help teachers and families become less reliant on classrooms , and officials expect the cellphones to help students stay engaged for at least the next year while schools are still reopening .
“ It ’ s quite clear we are not going to go back to how things were , ” said the city ’ s education commissioner , Folasade Adefisayo .
“ We ’ ve found e-learning to be efficient and interesting .
The children love the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it as being a part of how they can learn going forward.
” ( The Guardian ) U.S. skincare giant Johnson & Johnson will discontinue product lines that promote skin-lightening amid global demonstrations against racism .
The company said it is dropping the Neutrogena Fine Fairness line , which is sold throughout Asia and the Middle East , and the Clean & Clear Fairness line , sold in India .
The Fine Fairness product promises to “ double your skin ’ s whitening power for even-toned lasting translucent fairness.
” Although these lines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the company ’ s global beauty sales in 2019 , the popularity of whitening products has long been a controversial issue in Asia , and particularly in India , where Bollywood stars have endorsed lightening creams .
Critics say these products and their advertisements perpetuate colorism , a form of discrimination that favors people with lighter skin over those with dark skin .
Other beauty companies are rethinking their branding .
L ’ Oréal is removing references to “ white , ” “ fair , ” and “ light ” from its skincare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to stop playing up “ the benefits of fairness , whitening , and skin lightening ” in its marketing materials .
( CNN )

1. United States
Elk have returned to Kentucky, providing an economic boost to 16 counties of coal country. Elk were once common in the western part of the state, but development pushed away many native game species by the 20th century. In eastern Kentucky, mining’s mountaintop removal process decimated local landscapes and ecosystems, but as the industry has receded, it has left behind a new landscape of uninhabited, grassy plateaus where elk can thrive.
Shawn Poynter/AP/File View caption Hide caption Elk roam the Starfire mine site near Hazard, Kentucky, on Jan. 15, 2004. Approximately 250 elk live on the reclaimed strip mine. Throughout eastern Kentucky, the species appears to be thriving.
Through an aggressive reintroduction effort, the reclaimed mines are now home to roughly 13,000 elk, the largest population east of the Mississippi. The state fish and wildlife department reports the emerging elk market – including sightseeing tours and hunting guides – contributes $5 million to local economies, which have some of the highest poverty rates in the country. (The New York Times)
Why We Wrote This This is more than feel-good news – it's where the world is making concrete progress. A roundup of positive stories to inspire you.
2. Ireland
Feminist organizer Eileen Flynn has become the Republic of Ireland’s first Traveller senator. There were about 30,000 Travellers, a formally recognized Indigenous ethnic minority, living in Ireland during the 2016 census. Travellers face many forms of discrimination, including barriers to education, derogatory language, and being denied service at shops and hotels. Ms. Flynn made headlines in 2008 when she and her sister became the first Travellers from their neighborhood to pursue higher education. She narrowly missed out on an elected Seanad seat earlier this year, but landed one of 11 appointed seats in the new coalition government. Ms. Flynn, a community development worker with the National Traveller Women’s Forum, aims to introduce anti-hate crime legislation and to help “break down the barriers for Traveller people and also for those at the end of Irish society.” (BBC)
3. Germany
Germany has committed to banning the sale of single-use plastic products, bringing the country in line with a European Union directive to reduce plastic waste. As of July 3, 2021, people will not be able to buy plastic cutlery, straws, cotton swabs, and other single-use products that take decades to degrade.
Michael Sohn/AP/File View caption Hide caption Plastic trash clutters a Berlin park on Aug. 12, 2019. Single-use food containers account for much of the waste in public spaces.
Environment Minister Svenja Schulze hopes the move will combat Germany’s “throw-away culture,” saying many of the banned products “are superfluous and non-sustainable use of resources.” Germany’s Federal Environmental Agency reports the country collected a record 18.7 million tons of packaging waste in 2017, and up to 20% of trash found in public spaces is single-use plastic. (Deutsche Welle)
4. Spain
Real Madrid has officially launched its first women’s soccer team after merging with Madrid-based women’s club CD Tacon. The acquisition was approved last year, but Tacon operated under its original name for the last season. Now, it is Real Madrid Femenino. Worth $4.24 billion last year, Real Madrid is the most valuable soccer club in the world. Women’s soccer has long been popular in Spain, and fans criticized the 118-year-old organization for being one of the last elite clubs to not offer a women’s team. But now, there’s hope that Real Madrid Femenino will inspire long-term investment in the sport. “It’s a huge positive that you have the biggest men’s club in the world now investing in the women’s side,” said Ada Hegerberg, a Norwegian soccer player. “It sends out a message to other clubs. ... I hope they go all in.” (CNN, Yahoo News)
5. Nigeria
The city of Lagos is giving 300,000 children cellphones preloaded with data and an educational app called Roducate in an effort to level the playing field for remote students. The city has already distributed 20,000 phones. Nigeria has seen a rise in smartphone and internet use in recent years, but the high cost of data and devices means many families with children in public school don’t have as much access to the technology as those whose children attend private school. The coronavirus pandemic has prompted the education department to find ways to help teachers and families become less reliant on classrooms, and officials expect the cellphones to help students stay engaged for at least the next year while schools are still reopening. “It’s quite clear we are not going to go back to how things were,” said the city’s education commissioner, Folasade Adefisayo. “We’ve found e-learning to be efficient and interesting. The children love the app, and so far we see it as being a part of how they can learn going forward.” (The Guardian)
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empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
6. India
U.S. skincare giant Johnson & Johnson will discontinue product lines that promote skin-lightening amid global demonstrations against racism. The company said it is dropping the Neutrogena Fine Fairness line, which is sold throughout Asia and the Middle East, and the Clean & Clear Fairness line, sold in India. The Fine Fairness product promises to “double your skin’s whitening power for even-toned lasting translucent fairness.”
Amit Dave/Reuters View caption Hide caption A customer examines one of Hindustan Unilever’s “Fair & Lovely” products in Ahmedabad, India, June 25, 2020. Critics say such products promote colorism, discrimination based on lightness of skin tone.
Although these lines together represented less than 1% of the company’s global beauty sales in 2019, the popularity of whitening products has long been a controversial issue in Asia, and particularly in India, where Bollywood stars have endorsed lightening creams. Critics say these products and their advertisements perpetuate colorism, a form of discrimination that favors people with lighter skin over those with dark skin. Other beauty companies are rethinking their branding. L’Oréal is removing references to “white,” “fair,” and “light” from its skincare products, and Hindustan Unilever has vowed to stop playing up “the benefits of fairness, whitening, and skin lightening” in its marketing materials. (CNN)


csmonitor--2020-07-17--Can Iraq rein in Shiite militias? What one killing tells us.

The picture that is emerging , analysts suggest , is sobering .
As popular as its campaign against the militias is , the new government has been unable to dent their power .
The attack on Mr. Hashemi , says Belkis Wille , an Iraq specialist at Human Rights Watch , “ shows that these groups are absolutely convinced that there won ’ t ever be a price to be paid.
” “ This is a calculated attack to send a message to the prime minister , ” says Renad Mansour , an Iraq expert at Chatham House in London @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the militias has become an inflection point likely to shape the future of Iraqi governance and sovereignty .
Security analyst Hisham al-Hashemi long warned of the danger such armed groups posed to the rebuilding of the Iraqi state .
His views made him a high-value target , analysts say , and his assassination July 6 has become a key episode in the escalating battle between Iraq ’ s new prime minister and the Iran-backed militias that reject government control .
Once seen as heroes in Iraq for their role in helping defeat the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ target of months of nationwide protests that began last October and led to the formation of a new government .
Receiving death threats from Shiite militias was no surprise to Iraqi security analyst Hisham al-Hashemi , who had long warned of the danger such armed groups posed to rebuilding the Iraqi state after years of war .
But Mr. Hashemi – gunned down on July 6 in front of his Baghdad house – could hardly have predicted his own assassination would become a key episode in the escalating battle between a new Iraqi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like Kata ’ ib Hezbollah that reject government control .
“ That ’ s what they want for Iraq , they want an Iraq without a state , ” Mr. Hashemi ’ s friend and colleague Sarmad al-Bayati told Al Jazeera during the funeral march .
“ We are a country without a state , and this is the victim.
” Once seen as heroes in Iraq for their role in helping defeat Islamic State militants from 2014 to 2018 , the Shiite militias were one target of months of nationwide protests that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and ties to Iran , and led to the formation of a new government .
Analysts say the escalating fight against the militias ’ influence – the stakes made all the higher by Mr. Hashemi ’ s killing – has become an inflection point for the Iraqi state , likely to shape the future quality of governance and sovereignty .
And the picture that is emerging so far , analysts suggest , is a sobering one for the new government in Baghdad .
As politically popular as its campaign against the Shiite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been unable to dent their power .
The attack on Mr. Hashemi , says Belkis Wille , senior crisis and conflict researcher and Iraq specialist at Human Rights Watch , “ shows that these groups are absolutely convinced that there won ’ t ever be a price to be paid or accountability.
” Known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces ( PMF ) , the Iran-backed elements among them were widely blamed for spearheading violent crackdowns on the protests that left more than 500 dead .
Under pressure from the street , former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ November and his successor , Mustafa al-Kadhimi , a former head of intelligence , was sworn in on May 7 .
He vowed to tackle rogue militias and restore the “ prestige of the state.
” Mr. Hashemi , a jocular and generous expert on militant groups such as the Sunni Islamic State and Shiite militias , and a father of four , advised and informed Iraqi leaders in equal measure , repeatedly warning of the home-grown danger .
“ They became like the gods of the temple , and see themselves as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iran , became corrupt , and who “ mistreated ” ordinary Iraqis , Mr. Hashemi told The Christian Science Monitor last December , for example .
His views made him a high-value target , analysts now say .
“ This is a calculated attack to send a message to the prime minister , ” says Renad Mansour , an Iraq expert at the Chatham House think tank in London , who often worked with Mr. Hashemi .
“ This is not killing an activist , this is killing a political actor ... closely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minister , to senior elements of the state , ” says Mr. Mansour .
“ This is not following a protester back home and gunning them down because they made you angry.
” “ The fact that [ militias ] are resorting to this type of violence ... shows they feel threatened , ” says Mr. Mansour .
Contributing to that perception he says , are the government efforts to rein in the militias and a sharp reduction in cash for Iran-backed groups flowing from Tehran , as U.S. sanctions and low oil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Indeed , top of the prime minister ’ s target list has been Kata ’ ib Hezbollah , which Washington has targeted with strikes , accusing it of mounting multiple attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq , as well as storming the U.S. Embassy last December .
Its leader , Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis – regarded as the PMF commander most capable of bringing all Shiite groups under one roof – was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad along with Iranian Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani .
The early January attack ignited a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and rocket attacks on U.S. and NATO forces and embassies have continued .
But so has the internal Iraqi strife .
Mr. Kadhimi – whose candidacy was opposed by Kata ’ ib Hezbollah – has shaken up his top security ministers and officials , and on June 26 took the unprecedented step of ordering the Iraqi counterterrorism unit to arrest 14 militia members , citing an attack plot .
Shortly after the raid , Mr. Hashemi tweeted his support , saying it had “ given the necessary message to the security forces and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the barrier of fear made by these armed groups.
” Yet , tellingly , all but one of the Kata ’ ib Hezbollah men were freed within days after a militia show of force : a heavily armed 30-vehicle column that rolled around the fortified Green Zone demanding their release .
When freed , the militants burned U.S. flags and trampled on portraits of the prime minister .
Qais al-Khazali , head of another Iran-backed militia , warned the prime minister that he “ could never ” curb attacks against U.S. forces in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his .
Mr. Kadhimi could “ lose everything ” if he tried , said the militia chief , noting that no previous Iraqi government had attempted such action .
“ Instead , they were all ignoring this issue because they knew they couldn ’ t touch it , ” boasted Mr. Khazali .
But striking at Shiite militias is popular politics for a prime minister tied to no political party , whose leadership is a result of widespread protests that called for change – including imposing state control over rogue militias and ending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thing we ’ ve seen consistently is popular sentiment toward the [ PMF ] has declined , ” while the raid on Kata ’ ib Hezbollah was “ extremely popular , ” says an Iraqi government adviser in Baghdad who asked not to be named .
“ The average Iraqi is able to differentiate between the brigades that are looking to enrich themselves , versus those that are looking to protect the community , and those that do answer to the prime minister , and those that threaten him and state it openly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the setbacks , the adviser voiced confidence that Mr. Kadhimi had a winning strategy , noting that new appointments , from the ministers of defense and interior , to counterterror and police force chiefs , are based on his experience leading Iraqi intelligence for four years .
“ We are seeing some positive changes , but it will take time for those changes to be felt .
He ’ s playing the long game , ” says the adviser .
Since the last major battles against the Islamic State in Mosul in 2018 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meant to have been integrated into the Iraqi military and receive salaries from government coffers .
But some , often those with the closest ties to Iran , have eschewed Baghdad ’ s control .
They instead exert influence on the ground and have learned to finance themselves by skimming money at checkpoints , border posts and ports , and even oil fields .
“ What I think we are watching – and have been watching for the last couple years – is this level of autonomy and empowerment of these groups ... @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says Ms. Wille at Human Rights Watch .
She points to PMF influence especially in Iraq ’ s eastern Diyala province , areas around Kirkuk , and in the south of the country .
“ From every account that I have , the PMF , in their view , are becoming stronger and stronger , to the point that they are becoming in many areas the sole security apparatus that is functional , ” says Ms. Wille .
Even in Baghdad , the release of the Kata ’ ib Hezbollah detainees , coupled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ paints the picture that the prime minister tried to draw a line in the sand , ” but was met with defiance , she says .
Indeed , even inside the Green Zone – the heart of the Iraqi government – Kata ’ ib Hezbollah and other militias occupy 22 buildings and field from 2,000 to 5,000 armed men , making both the prime minister ’ s headquarters and Republican Palace “ unsafe ” for officials , according to an analysis this week by Michael Knights and Alex Almeida for the Washington @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reality will make the task of exerting control even more difficult .
Mr. Kadhimi “ is not a revolutionary , he is going to try incremental reform , to slowly build toward something , ” says Mr. Mansour from Chatham House .
“ But along the way there is going to be a lot of pushback , there is going to be a lot of conflict , violence , and deaths .
”

The picture that is emerging, analysts suggest, is sobering. As popular as its campaign against the militias is, the new government has been unable to dent their power. The attack on Mr. Hashemi, says Belkis Wille, an Iraq specialist at Human Rights Watch, “shows that these groups are absolutely convinced that there won’t ever be a price to be paid.”
“This is a calculated attack to send a message to the prime minister,” says Renad Mansour, an Iraq expert at Chatham House in London. Analysts say the escalating fight against the militias has become an inflection point likely to shape the future of Iraqi governance and sovereignty.
Good governance and balancing sectarian interests have challenged successive Iraqi leaders. The assassination of a key security analyst paints a revealing portrait of Baghdad’s struggles with Iran-backed militias.
Security analyst Hisham al-Hashemi long warned of the danger such armed groups posed to the rebuilding of the Iraqi state. His views made him a high-value target, analysts say, and his assassination July 6 has become a key episode in the escalating battle between Iraq’s new prime minister and the Iran-backed militias that reject government control.
Once seen as heroes in Iraq for their role in helping defeat the Islamic State, Shiite militias were one target of months of nationwide protests that began last October and led to the formation of a new government.
Receiving death threats from Shiite militias was no surprise to Iraqi security analyst Hisham al-Hashemi, who had long warned of the danger such armed groups posed to rebuilding the Iraqi state after years of war.
But Mr. Hashemi – gunned down on July 6 in front of his Baghdad house – could hardly have predicted his own assassination would become a key episode in the escalating battle between a new Iraqi prime minister and the defiant Iran-backed militias like Kata’ib Hezbollah that reject government control.
“That’s what they want for Iraq, they want an Iraq without a state,” Mr. Hashemi’s friend and colleague Sarmad al-Bayati told Al Jazeera during the funeral march. “We are a country without a state, and this is the victim.”
Why We Wrote This Good governance and balancing sectarian interests have challenged successive Iraqi leaders. The assassination of a key security analyst paints a revealing portrait of Baghdad’s struggles with Iran-backed militias.
Once seen as heroes in Iraq for their role in helping defeat Islamic State militants from 2014 to 2018, the Shiite militias were one target of months of nationwide protests that began last October against corruption, lawlessness, and ties to Iran, and led to the formation of a new government.
Analysts say the escalating fight against the militias’ influence – the stakes made all the higher by Mr. Hashemi’s killing – has become an inflection point for the Iraqi state, likely to shape the future quality of governance and sovereignty.
And the picture that is emerging so far, analysts suggest, is a sobering one for the new government in Baghdad. As politically popular as its campaign against the Shiite militias is, it has so far been unable to dent their power.
The attack on Mr. Hashemi, says Belkis Wille, senior crisis and conflict researcher and Iraq specialist at Human Rights Watch, “shows that these groups are absolutely convinced that there won’t ever be a price to be paid or accountability.”
High-value target
Known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the Iran-backed elements among them were widely blamed for spearheading violent crackdowns on the protests that left more than 500 dead.
Under pressure from the street, former Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi stepped down in November and his successor, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, a former head of intelligence, was sworn in on May 7. He vowed to tackle rogue militias and restore the “prestige of the state.”
Mr. Hashemi, a jocular and generous expert on militant groups such as the Sunni Islamic State and Shiite militias, and a father of four, advised and informed Iraqi leaders in equal measure, repeatedly warning of the home-grown danger.
“They became like the gods of the temple, and see themselves as sacred people” who were enabled by Iran, became corrupt, and who “mistreated” ordinary Iraqis, Mr. Hashemi told The Christian Science Monitor last December, for example.
His views made him a high-value target, analysts now say.
“This is a calculated attack to send a message to the prime minister,” says Renad Mansour, an Iraq expert at the Chatham House think tank in London, who often worked with Mr. Hashemi.
“This is not killing an activist, this is killing a political actor ... closely connected to the president, the prime minister, to senior elements of the state,” says Mr. Mansour. “This is not following a protester back home and gunning them down because they made you angry.”
“The fact that [militias] are resorting to this type of violence ... shows they feel threatened,” says Mr. Mansour.
Contributing to that perception he says, are the government efforts to rein in the militias and a sharp reduction in cash for Iran-backed groups flowing from Tehran, as U.S. sanctions and low oil prices throttle Iran’s economy.
Brewing conflict
Indeed, top of the prime minister’s target list has been Kata’ib Hezbollah, which Washington has targeted with strikes, accusing it of mounting multiple attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq, as well as storming the U.S. Embassy last December.
Its leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis – regarded as the PMF commander most capable of bringing all Shiite groups under one roof – was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad along with Iranian Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The early January attack ignited a blaze of anti-U.S. sentiment in Iraq, and rocket attacks on U.S. and NATO forces and embassies have continued. But so has the internal Iraqi strife.
Khalid Mohammed/AP View caption Hide caption Iraqi riot police cordon off the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign embassies, as demonstrators gather to protest against armed Iranian-backed militias, in Baghdad, Iraq, July 12, 2020.
Mr. Kadhimi – whose candidacy was opposed by Kata’ib Hezbollah – has shaken up his top security ministers and officials, and on June 26 took the unprecedented step of ordering the Iraqi counterterrorism unit to arrest 14 militia members, citing an attack plot.
Shortly after the raid, Mr. Hashemi tweeted his support, saying it had “given the necessary message to the security forces and the judiciary to allow them to overcome the barrier of fear made by these armed groups.”
Yet, tellingly, all but one of the Kata’ib Hezbollah men were freed within days after a militia show of force: a heavily armed 30-vehicle column that rolled around the fortified Green Zone demanding their release. When freed, the militants burned U.S. flags and trampled on portraits of the prime minister.
Qais al-Khazali, head of another Iran-backed militia, warned the prime minister that he “could never” curb attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq by “resistance factions” like his.
Mr. Kadhimi could “lose everything” if he tried, said the militia chief, noting that no previous Iraqi government had attempted such action. “Instead, they were all ignoring this issue because they knew they couldn’t touch it,” boasted Mr. Khazali.
“Playing the long game”
But striking at Shiite militias is popular politics for a prime minister tied to no political party, whose leadership is a result of widespread protests that called for change – including imposing state control over rogue militias and ending Iranian influence in Iraq.
“One thing we’ve seen consistently is popular sentiment toward the [PMF] has declined,” while the raid on Kata’ib Hezbollah was “extremely popular,” says an Iraqi government adviser in Baghdad who asked not to be named.
“The average Iraqi is able to differentiate between the brigades that are looking to enrich themselves, versus those that are looking to protect the community, and those that do answer to the prime minister, and those that threaten him and state it openly,” says the adviser.
Despite the setbacks, the adviser voiced confidence that Mr. Kadhimi had a winning strategy, noting that new appointments, from the ministers of defense and interior, to counterterror and police force chiefs, are based on his experience leading Iraqi intelligence for four years.
“We are seeing some positive changes, but it will take time for those changes to be felt. He’s playing the long game,” says the adviser.
Militias strengthening
Since the last major battles against the Islamic State in Mosul in 2018, the dozens of PMF brigades were meant to have been integrated into the Iraqi military and receive salaries from government coffers.
But some, often those with the closest ties to Iran, have eschewed Baghdad’s control. They instead exert influence on the ground and have learned to finance themselves by skimming money at checkpoints, border posts and ports, and even oil fields.
“What I think we are watching – and have been watching for the last couple years – is this level of autonomy and empowerment of these groups ... at the very local level,” says Ms. Wille at Human Rights Watch.
She points to PMF influence especially in Iraq’s eastern Diyala province, areas around Kirkuk, and in the south of the country.
“From every account that I have, the PMF, in their view, are becoming stronger and stronger, to the point that they are becoming in many areas the sole security apparatus that is functional,” says Ms. Wille.
Even in Baghdad, the release of the Kata’ib Hezbollah detainees, coupled with the murder of Mr. Hashemi, “paints the picture that the prime minister tried to draw a line in the sand,” but was met with defiance, she says.
Indeed, even inside the Green Zone – the heart of the Iraqi government – Kata’ib Hezbollah and other militias occupy 22 buildings and field from 2,000 to 5,000 armed men, making both the prime minister’s headquarters and Republican Palace “unsafe” for officials, according to an analysis this week by Michael Knights and Alex Almeida for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
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That reality will make the task of exerting control even more difficult.
Mr. Kadhimi “is not a revolutionary, he is going to try incremental reform, to slowly build toward something,” says Mr. Mansour from Chatham House. “But along the way there is going to be a lot of pushback, there is going to be a lot of conflict, violence, and deaths.”