foreignpolicy--2020-03-24--This Vaccine Could Save Health Care Workers’ Lives Now

This Vaccine Could Save Health Care Workers ’ Lives Now Health workers are our most valuable resource for combating the coronavirus pandemic .
They are also among the most vulnerable .
During the SARS coronavirus epidemic in 2003 , 20 percent of those infected globally ( 1,701 ) were health care workers .
We tend to focus on age as a risk factor for COVID-19 , but the biggest risk may be being a health worker , of any age .
The consequence extends well beyond the individuals infected .
Every health worker who sickens or dies from COVID-19 reduces @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cares for us all .
Yet there are important steps that public health authorities could be taking right now to better protect health workers , and only a lack of imagination is stopping them being used .
As an intensive-care pediatrician and public health specialist , I have worked in many of the world ’ s worst outbreaks , several of them in war zones .
As with many of my colleagues around the world , this is not my first pandemic .
Yet , for the first time , I am filled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
Even in the best of circumstances , medical staff are at risk .
In any emergency room , it is a given that we often have to get close to our patients to save them—to do CPR , intubate , ventilate , and resuscitate .
When time is of the essence , few of us will let our patient die for the want of an N95 mask .
We risk it .
[ Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak : Get daily updates on the pandemic and learn how it ’ s affecting countries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not the best of circumstances .
Today , health workers are at great risk for several reasons .
Medical personnel are exposed to more viral particles than the general public .
That means they ’ re both more likely to get infected and likelier to have worse cases when they do—which may be why so many younger Chinese doctors died .
Protective equipment is in short supply as the tide of patients rises .
And a combination of stress and long hours probably makes the immune systems of health workers more vulnerable than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hot spots of transmission—coronavirus “ pumps.
” Since the beginning of this pandemic , many front-line health workers have paid the ultimate price .
The doctors in Wuhan who first raised the alarm not only were silenced by Chinese authorities , but several died of the virus .
The pathogen does not discriminate among specialties .
The first fatality among them was Li Wenliang , a young ophthalmologist—not a profession normally considered high-risk .
His colleague Mei Zhongming , who died the following month , was also an ophthalmologist .
A third was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fourth , a neurosurgeon and hospital director .
In Britain today , two ear , nose , and throat specialists are in critical condition .
We don ’ t even have accurate numbers about the number of health workers infected or killed .
China has never released accurate figures—just as it has never released an accurate count of the total number of people who died from COVID-19 .
( If you died without being tested for COVID , Beijing says , you didn ’ t die of COVID . )
For six weeks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had been infected , lulling us into thinking that spread within hospitals was not a concern and could easily be prevented by standard masks and gloves .
Suddenly , on Feb. 14 , the announced number skyrocketed to 1,716 , more than the medics infected throughout the entire SARS epidemic .
By Feb. 20 , the World Health Organization mission in China reported 2,055 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases among health workers .
By March 3 , China estimated up to 3,200 had been infected .
By contrast , Italy consistently reported high rates of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or 20 percent of their health care workforce .
In Spain , over 4,000 healthcare workers have been infected .
And these are well-prepared countries .
In less-developed parts of the world such as much of sub-Saharan Africa , weak health care systems and inadequate infection control measures—a lack of running water , let alone disinfectant or isolation rooms—means overburdened staff are at exceptionally high risk .
The same is true in areas of conflict such as Yemen and Syria , as well as crowded refugee camps and sprawling urban slums .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the coronavirus .
When there are no doctors to intubate , no nurses to provide care , the death rate will skyrocket .
And not just from COVID-19 .
None of the usual killers—such as heart disease , cancer , and car accidents—are conveniently suspended during a pandemic .
We all know that using personal protective equipment and related protocols are essential .
Yet , even when health workers are in a full moon suit , virus particles can often find a way to infect them .
Institutions can equally fail in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
When two nurses in Dallas were infected with Ebola in 2014 , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contended that it was due to a breach in protocol—but the nurses said no protocols had been established in the first place .
When a Californian nurse caring for a COVID-19 patient developed symptoms and requested a test , the CDC refused , saying if she had followed protocol , she wouldn ’ t have been infected .
( The CDC subsequently changed its protocols for both cases but has never apologized to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , today there are not enough N95 masks , gowns , suits , and goggles to go around .
Given the uncertainty , risk , and fear surrounding this disease , it is hard to have the confidence needed to care for patients well .
For those with families and children they spend time with after their shifts , it is even harder .
For both pragmatic and humanitarian reasons , protecting health care workers should be our highest priority in fighting the coronavirus .
More beds , more hospitals , and perfect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there are no health care workers left or willing to take the considerable risks to fight the disease .
Yet there are things that could be done to better protect health workers .
A vaccine for COVID-19 is a long way off , but certain other drugs may offer some protection .
That does not mean adopting the various forms of quackery , snake oil , and supposed miracle cures that the panic of a pandemic tends to promote .
Research protocols are not the same as rumors , anecdotes , and presidential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is the use of live vaccines to increase the recipient ’ s immune response .
One such inoculation is called the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine , or BCG , which has long been used against tuberculosis .
Several studies in other contexts show that BCG primes the immune system to respond better to infections of various sorts , not just TB .
Two studies in adults ( one in patients aged 60 to 75 ) showed that BCG reduces respiratory infections by 70 to 80 percent .
Two more reported a 15 to 40 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccinated children .
Another showed that , when given to infants in countries with severe health challenges and combined with a revived immunization scheme , BCG cut deaths from all causes by just under a third .
However , some studies suggest that this protective effect lasts only until an inactivated vaccine ( such as an influenza vaccine ) is later given .
Given this promising research , a systematic review commissioned by the WHO and published in 2016 concluded that the BCG vaccine had beneficial off-target effects and recommended further research .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Netherlands .
A larger trial of 4,000 health workers is due to start next week in Australia .
Others are being considered in Greece , Britain , Germany , Denmark , and the United States .
That protection would not be perfect—a BCG vaccination is not the same as a targeted vaccination for COVID-19—but it is likely to significantly reduce illness and death among those who receive it .
Even if BCG vaccines were given only to health workers , we might substantially reduce the risks they face and lessen the risk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
If effective , it could also be rapidly given to other particularly vulnerable people such as the elderly .
It could be especially useful in countries that have weak health care systems and would quickly be overwhelmed by a large outbreak .
And the vaccine is cheap , safe , and , most important , immediately available for testing .
Health care workers must be the priority , but once manufacture of the vaccine is ramped up , it could be much more widely available .
Yet the big global institutions are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recommendation , big public health institutions are not actively investigating BCG .
Nor are global health foundations such as Gates funding this crucial research .
While research and development into new drugs may be sexier , it is hard to understand the reluctance to explore nontraditional uses of existing drugs .
The big pharmaceutical companies are also sitting on their hands , apparently because there is little profit in an established vaccine such as BCG .
Our global defenses are only as good as our front-line health workers .
With so much evidence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provide at least partial protection , it is indefensible , even unethical , to overlook it simply because this strategy is unorthodox and unprofitable .
Trials to test its beneficial effects for COVID-19 are urgently needed .

Health workers are our most valuable resource for combating the coronavirus pandemic. They are also among the most vulnerable. During the SARS coronavirus epidemic in 2003, 20 percent of those infected globally (1,701) were health care workers. We tend to focus on age as a risk factor for COVID-19, but the biggest risk may be being a health worker, of any age.
Health workers are our most valuable resource for combating the coronavirus pandemic. They are also among the most vulnerable. During the SARS coronavirus epidemic in 2003, 20 percent of those infected globally (1,701) were health care workers. We tend to focus on age as a risk factor for COVID-19, but the biggest risk may be being a health worker, of any age.
The consequence extends well beyond the individuals infected. Every health worker who sickens or dies from COVID-19 reduces the capacity of the health system that cares for us all. Yet there are important steps that public health authorities could be taking right now to better protect health workers, and only a lack of imagination is stopping them being used.
As an intensive-care pediatrician and public health specialist, I have worked in many of the world’s worst outbreaks, several of them in war zones. As with many of my colleagues around the world, this is not my first pandemic. Yet, for the first time, I am filled with dread, even despair. Why?
Even in the best of circumstances, medical staff are at risk. In any emergency room, it is a given that we often have to get close to our patients to save them—to do CPR, intubate, ventilate, and resuscitate. When time is of the essence, few of us will let our patient die for the want of an N95 mask. We risk it.
These are not the best of circumstances.
Today, health workers are at great risk for several reasons. Medical personnel are exposed to more viral particles than the general public. That means they’re both more likely to get infected and likelier to have worse cases when they do—which may be why so many younger Chinese doctors died. Protective equipment is in short supply as the tide of patients rises. And a combination of stress and long hours probably makes the immune systems of health workers more vulnerable than normal. This combination turns hospitals into hot spots of transmission—coronavirus “pumps.”
Since the beginning of this pandemic, many front-line health workers have paid the ultimate price. The doctors in Wuhan who first raised the alarm not only were silenced by Chinese authorities, but several died of the virus. The pathogen does not discriminate among specialties. The first fatality among them was Li Wenliang, a young ophthalmologist—not a profession normally considered high-risk. His colleague Mei Zhongming, who died the following month, was also an ophthalmologist. A third was a thyroid and breast surgeon. A fourth, a neurosurgeon and hospital director. In Britain today, two ear, nose, and throat specialists are in critical condition.
We don’t even have accurate numbers about the number of health workers infected or killed. China has never released accurate figures—just as it has never released an accurate count of the total number of people who died from COVID-19. (If you died without being tested for COVID, Beijing says, you didn’t die of COVID.)
Listen Now: Don't Touch Your Face A new podcast from Foreign Policy covering all aspects of the coronavirus pandemic Learn More
For six weeks, China insisted that only 13 doctors had been infected, lulling us into thinking that spread within hospitals was not a concern and could easily be prevented by standard masks and gloves. Suddenly, on Feb. 14, the announced number skyrocketed to 1,716, more than the medics infected throughout the entire SARS epidemic. By Feb. 20, the World Health Organization mission in China reported 2,055 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases among health workers. By March 3, China estimated up to 3,200 had been infected.
By contrast, Italy consistently reported high rates of infected medics—about 8.5 percent of total infections, or 20 percent of their health care workforce. In Spain, over 4,000 healthcare workers have been infected.
And these are well-prepared countries. In less-developed parts of the world such as much of sub-Saharan Africa, weak health care systems and inadequate infection control measures—a lack of running water, let alone disinfectant or isolation rooms—means overburdened staff are at exceptionally high risk. The same is true in areas of conflict such as Yemen and Syria, as well as crowded refugee camps and sprawling urban slums. All of these areas are prime targets for the coronavirus.
When there are no doctors to intubate, no nurses to provide care, the death rate will skyrocket. And not just from COVID-19. None of the usual killers—such as heart disease, cancer, and car accidents—are conveniently suspended during a pandemic.
We all know that using personal protective equipment and related protocols are essential. Yet, even when health workers are in a full moon suit, virus particles can often find a way to infect them. Institutions can equally fail in their duty to protect health care workers. When two nurses in Dallas were infected with Ebola in 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contended that it was due to a breach in protocol—but the nurses said no protocols had been established in the first place. When a Californian nurse caring for a COVID-19 patient developed symptoms and requested a test, the CDC refused, saying if she had followed protocol, she wouldn’t have been infected. (The CDC subsequently changed its protocols for both cases but has never apologized to the nurses.)
In any event, today there are not enough N95 masks, gowns, suits, and goggles to go around. Given the uncertainty, risk, and fear surrounding this disease, it is hard to have the confidence needed to care for patients well. For those with families and children they spend time with after their shifts, it is even harder.
For both pragmatic and humanitarian reasons, protecting health care workers should be our highest priority in fighting the coronavirus. More beds, more hospitals, and perfect supply chains will all be redundant if there are no health care workers left or willing to take the considerable risks to fight the disease.
Yet there are things that could be done to better protect health workers. A vaccine for COVID-19 is a long way off, but certain other drugs may offer some protection. That does not mean adopting the various forms of quackery, snake oil, and supposed miracle cures that the panic of a pandemic tends to promote. Research protocols are not the same as rumors, anecdotes, and presidential tweets.
Yet one area worth exploring is the use of live vaccines to increase the recipient’s immune response. One such inoculation is called the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine, or BCG, which has long been used against tuberculosis.
Several studies in other contexts show that BCG primes the immune system to respond better to infections of various sorts, not just TB. Two studies in adults (one in patients aged 60 to 75) showed that BCG reduces respiratory infections by 70 to 80 percent. Two more reported a 15 to 40 percent lower risk of respiratory infections in vaccinated children. Another showed that, when given to infants in countries with severe health challenges and combined with a revived immunization scheme, BCG cut deaths from all causes by just under a third. However, some studies suggest that this protective effect lasts only until an inactivated vaccine (such as an influenza vaccine) is later given.
Given this promising research, a systematic review commissioned by the WHO and published in 2016 concluded that the BCG vaccine had beneficial off-target effects and recommended further research. One such trial has just begun in the Netherlands. A larger trial of 4,000 health workers is due to start next week in Australia. Others are being considered in Greece, Britain, Germany, Denmark, and the United States.
That protection would not be perfect—a BCG vaccination is not the same as a targeted vaccination for COVID-19—but it is likely to significantly reduce illness and death among those who receive it. Even if BCG vaccines were given only to health workers, we might substantially reduce the risks they face and lessen the risk of our hospitals and health systems collapsing. If effective, it could also be rapidly given to other particularly vulnerable people such as the elderly. It could be especially useful in countries that have weak health care systems and would quickly be overwhelmed by a large outbreak. And the vaccine is cheap, safe, and, most important, immediately available for testing. Health care workers must be the priority, but once manufacture of the vaccine is ramped up, it could be much more widely available.
Yet the big global institutions are dawdling. Despite the WHO’s recommendation, big public health institutions are not actively investigating BCG. Nor are global health foundations such as Gates funding this crucial research. While research and development into new drugs may be sexier, it is hard to understand the reluctance to explore nontraditional uses of existing drugs. The big pharmaceutical companies are also sitting on their hands, apparently because there is little profit in an established vaccine such as BCG.
Our global defenses are only as good as our front-line health workers. With so much evidence pointing to the potential for BCG to provide at least partial protection, it is indefensible, even unethical, to overlook it simply because this strategy is unorthodox and unprofitable. Trials to test its beneficial effects for COVID-19 are urgently needed.


foreignpolicy--2020-03-24--The Untold Story of How Iran Botched the Coronavirus Pandemic

The Untold Story of How Iran Botched the Coronavirus Pandemic The official statistics issued by Iran ’ s health ministry about the coronavirus pandemic , which report 23,049 people infected people and 1,812 deaths across the country as of March 23 , are brutal enough .
But there ’ s every reason to believe the real figures are much higher .
Last Thursday , Kianush Jahanpur , an Iranian health ministry spokesman , tweeted that 50 people on average contract the virus in Iran almost every hour , and the fatality rate is one person every 10 minutes or six @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reflected earlier warnings by other Iranian health officials that the real tally of coronavirus infections and deaths is “ definitely ” higher than the government admits .
Rick Brennan , an emergency director for the World Health Organization who recently visited Iran , said on March 17 that the actual overall COVID-19 toll could be five times higher than official statistics .
It ’ s indisputable that Iran , a country of around 83 million people , is one of the pandemic ’ s epicenters .
Why exactly the crisis acquired such massive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ address , but responsibility mainly lies with Tehran ’ s botched response , details of which are only now starting to come to light .
There are growing indications that the Iranian government knew about the outbreak even as it avoided doing anything to stop it—or even inform the public about it .
Meanwhile , the government ’ s judgment continues to be marred by a combination of cynicism and religious ideology .
As the coronavirus got officially underway in China through January with an ever-rising death toll , Iranian officials did nothing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in a seeming attempt to maintain strong diplomatic ties .
In an interview on Feb. 4 , Bahram Parsaei , a ranking member of parliament from Shiraz , complained that despite a government decision on Jan. 31 to supposedly suspend all Iran-China flights , some Iranian airlines not only carried on business as usual but also helped transfer China-bound passengers in other countries .
He added that even Turkey had “ canceled all China flights out of care for people ’ s lives ” notwithstanding its heavy economic reliance on tourism , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pressed on with Tehran-Beijing flights until as late as Feb. 23 .
[ Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak : Get daily updates on the pandemic and learn how it ’ s affecting countries around the world . ]
On Feb. 19 , the Iranian government publicly confirmed two deaths caused by COVID-19 in the religious city of Qom , which has a population of 1.2 million .
International public health experts found it curious that Iran ’ s first official acknowledgment of the outbreak came in the form of a death , rather than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ must have preceded .
This suggests the virus may have already spread quite widely at the time of the announcement—and that Iranian officials may have known as much .
Giving further credence to that theory is the fact that on Feb. 15 , four days before Iran officially reported its first coronavirus cases , Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had a customary meeting with a group of religious eulogists , but unlike in past years , his security detail did not permit them to approach Khamenei and kiss his hand .
“ They didn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s hand , ” the eulogist Nariman Panahi later clarified , using a local appellation to refer to the supreme leader .
“ Why ?
[ Does this mean ] aga ignored us ?
No .
Protection of aga ’ s life is obligatory for us.
” Thus while the Iranian government cared for the life of the supreme leader and took extra precautions to protect him from the coronavirus as early as mid-February , it failed to care for the lives of 83 million Iranians and prioritized its partnership with China over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The most damning indictment of Iran ’ s crisis response came on Feb. 24 , when Mohammad Hossein Bahreini , the president of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences , in an interview with the state-run Iranian Students ’ News Agency admonished that the “ presence of 700 Chinese clerical students in the Qom Seminary prepared the ground for dissemination ” of the coronavirus all over Iran .
The interview was removed shortly after publication and repudiated by state-linked media later .
On the same day , Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani , a member of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ parliamentary presiding board , cited Bahreini as saying that the first deaths caused by COVID-19 in Qom came on Feb. 13 , that is , six days before Iran ’ s official announcement of the coronavirus outbreak in Qom .
Tehran ’ s struggle to maintain good ties with Beijing despite the imminent coronavirus threat was partly driven by the U.S. maximum pressure campaign , which the Trump administration set in motion in 2018 after scrapping the Iran nuclear deal and reimposing comprehensive sanctions against the Iranian economy , and which has rendered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and assistance .
In addition to purchases of Iranian crude and throwing Iran a lifeline in the face of crushing U.S. sanctions , China is constructing a $ 2.7 billion high-speed train route and a solar power plant near Qom , among other projects .
Yet Iran ’ s general neglect of the colossal public health threat posed by the coronavirus also emanates from its fundamental unfamiliarity with the nature of such a peril .
After all , the virus isn ’ t a domestic revolt or foreign intervention aimed at regime change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against the whole society that requires a science-centered response .
Such strictly empirical approaches to policymaking have been largely neglected by Tehran , except in specific instances such as its nuclear and , more recently , missile programs .
The systematic failure to take the threat seriously manifested itself in the comparably high death toll among influential government figures , including within the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps leadership .
For one , the corps lost to the coronavirus outbreak Gen. Nasser Shabani , a senior commander with 37 years of experience and such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tehran ’ s Sarallah Base , which is in charge of security in the capital .
The virus also claimed the life of Mohammad Mirmohammadi , a member of the Expediency Council close to Khamenei .
In August 2018 , Shabani made headlines in relation to the Yemen war after describing “ Lebanon ’ s Hezbollah ” and “ Yemen ’ s Ansar Allah ” ( Houthis ) as “ our [ strategic ] depth ” and saying smugly that “ we asked Yemenis to hit two Saudi tankers , and they hit.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in responding to the coronavirus was that it didn ’ t want to impede arrangements for parliamentary elections on Feb. 21 .
The government already had fears of low turnout due to political turmoil in the preceding months—from the brutal suppression of nationwide protests against a state-sanctioned fuel price spike in November 2019 to the fatal shooting down by mistake of a passenger plane with 176 people onboard in January .
That prompted a measured silence over the coronavirus spread among Iranian leaders , lest it tank public participation further .
When Iran @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the spread , domestic politics and religious ideology impaired its effectiveness .
On the one hand , the administration of President Hassan Rouhani set up a “ national headquarters for fighting the coronavirus ” in February following a decision by the Supreme National Security Council and its endorsement by the supreme leader .
For all its efforts to limit the outbreak , the headquarters notoriously resisted organized quarantine measures from the very beginning .
In a press conference on Feb. 24 , Iran ’ s Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi publicly opposed the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and stressed that “ quarantines belong to [ the period ] before World War I for [ diseases like ] plague and cholera , and even the Chinese are not satisfied with the quarantine that has been put in place.
” Ironically , Harirchi was making these comments while sweating profusely and coughing repeatedly .
He later tested positive for the coronavirus .
On the other hand , Khamenei ordered the Iranian military , led by the Revolutionary Guards , to establish Imam Reza Base as part of state efforts to combat the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , armed forces chief of staff and one of Iran ’ s most seasoned strategists , this military contingent proposed a set of preventive measures in its first meeting on March 13 : a national monitoring program to identify the infected and those suspected of infection , provision by the military of 1,000 mobile and stationary clinics for screening and examining the cases , and organization of a national campaign to “ de-crowd stores , streets , and roads.
” These proposal , however , mostly fell on deaf ears among military officers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and shutdowns for fear of their economic fallout .
Eventually , the relentless exponential rise in COVID-19 fatalities forced the government ’ s hand .
But ideological and religious commitments among some government officials and parts of society clearly interfered with the public health response , especially plans to close down religious sites that typically attract sizable crowds of people .
In a speech on Feb. 22—three days after the official announcement of coronavirus-caused deaths in Qom—Ayatollah Mohammad Saeedi , the city ’ s Friday prayer leader appointed by the supreme leader , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dubbing it an enemy plot to deal a “ reputational blow ” to “ the sanctuary of Shiites in the world.
” In all , Iran squandered multiple opportunities to respond to the worst public health crisis in its history , first by failing to address it squarely when the coronavirus entered Iran , and later on by neglecting expertise-based proposals to contain its spread .
Arguably , the latter problem seems to only be persisting .
Khamenei ’ s latest statement in his Persian New Year message on March 22 was that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the United States and specifically engineered for Iranian genes .
That comment does not augur well for Iran ’ s crisis management efforts in the weeks and months ahead .

The official statistics issued by Iran’s health ministry about the coronavirus pandemic, which report 23,049 people infected people and 1,812 deaths across the country as of March 23, are brutal enough. But there’s every reason to believe the real figures are much higher. Last Thursday, Kianush Jahanpur, an Iranian health ministry spokesman, tweeted that 50 people on average contract the virus in Iran almost every hour, and the fatality rate is one person every 10 minutes or six people per hour.
The official statistics issued by Iran’s health ministry about the coronavirus pandemic, which report 23,049 people infected people and 1,812 deaths across the country as of March 23, are brutal enough. But there’s every reason to believe the real figures are much higher. Last Thursday, Kianush Jahanpur, an Iranian health ministry spokesman, tweeted that 50 people on average contract the virus in Iran almost every hour, and the fatality rate is one person every 10 minutes or six people per hour.
That sobering comment reflected earlier warnings by other Iranian health officials that the real tally of coronavirus infections and deaths is “definitely” higher than the government admits. Rick Brennan, an emergency director for the World Health Organization who recently visited Iran, said on March 17 that the actual overall COVID-19 toll could be five times higher than official statistics.
It’s indisputable that Iran, a country of around 83 million people, is one of the pandemic’s epicenters. Why exactly the crisis acquired such massive proportions in Iran is more complicated to address, but responsibility mainly lies with Tehran’s botched response, details of which are only now starting to come to light. There are growing indications that the Iranian government knew about the outbreak even as it avoided doing anything to stop it—or even inform the public about it. Meanwhile, the government’s judgment continues to be marred by a combination of cynicism and religious ideology.
As the coronavirus got officially underway in China through January with an ever-rising death toll, Iranian officials did nothing to stem travel between the two countries, in a seeming attempt to maintain strong diplomatic ties. In an interview on Feb. 4, Bahram Parsaei, a ranking member of parliament from Shiraz, complained that despite a government decision on Jan. 31 to supposedly suspend all Iran-China flights, some Iranian airlines not only carried on business as usual but also helped transfer China-bound passengers in other countries. He added that even Turkey had “canceled all China flights out of care for people’s lives” notwithstanding its heavy economic reliance on tourism, including Chinese tourists. Yet Mahan Air pressed on with Tehran-Beijing flights until as late as Feb. 23.
[Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak: Get daily updates on the pandemic and learn how it’s affecting countries around the world.]
On Feb. 19, the Iranian government publicly confirmed two deaths caused by COVID-19 in the religious city of Qom, which has a population of 1.2 million. International public health experts found it curious that Iran’s first official acknowledgment of the outbreak came in the form of a death, rather than any announcement of infection, which necessarily must have preceded. This suggests the virus may have already spread quite widely at the time of the announcement—and that Iranian officials may have known as much.
Giving further credence to that theory is the fact that on Feb. 15, four days before Iran officially reported its first coronavirus cases, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had a customary meeting with a group of religious eulogists, but unlike in past years, his security detail did not permit them to approach Khamenei and kiss his hand. “They didn’t let us kiss aga’s hand,” the eulogist Nariman Panahi later clarified, using a local appellation to refer to the supreme leader. “Why? [Does this mean] aga ignored us? No. Protection of aga’s life is obligatory for us.”
Thus while the Iranian government cared for the life of the supreme leader and took extra precautions to protect him from the coronavirus as early as mid-February, it failed to care for the lives of 83 million Iranians and prioritized its partnership with China over the nation’s public health.
Listen Now: Don't Touch Your Face A new podcast from Foreign Policy covering all aspects of the coronavirus pandemic Learn More
The most damning indictment of Iran’s crisis response came on Feb. 24, when Mohammad Hossein Bahreini, the president of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, in an interview with the state-run Iranian Students’ News Agency admonished that the “presence of 700 Chinese clerical students in the Qom Seminary prepared the ground for dissemination” of the coronavirus all over Iran. The interview was removed shortly after publication and repudiated by state-linked media later. On the same day, Ahmad Amirabadi Farahani, a member of parliament from Qom who sits on the parliamentary presiding board, cited Bahreini as saying that the first deaths caused by COVID-19 in Qom came on Feb. 13, that is, six days before Iran’s official announcement of the coronavirus outbreak in Qom.
Tehran’s struggle to maintain good ties with Beijing despite the imminent coronavirus threat was partly driven by the U.S. maximum pressure campaign, which the Trump administration set in motion in 2018 after scrapping the Iran nuclear deal and reimposing comprehensive sanctions against the Iranian economy, and which has rendered the country critically dependent on Chinese investment and assistance. In addition to purchases of Iranian crude and throwing Iran a lifeline in the face of crushing U.S. sanctions, China is constructing a $2.7 billion high-speed train route and a solar power plant near Qom, among other projects.
Yet Iran’s general neglect of the colossal public health threat posed by the coronavirus also emanates from its fundamental unfamiliarity with the nature of such a peril. After all, the virus isn’t a domestic revolt or foreign intervention aimed at regime change, but a creeping, invisible menace against the whole society that requires a science-centered response. Such strictly empirical approaches to policymaking have been largely neglected by Tehran, except in specific instances such as its nuclear and, more recently, missile programs.
The systematic failure to take the threat seriously manifested itself in the comparably high death toll among influential government figures, including within the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps leadership. For one, the corps lost to the coronavirus outbreak Gen. Nasser Shabani, a senior commander with 37 years of experience and such key posts as the deputy head of Tehran’s Sarallah Base, which is in charge of security in the capital. The virus also claimed the life of Mohammad Mirmohammadi, a member of the Expediency Council close to Khamenei. In August 2018, Shabani made headlines in relation to the Yemen war after describing “Lebanon’s Hezbollah” and “Yemen’s Ansar Allah” (Houthis) as “our [strategic] depth” and saying smugly that “we asked Yemenis to hit two Saudi tankers, and they hit.”
Another reason Iran dragged its feet in responding to the coronavirus was that it didn’t want to impede arrangements for parliamentary elections on Feb. 21. The government already had fears of low turnout due to political turmoil in the preceding months—from the brutal suppression of nationwide protests against a state-sanctioned fuel price spike in November 2019 to the fatal shooting down by mistake of a passenger plane with 176 people onboard in January. That prompted a measured silence over the coronavirus spread among Iranian leaders, lest it tank public participation further.
When Iran finally did take concerted action to contain the spread, domestic politics and religious ideology impaired its effectiveness.
On the one hand, the administration of President Hassan Rouhani set up a “national headquarters for fighting the coronavirus” in February following a decision by the Supreme National Security Council and its endorsement by the supreme leader. For all its efforts to limit the outbreak, the headquarters notoriously resisted organized quarantine measures from the very beginning. In a press conference on Feb. 24, Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi publicly opposed the sort of wide-scale quarantining China had enforced and stressed that “quarantines belong to [the period] before World War I for [diseases like] plague and cholera, and even the Chinese are not satisfied with the quarantine that has been put in place.” Ironically, Harirchi was making these comments while sweating profusely and coughing repeatedly. He later tested positive for the coronavirus.
On the other hand, Khamenei ordered the Iranian military, led by the Revolutionary Guards, to establish Imam Reza Base as part of state efforts to combat the pandemic. Headed by Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, armed forces chief of staff and one of Iran’s most seasoned strategists, this military contingent proposed a set of preventive measures in its first meeting on March 13: a national monitoring program to identify the infected and those suspected of infection, provision by the military of 1,000 mobile and stationary clinics for screening and examining the cases, and organization of a national campaign to “de-crowd stores, streets, and roads.” These proposal, however, mostly fell on deaf ears among military officers and other officials who shunned the quarantines and shutdowns for fear of their economic fallout.
Eventually, the relentless exponential rise in COVID-19 fatalities forced the government’s hand. But ideological and religious commitments among some government officials and parts of society clearly interfered with the public health response, especially plans to close down religious sites that typically attract sizable crowds of people. In a speech on Feb. 22—three days after the official announcement of coronavirus-caused deaths in Qom—Ayatollah Mohammad Saeedi, the city’s Friday prayer leader appointed by the supreme leader, opposed quarantining the Fatima Masumeh Shrine, dubbing it an enemy plot to deal a “reputational blow” to “the sanctuary of Shiites in the world.”
In all, Iran squandered multiple opportunities to respond to the worst public health crisis in its history, first by failing to address it squarely when the coronavirus entered Iran, and later on by neglecting expertise-based proposals to contain its spread. Arguably, the latter problem seems to only be persisting. Khamenei’s latest statement in his Persian New Year message on March 22 was that the coronavirus might have been produced by the United States and specifically engineered for Iranian genes. That comment does not augur well for Iran’s crisis management efforts in the weeks and months ahead.


foreignpolicy--2020-03-25--Is the United States the Coronavirus Pandemic’s New Epicenter?

Is the United States the Coronavirus Pandemic ’ s New Epicenter ?
Here is today ’ s Foreign Policy brief : WHO warns virus epicenter could move to U.S. , India enters lockdown , and the Nigerian military suffers a deadly ambush .
We welcome your feedback at morningbrief @ foreignpolicy.com .
During a White House briefing , U.S. President Donald Trump said he can “ see the light at the end of the tunnel ” as the United States battles its coronavirus epidemic .
Trump said he hoped to relax coronavirus restrictions fully soon and “ would love to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just raring to go , by Easter.
” Easter Sunday takes place on April 12 .
On the same day , Margaret Harris , a spokesperson for the World Health Organization said that the United States has the potential to be the next epicenter of the coronavirus , citing the dramatic increase in cases .
The number of cases in the United States has surged from 7,800 cases a week ago to 53,268 cases today .
As the White House remains preoccupied with the health of the U.S. economy , eyes have turned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 11 percent yesterday in anticipation of a multi-trillion dollar agreement , its biggest one day gain since 1933 .
Will stimulus be enough to keep the U.S. economy afloat ?
For some experts , stimulus is only one necessary measure among many , “ The answer is we need no evictions , no foreclosures on all properties , and the government should guarantee pay , ” Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz told Foreign Policy ’ s Michael Hirsh .
Other advanced countries have taken on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United Kingdom announced it would cover 80 percent of salaries , and the Danish government has announced similar measures .
Is there light at the end of the tunnel ?
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo , whose state is the worst hit , doesn ’ t think so .
Citing new estimates that put the peak infection rate at least two weeks away as “ troubling and astronomical numbers , ” he reported that the rate of new coronavirus cases is doubling every three days .
Cuomo asked the federal government for support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Israel ’ s parliament faces speaker deadline .
Israel ’ s Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein faces a deadline imposed by Israel ’ s Supreme Court to elect a new speaker by tonight .
Edelstein , a member of the Likud party , has refused to hold a vote since Israel last elected a new parliament on March 2 .
Reports in Israeli media suggest that Edelstein might quit rather than hold the vote as he faces pressure from some lawmakers within his own party not to flout the ruling .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ legislature has plunged Israel into a dual crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic and a paralyzed political system , Neri Zilber argues in FP .
Islamists ambush Nigerian forces .
Islamist militants killed 70 Nigerian soldiers in an ambush in the village of Gorgi in the north of the country .
According to Reuters sources , the attack involved rocket-propelled grenades and heavy weaponry .
Nigerian military spokesman Sagir Musa confirmed the attack , but has disputed the death toll .
Kosovo government on edge .
Kosovo ’ s parliament will vote today @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Prime Minister Albin Kurti ’ s government as a dispute between parties threatens to bring down the ruling coalition .
Tensions flared when Kurti fired Interior Minister Agim Veliu after Veliu publicly called for a state of emergency in the face of the coronavirus pandemic , a measure Kurti opposed .
Kosovo has confirmed 63 COVID-19 cases , with one death reported .
India on lockdown .
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown of the country ’ s 1.3 billion residents .
Although India has only recorded 536 cases of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tracing a steep trajectory as more testing takes place .
Ashish Jha , the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute , said that cases in India could be 10 or 20 times higher than reported .
EU expansion talks to begin .
Talks to allow North Macedonia and Albania to join the European Union are set to begin after EU ministers approved the move on Tuesday .
A date for the beginning of talks has not yet been set , but is expected to be toward the end of 2020 .
Italy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the head of Italy ’ s Civil Protection Agency , responsible for giving accurate data on the country ’ s coronavirus epidemic , has said that cases of COVID-19 may be dramatically undercounted by a factor of 10 , “ A ratio of one certified case out of every 10 is credible , ” he said .
Italy has seen yet another spike in its daily death rate , after more than 700 people perished on Tuesday .
Italy—with over 6,800 fatalities , more than double the number in China—has suffered the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pushed to help island refugees at risk of coronavirus .
Heeding calls from members of the European Parliament , the European Union has asked Greece to get those most vulnerable to coronavirus away from its crowded island refugee camps .
Home Affairs Commisioner Ylva Johansson said plans are in progress , “ We are working together with the Greek government and the Greek authorities to agree on an emergency plan to help reduce the risk as much as possible in the overcrowded hotspots on the islands , ” she said .
The EU @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the island camps at the beginning of the month and has yet to do so .
If you are lucky enough to be working from home and have entertained the idea of exercise only to put it off until tomorrow , here is some inspiration .
Elisha Nochomovitz , a French restaurant worker , has run a marathon on his balcony using GPS to track the distance .
Nochomovitz ’ s balcony spans 23 feet and he estimates it took him 3,000 laps to conquer the 26.2 mile marathon length in a less-than-Olympian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Nochomovitz dedicated his unique run to “ all caregivers on the front lines against this virus.
” For more from FP , visit foreignpolicy.com , subscribe here , or sign up for our other newsletters .
Send your tips , comments , questions , or corrections to morningbrief @ foreignpolicy.com .

Here is today’s Foreign Policy brief: WHO warns virus epicenter could move to United States, India enters lockdown, and the Nigerian military suffers a deadly ambush.
Here is today’s Foreign Policy brief: WHO warns virus epicenter could move to United States, India enters lockdown, and the Nigerian military suffers a deadly ambush.
If you would like to receive Morning Brief in your inbox every weekday, please sign up here.
Trump Sees ‘Light at End of Tunnel’ as WHO Says Pandemic Epicenter Could Shift To U.S.
During a White House briefing, U.S. President Donald Trump said he can “see the light at the end of the tunnel” as the United States battles its coronavirus epidemic. Trump said he hoped to relax coronavirus restrictions fully soon and “would love to have the country opened up, and just raring to go, by Easter.” Easter Sunday takes place on April 12.
On the same day, Margaret Harris, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization said that the United States has the potential to be the next epicenter of the coronavirus, citing the dramatic increase in cases. The number of cases in the United States has surged from 7,800 cases a week ago to 53,268 cases today.
As the White House remains preoccupied with the health of the U.S. economy, eyes have turned to a pending stimulus deal. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 11 percent yesterday in anticipation of a multi-trillion dollar agreement, its biggest one day gain since 1933.
Will stimulus be enough to keep the U.S. economy afloat? For some experts, stimulus is only one necessary measure among many, “The answer is we need no evictions, no foreclosures on all properties, and the government should guarantee pay,” Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz told Foreign Policy’s Michael Hirsh. Other advanced countries have taken on ambitious pay guarantees for workers: The United Kingdom announced it would cover 80 percent of salaries, and the Danish government has announced similar measures.
Is there light at the end of the tunnel? New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose state is the worst hit, doesn’t think so. Citing new estimates that put the peak infection rate at least two weeks away as “troubling and astronomical numbers,” he reported that the rate of new coronavirus cases is doubling every three days. Cuomo asked the federal government for support in procuring medical equipment, especially ventilators.
What We’re Following Today
Israel’s parliament faces speaker deadline. Israel’s Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein faces a deadline imposed by Israel’s Supreme Court to elect a new speaker by tonight. Edelstein, a member of the Likud party, has refused to hold a vote since Israel last elected a new parliament on March 2. Reports in Israeli media suggest that Edelstein might quit rather than hold the vote as he faces pressure from some lawmakers within his own party not to flout the ruling. The standoff between the court and the legislature has plunged Israel into a dual crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic and a paralyzed political system, Neri Zilber argues in FP.
Islamists ambush Nigerian forces. Islamist militants killed 70 Nigerian soldiers in an ambush in the village of Gorgi in the north of the country. According to Reuters sources, the attack involved rocket-propelled grenades and heavy weaponry. Nigerian military spokesman Sagir Musa confirmed the attack, but has disputed the death toll.
Kosovo government on edge. Kosovo’s parliament will vote today on a motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s government as a dispute between parties threatens to bring down the ruling coalition. Tensions flared when Kurti fired Interior Minister Agim Veliu after Veliu publicly called for a state of emergency in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, a measure Kurti opposed. Kosovo has confirmed 63 COVID-19 cases, with one death reported.
Keep an Eye On
India on lockdown. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown of the country’s 1.3 billion residents. Although India has only recorded 536 cases of COVID-19 so far, that number is tracing a steep trajectory as more testing takes place. Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said that cases in India could be 10 or 20 times higher than reported.
EU expansion talks to begin. Talks to allow North Macedonia and Albania to join the European Union are set to begin after EU ministers approved the move on Tuesday. A date for the beginning of talks has not yet been set, but is expected to be toward the end of 2020.
Italy cases could be undercounted. Angelo Borrelli, the head of Italy’s Civil Protection Agency, responsible for giving accurate data on the country’s coronavirus epidemic, has said that cases of COVID-19 may be dramatically undercounted by a factor of 10, “A ratio of one certified case out of every 10 is credible,” he said. Italy has seen yet another spike in its daily death rate, after more than 700 people perished on Tuesday. Italy—with over 6,800 fatalities, more than double the number in China—has suffered the most deaths of any country.
Greece pushed to help island refugees at risk of coronavirus. Heeding calls from members of the European Parliament, the European Union has asked Greece to get those most vulnerable to coronavirus away from its crowded island refugee camps. Home Affairs Commisioner Ylva Johansson said plans are in progress, “We are working together with the Greek government and the Greek authorities to agree on an emergency plan to help reduce the risk as much as possible in the overcrowded hotspots on the islands,” she said. The EU promised to remove 1,600 unaccompanied children from the island camps at the beginning of the month and has yet to do so.
Odds and Ends
If you are lucky enough to be working from home and have entertained the idea of exercise only to put it off until tomorrow, here is some inspiration. Elisha Nochomovitz, a French restaurant worker, has run a marathon on his balcony using GPS to track the distance. Nochomovitz’s balcony spans 23 feet and he estimates it took him 3,000 laps to conquer the 26.2 mile marathon length in a less-than-Olympian time of 6 hours and 48 minutes. Nochomovitz dedicated his unique run to “all caregivers on the front lines against this virus.”
That’s it for today.
For more from FP, visit foreignpolicy.com, subscribe here, or sign up for our other newsletters. Send your tips, comments, questions, or corrections to morningbrief@foreignpolicy.com.


foreignpolicy--2020-03-25--Israel’s Double Curse—Politics and the Pandemic

TEL AVIV – Two formidable crises Israel is facing , a pandemic and a political standoff , have intersected in recent days to create one of the most challenging—and bewildering—moments in the country ’ s history .
The coronavirus has infected nearly 2,000 Israelis and killed three of them , prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to impose a near-total lockdown across the country .
At the same time , Netanyahu seems poised to defy a Supreme Court decision that could potentially loosen his grip on power after three inconclusive elections in the past year and three corruption indictments .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Israel and a difficult test for Netanyahu .
But the national emergency spawned by the pandemic could ultimately save the Israeli leader politically .
The court ruled Monday that Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein must hold a plenary vote by Wednesday on a new speaker .
Edelstein is a member of Netanyahu ’ s Likud party .
Coming out of the latest election in early March , the opposition Blue and White party and its allies hold a slim 61-seat majority in parliament , versus 59 seats for Netanyahu and his religious and right-wing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intent on pressing forward with its advantage , including nominating one of its own to the speaker post and taking control of parliamentary procedure .
Edelstein had indicated he would not abide by the Supreme Court ’ s ruling , with other senior Netanyahu government ministers calling on him to directly flout the decision .
In the past week , Edelstein had raised concerns about conducting the full array of Knesset activities , citing Health Ministry guidelines on social distancing .
But critics say casting ballots remotely and using special quarantine rooms for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut was withering in her criticism , saying that Edelstein ’ s continued refusal to hold the speaker vote “ undermined the foundations of the democratic process and damaged the Knesset ’ s status as an independent authority.
” Israel ’ s attorney general and president have also weighed in , saying the government should allow the normal functioning of parliament .
But Netanyahu loyalists slammed the court ’ s decision as undemocratic and accused judges of usurping powers from the legislative branch .
“ If Chief Justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Knesset , she ’ s invited to come…with the Supreme Court guard and open the plenary herself , ” wrote Tourism Minister Yariv Levin on Facebook .
Several right-wing politicians appeared to take a softer line against the court , which has become a major battleground between nationalists and liberals over contentious pieces of Knesset legislation , West Bank settlements , and illegal migrants .
“ We haven ’ t got another court , we haven ’ t got another [ justice ] system .
The decision must be respected .
But the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one Likud minister told Army Radio Tuesday morning .
Politicians and commentators on both the left and right warned of anarchy if a Supreme Court ruling is flouted .
The division over the ruling mirrors the broader discord in the country over Netanyahu himself—the longest-serving prime minister in Israel ’ s history .
“ We already have a two-state solution in Israel , ” Likud pollster Rafi Smith recently told Foreign Policy , using a term usually associated with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict .
“ It ’ s called Bibi and no Bibi , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s a fight over the identity of the country.
” This chasm only widened after three election campaigns and three indictments against Netanyahu for bribery , fraud , and breach of trust .
Neither Netanyahu nor his chief rival , Blue and White head Benny Gantz , have been able to form a government .
Netanyahu has continued on as caretaker prime minister of a transition government .
To be sure , the center-left , led by Blue and White , did win a slight majority , and Gantz last week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a government .
Yet his path to a governing coalition appears slim at best .
The anti-Netanyahu forces in parliament are divided ideologically between Arab-Israeli political factions and secular ultra-nationalists , pro-peace leftists and right-wing security hawks .
Gantz ’ s only viable option coming out of the last election was the seating of a minority government with the external parliamentary support of the Arab-dominated Joint List .
There ’ s no precedent in Israel for a minority government formed at the outset of a tenure .
Two Blue and White backbenchers , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oppose such a decision , deeming Arab-Israeli political support anathema ; a Gantz-led minority government is impossible without their votes .
Netanyahu , for his part , maintains that he holds a parliamentary majority since the votes of Israel ’ s Arab citizens—twenty percent of the country , who voted overwhelmingly for the Joint List—should not be counted .
A recent Likud video shared by Netanyahu on social media alleged that Blue and White was “ trampling over democracy ” and conspiring with “ supporters of terror to topple a Zionist government.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ faction , told Foreign Policy that Netanyahu was trying to delegitimize the Joint List because of its increasing strength .
“ Bibi isn ’ t prime minister because of our votes—Arab doctors , teachers , construction workers , football players and more who made the Joint List the third largest party in the Knesset.
” With no clear path to a governing coalition for either Netanyahu or Gantz , and with the spiraling coronavirus crisis , the two leaders have discussed forming a “ national emergency government ” together .
Netanyahu this past @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incipient deal , which would see him remain as prime minister for 18 months , followed by Gantz serving for 18 months .
This would be a huge comedown for Blue and White , a political party just over a year old that was created for the express purpose of toppling Netanyahu .
Yet , as Gantz put it in a recent interview : “ There are principles , but there are also circumstances , ” alluding to the growing economic toll of a national shutdown that has driven up unemployment to nearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , deep opposition even within Blue and White ’ s leadership to sitting with Netanyahu in government .
“ I can ’ t imagine anyone in the country believes Bibi will step down and hand the keys to Gantz in one and a half years , ” a senior source in Blue and White told Foreign Policy .
“ It ’ s possible that Netanyahu sometimes lies and can ’ t be trusted to uphold political deals , ” the source added sardonically .
Which all ties back to the constitutional crisis over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in recent weeks has embarked on a strategy to increase pressure on Netanyahu via parliament and thereby improve its negotiating position ( while also , party officials insist , providing essential oversight over an unelected government as it invokes emergency powers to deal with the pandemic ) .
First came the solidification of Gantz ’ s parliamentary majority that gave him first option to form a government .
This then provided Gantz with the power to form Knesset committees—something Likud also opposed—and move to replace Edelstein as speaker .
Control over parliamentary procedure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ White with the option—or threat—of passing laws disqualifying an indicted prime minister from running again in any future election .
“ It ’ s the best threat they have on Netanyahu , ” Tal Shalev , senior political correspondent for the Walla News outlet , told Foreign Policy .
“ Bibi is most afraid of this law.
” The kerfuffle over parliament , then , can best be understood as both Blue and White upholding Israel ’ s democratic processes and as a leverage play against Netanyahu .
“ Gantz wants [ a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but he can ’ t do it via a complete surrender , ” Shalev explained .
“ He has to finish the Knesset moves first ” because of pressure from several of his senior political partners .
The real enigma remains Netanyahu .
He has threatened to end unity talks if Blue and White actually replaces his Knesset speaker .
Over the past two days he directed the entire right-wing bloc of parties to simply boycott parliament .
An emergency government with Gantz holds the tantalizing possibility of breaking up Blue and White @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agree to violate the core election pledge of not serving under Netanyahu .
But it would also force Netanyahu to give up some power , possibly including control over the Justice Ministry , making it harder for him to mitigate the damage from his own legal trouble .
Netanyahu might also be considering another strategy for retaining power : moving for a fourth election .
With the pandemic shutting down much of the country , it could be months or longer before Israelis can go to the polls once again .
In the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The government last week shuttered all the courts—save the Supreme Court—due to the coronavirus , just days before Netanyahu ’ s own trial was set to start .
A new date was set for late May .
“ It ’ s a confluence of too many things , ” Dr. Amir Fuchs , a legal expert at the Israel Democracy Institute , told Foreign Policy .
“ There are many countries dealing with the corona crisis , but no country is doing it during multiple political crises .
”

TEL AVIV, Israel—Two formidable crises Israel is facing, a pandemic and a political standoff, have intersected in recent days to create one of the most challenging—and bewildering—moments in the country’s history.
TEL AVIV, Israel—Two formidable crises Israel is facing, a pandemic and a political standoff, have intersected in recent days to create one of the most challenging—and bewildering—moments in the country’s history.
The new coronavirus has infected nearly 2,000 Israelis and killed three of them, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to impose a near-total lockdown across the country.
At the same time, Netanyahu seems poised to defy a Supreme Court decision that could potentially loosen his grip on power after three inconclusive elections in the past year and three corruption indictments.
The standoff amounts to a constitutional crisis for Israel and a difficult test for Netanyahu. But the national emergency spawned by the pandemic could ultimately save the Israeli leader politically.
The court ruled Monday that Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein must hold a plenary vote by Wednesday on a new speaker. Edelstein is a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party.
[Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak: Get daily updates on the pandemic and learn how it’s affecting countries around the world.]
Coming out of the latest election in early March, the opposition Blue and White party and its allies hold a slim 61-seat majority in parliament, versus 59 seats for Netanyahu and his religious and right-wing allies. Blue and White is now intent on pressing forward with its advantage, including nominating one of its own to the speaker post and taking control of parliamentary procedure.
Edelstein had indicated he would not abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling, with other senior Netanyahu government ministers calling on him to directly flout the decision. In the past week, Edelstein had raised concerns about conducting the full array of Knesset activities, citing Health Ministry guidelines on social distancing. But critics say casting ballots remotely and using special quarantine rooms for infected parliamentarians would mitigate any concerns.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut was withering in her criticism, saying that Edelstein’s continued refusal to hold the speaker vote “undermined the foundations of the democratic process and damaged the Knesset’s status as an independent authority.”
Israel’s attorney general and president have also weighed in, saying the government should allow the normal functioning of parliament.
But Netanyahu loyalists slammed the court’s decision as undemocratic and accused judges of usurping powers from the legislative branch. “If Chief Justice Hayut wants to put herself above the Knesset, she’s invited to come … with the Supreme Court guard and open the plenary herself,” wrote Tourism Minister Yariv Levin on Facebook.
Listen Now: Don't Touch Your Face A new podcast from Foreign Policy covering all aspects of the coronavirus pandemic Learn More
Several right-wing politicians appeared to take a softer line against the court, which has become a major battleground between nationalists and liberals over contentious pieces of Knesset legislation, West Bank settlements, and illegal migrants.
“We haven’t got another court, we haven’t got another [justice] system. The decision must be respected. But the very intervention is the problem,” one Likud minister told Army Radio Tuesday morning. Politicians and commentators on both the left and right warned of anarchy if a Supreme Court ruling is flouted.
The division over the ruling mirrors the broader discord in the country over Netanyahu himself—the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history.
“We already have a two-state solution in Israel,” Likud pollster Rafi Smith recently told Foreign Policy, using a term usually associated with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “It’s called Bibi and no Bibi, the right versus the liberal left. It’s a fight over the identity of the country.”
This chasm only widened after three election campaigns and three indictments against Netanyahu for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Neither Netanyahu nor his chief rival, Blue and White head Benny Gantz, has been able to form a government. Netanyahu has continued on as caretaker prime minister of a transition government.
To be sure, the center-left, led by Blue and White, did win a slight majority, and Gantz last week was tasked by the president with forming a government. Yet his path to a governing coalition appears slim at best.
The anti-Netanyahu forces in parliament are divided ideologically between Arab-Israeli political factions and secular ultra-nationalists, pro-peace leftists and right-wing security hawks. Gantz’s only viable option coming out of the last election was the seating of a minority government with the external parliamentary support of the Arab-dominated Joint List. There’s no precedent in Israel for a minority government formed at the outset of a tenure.
Two Blue and White backbenchers, however, have already indicated they would oppose such a decision, deeming Arab-Israeli political support anathema; a Gantz-led minority government is impossible without their votes.
Netanyahu, for his part, maintains that he holds a parliamentary majority since he believes the votes of Israel’s Arab citizens—20 percent of the country, who voted overwhelmingly for the Joint List—should not be counted. A recent Likud video shared by Netanyahu on social media alleged that Blue and White was “trampling over democracy” and conspiring with “supporters of terror to topple a Zionist government.”
But Ahmad Tibi of the Joint List faction told Foreign Policy that Netanyahu was trying to delegitimize the Joint List because of its increasing strength: “Bibi isn’t prime minister because of our votes—Arab doctors, teachers, construction workers, football players, and more who made the Joint List the third-largest party in the Knesset.”
With no clear path to a governing coalition for either Netanyahu or Gantz, and with the spiraling coronavirus crisis, the two leaders have discussed forming a “national emergency government” together.
Netanyahu this past weekend laid out his version of the incipient deal, which would see him remain as prime minister for 18 months, followed by Gantz serving for 18 months. This would be a huge comedown for Blue and White, a political party just over a year old that was created for the express purpose of toppling Netanyahu. Yet, as Gantz put it in a recent interview: “There are principles, but there are also circumstances,” alluding to the growing economic toll of a national shutdown that has driven up unemployment to nearly 18 percent.
There remains, however, deep opposition even within Blue and White’s leadership to sitting with Netanyahu in government. “I can’t imagine anyone in the country believes Bibi will step down and hand the keys to Gantz in one and a half years,” a senior source in Blue and White told Foreign Policy. “It’s possible that Netanyahu sometimes lies and can’t be trusted to uphold political deals,” the source added sardonically.
This all ties back to the constitutional crisis over the Knesset speaker.
Blue and White in recent weeks has embarked on a strategy to increase pressure on Netanyahu via parliament and thereby improve its negotiating position (while also, party officials insist, providing essential oversight over an unelected government as it invokes emergency powers to deal with the pandemic).
First came the solidification of Gantz’s parliamentary majority that gave him first option to form a government. This then provided Gantz with the power to form Knesset committees—something Likud also opposed—and move to replace Edelstein as speaker. Control over parliamentary procedure, finally, may provide Blue and White with the option—or threat—of passing laws disqualifying an indicted prime minister from running again in any future election.
“It’s the best threat they have on Netanyahu,” Tal Shalev, senior political correspondent for the Walla News outlet, told Foreign Policy. “Bibi is most afraid of this law.”
The kerfuffle over parliament, then, can best be understood as both Blue and White upholding Israel’s democratic processes and as a leverage play against Netanyahu.
“Gantz wants [a] unity [government with Netanyahu], but he can’t do it via a complete surrender,” Shalev explained. “He has to finish the Knesset moves first” because of pressure from several of his senior political partners.
The real enigma remains Netanyahu. He has threatened to end unity talks if Blue and White actually replaces his Knesset speaker. Over the past two days he directed the entire right-wing bloc of parties to simply boycott parliament. An emergency government with Gantz holds the tantalizing possibility of breaking up Blue and White, as only parts of it may agree to violate the core election pledge of not serving under Netanyahu. But it would also force Netanyahu to give up some power, possibly including control over the Justice Ministry, making it harder for him to mitigate the damage from his own legal trouble.
Netanyahu might also be considering another strategy for retaining power: moving for a fourth election. With the pandemic shutting down much of the country, it could be months or longer before Israelis can go to the polls once again. In the meantime, Netanyahu would remain prime minister. The government last week shuttered all the courts—save the Supreme Court—due to the coronavirus, just days before Netanyahu’s own trial was set to start. A new date was set for late May.
“It’s a confluence of too many things,” Amir Fuchs, a legal expert at the Israel Democracy Institute, told Foreign Policy. “There are many countries dealing with the corona crisis, but no country is doing it during multiple political crises.”


foreignpolicy--2020-03-25--How China is Exploiting the Coronavirus to Weaken Democracies

How China is Exploiting the Coronavirus to Weaken Democracies As the coronavirus works its way around the globe , it is putting unprecedented strain on public health systems and devastating economies along its path .
In time , it will also lead to political upheavals that are just as potent .
Already , we see the crisis posing tremendous challenges to the liberal democracies of the West as they struggle to manage the crisis in full public glare .
Closed , authoritarian states such as China have it easier : Not only have they imposed their draconian lockdowns with ruthless @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that might lead to panic and quashed all dissent .
They have also been quick to exploit Western weaknesses .
China , in particular , has been extremely adept at exploiting the virus for its global propaganda war against the United States .
Beijing is also taking every opportunity during this crisis to drive wedges between members of the European UnionBeijing is taking every opportunity during this crisis to drive wedges between members of the European Union.
, which it sees as a potential rival protecting European interests and values against Chinese attempts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the continent .
The jury is still out , but one thing is clear : China can not be allowed to win .
Considering China ’ s own role in creating the crisis , it is ironic to see China is scoring points in its propaganda war and driving wedges between Western democracies .
Instead of alerting the world of the outbreak , China engaged in an extensive cover-up of its spread .
In a breathtaking display of gaslighting , it now projects its own perfidy onto the United States .
“ It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ epidemic to Wuhan , ” the spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry tweeted recently .
“ Be transparent !
Make public your data !
US owe us an explanation !
” The Chinese Communist Party , known for cooking its books on everything from military spending to economic growth , has applied its trademark mendacity to this crisis , too .
Already adept at censoring , China has used the crisis as an opportunity to shut the country off even more from the outside world , expelling most U.S. journalists and enforcing even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ little of what Beijing tells the world is verifiable .
If China ’ s response to the coronavirus appears impressive , it is only because the authorities in Beijing are the ones doing the telling .
Beijing has reinforced this propaganda campaign by sending medical supplies to Europe .
It is hard to believe that a country that interns more than 1 million of its own citizens is capable of altruism .
Indeed , every Chinese action betrays a Machiavellian motivation behind a humanitarian guise .
Take , for example , the decision @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 800,000 masks to the Netherlands .
Why would the conglomerate , known for its closeness to the Chinese government , display such benevolence toward a country which , at the time , had hardly any coronavirus cases ?
Surely it could not be because the Netherlands ’ auction of fifth-generation ( 5G ) mobile licenses is slated for June , and because the Dutch still have to decide whether to exclude Huawei from its 5G networks over espionage concerns .
Or consider Italy , where China has sent doctors and donated ventilators that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China ’ s newfound interest in Italy ’ s well-being stem from genuine concern , or from that of Rome ’ s status as one of Europe ’ s biggest supporters of the Belt and Road Initiative ?
Perhaps , then , China ’ s donation of 500,000 masks to Greece is an uncharacteristically generous gift .
Or is it nothing but a gift horse , part of much longer campaign that has showered Greece with trade and investment ?
Already , Greece has been a reliable supporter of China in Brussels , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any measures China considers to be against its interests—on trade , security , or human rights , for example .
Another attempt by China to drive a wedge between Europeans is the so-called Cooperation Between China and Central and Eastern European Countries initiative .
There , China has focused on non-EU countries such as Serbia , another recent recipient of Chinese aid in Europe .
Unfortunately , the Europeans have made it easy for Beijing to exploit their differences .
With Europe hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic , intra-European solidarity has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every country fends for itself .
Nowhere has this been more apparent than in Italy , where the death toll has soared into the thousands in mere days as its health system has buckled .
Instead of coming to Rome ’ s assistance , EU member states have kept their health care facilities stocked in preparation for their own crises .
Many of them are also imposing strict border controls with little coordination , among other unilateral actions .
It took until the middle of March for Germany to take the lead in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ equipment to Italy .
The upshot is that just one-fifth of Italians now believe that EU membership is helping Italy , while two-thirds say that that membership is “ a disadvantage.
” Serbia , which is not in the EU but aspired to membership , has denounced Europe ’ s lack of solidarity and is publicly turning to Beijing for help .
“ The only country that can help us is China , ” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said .
“ As for the rest of them , thanks for nothing.
” Vucic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The implications for the politics of Europe are grave , because the coronavirus is exposing the frailty and brittleness of the European Union as a supranational project .
The coronavirus crisis is exacerbating the EU ’ s weakness to deadly effect .
As much as it ’ s been maligned by its opponents , the EU has long stood for a united , peaceful , and prosperous continent , and has acted as a magnet to neighboring countries aspiring to join its exclusive democratic club .
A frail and divided Europe will find @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the liberal democratic order—whether they be in Moscow or Beijing .
If the coronavirus crisis threatens to weaken a democratic Europe and embolden its enemies , the United States , too , has seen the pandemic expose shortcomings in its democratic institutions .
With their own government ’ s handling of the public health crisis criticized as disorganized and insufficient , many among the American chattering classes have openly admired China for its authoritarian efficiency in tackling the crisis , an image Beijing has been expertly playing at home and abroad.Many among the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for its authoritarian efficiency in tackling the crisis .
U.S. President Donald Trump—who has made containing China ’ s power a priority of his presidency—will see his reelection chances diminish if he is judged to have mishandled the crisis .
Paradoxically , however , the coronavirus pandemic is bound to strengthen the Trumpian worldview .
China ’ s clear and obvious responsibility for allowing a localized epidemic in the city of Wuhan to grow into a global pandemic offers ammunition to the critics of globalization who see China as an untrustworthy partner .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of those who question globalization , support nationalism , and distrust China are likely to rise .
What effect this will have on November ’ s U.S. presidential election will be determined by the course of the outbreak , and whether Trump can marshal an effective response .
But the coronavirus has only hastened the realization that has been dawning in the West for some time : The great strength of liberal societies—their openness—creates vulnerabilities in an interconnected world , vulnerabilities their enemies are actively working to exploit .
This poses problems unique @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : While banning large gatherings may be essential to slowing a pandemic , the freedom to assemble is a right which in the United States is guaranteed in the First Amendment of the Constitution .
Civil liberties at the core of a democracy are coming under pressure as governments are tempted to invoke emergency powers .
Each democracy , whether in North America or Europe , must negotiate these issues over the coming months .
If the liberal societies of the West are searching for hopeful signs amid the chaos , they may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : South Korea , Japan , and Taiwan seem , on the whole , to be responding more nimbly and more successfully to the coronavirus than Asia ’ s bastion of repression .
Whatever advantages of authoritarianism Beijing may be trying to hawk in this sudden seller ’ s market , liberal societies must remain self-assured and act united .
Unlike China , liberal democracies possess the flexibility , curiosity , and cultural ingenuity to learn from this experience and emerge stronger to face the next crisis that befalls them .

As the coronavirus works its way around the globe, it is putting unprecedented strain on public health systems and devastating economies along its path.
As the coronavirus works its way around the globe, it is putting unprecedented strain on public health systems and devastating economies along its path.
In time, it will also lead to political upheavals that are just as potent. Already, we see the crisis posing tremendous challenges to the liberal democracies of the West as they struggle to manage the crisis in full public glare. Closed, authoritarian states such as China have it easier: Not only have they imposed their draconian lockdowns with ruthless efficiency, they have also suppressed information that might lead to panic and quashed all dissent.
They have also been quick to exploit Western weaknesses. China, in particular, has been extremely adept at exploiting the virus for its global propaganda war against the United States. Beijing is also taking every opportunity during this crisis to drive wedges between members of the European Union, which it sees as a potential rival protecting European interests and values against Chinese attempts to project its interests and power on the continent.
The jury is still out, but one thing is clear: China cannot be allowed to win.
Beijing is taking every opportunity during this crisis to drive wedges between members of the European Union.
Considering China’s own role in creating the crisis, it is ironic to see China is scoring points in its propaganda war and driving wedges between Western democracies. Instead of alerting the world of the outbreak, China engaged in an extensive cover-up of its spread. In a breathtaking display of gaslighting, it now projects its own perfidy onto the United States. “It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan,” the spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry tweeted recently. “Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”
[Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak: Get daily updates on the pandemic and learn how it’s affecting countries around the world.]
The Chinese Communist Party, known for cooking its books on everything from military spending to economic growth, has applied its trademark mendacity to this crisis, too. Already adept at censoring, China has used the crisis as an opportunity to shut the country off even more from the outside world, expelling most U.S. journalists and enforcing even stricter censorship. As a result, little of what Beijing tells the world is verifiable. If China’s response to the coronavirus appears impressive, it is only because the authorities in Beijing are the ones doing the telling.
Beijing has reinforced this propaganda campaign by sending medical supplies to Europe. It is hard to believe that a country that interns more than 1 million of its own citizens is capable of altruism. Indeed, every Chinese action betrays a Machiavellian motivation behind a humanitarian guise.
Take, for example, the decision by Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to donate 800,000 masks to the Netherlands. Why would the conglomerate, known for its closeness to the Chinese government, display such benevolence toward a country which, at the time, had hardly any coronavirus cases? Surely it could not be because the Netherlands’ auction of fifth-generation (5G) mobile licenses is slated for June, and because the Dutch still have to decide whether to exclude Huawei from its 5G networks over espionage concerns.
Or consider Italy, where China has sent doctors and donated ventilators that have been in short supply. Does China’s newfound interest in Italy’s well-being stem from genuine concern, or from that of Rome’s status as one of Europe’s biggest supporters of the Belt and Road Initiative?
Perhaps, then, China’s donation of 500,000 masks to Greece is an uncharacteristically generous gift. Or is it nothing but a gift horse, part of much longer campaign that has showered Greece with trade and investment? Already, Greece has been a reliable supporter of China in Brussels, which Beijing increasingly counts on to veto any measures China considers to be against its interests—on trade, security, or human rights, for example.
Listen Now: Don't Touch Your Face A new podcast from Foreign Policy covering all aspects of the coronavirus pandemic Learn More
Another attempt by China to drive a wedge between Europeans is the so-called Cooperation Between China and Central and Eastern European Countries initiative. There, China has focused on non-EU countries such as Serbia, another recent recipient of Chinese aid in Europe.
Unfortunately, the Europeans have made it easy for Beijing to exploit their differences. With Europe hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic, intra-European solidarity has been sorely lacking as borders close and every country fends for itself.
Nowhere has this been more apparent than in Italy, where the death toll has soared into the thousands in mere days as its health system has buckled. Instead of coming to Rome’s assistance, EU member states have kept their health care facilities stocked in preparation for their own crises. Many of them are also imposing strict border controls with little coordination, among other unilateral actions. It took until the middle of March for Germany to take the lead in Europe and announce it was sending medical equipment to Italy.
The upshot is that just one-fifth of Italians now believe that EU membership is helping Italy, while two-thirds say that that membership is “a disadvantage.” Serbia, which is not in the EU but aspired to membership, has denounced Europe’s lack of solidarity and is publicly turning to Beijing for help. “The only country that can help us is China,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said. “As for the rest of them, thanks for nothing.” Vucic duly thanked the Chinese Communist Party.
The implications for the politics of Europe are grave, because the coronavirus is exposing the frailty and brittleness of the European Union as a supranational project. The coronavirus crisis is exacerbating the EU’s weakness to deadly effect. As much as it’s been maligned by its opponents, the EU has long stood for a united, peaceful, and prosperous continent, and has acted as a magnet to neighboring countries aspiring to join its exclusive democratic club. A frail and divided Europe will find itself easy pickings for the enemies of the liberal democratic order—whether they be in Moscow or Beijing.
If the coronavirus crisis threatens to weaken a democratic Europe and embolden its enemies, the United States, too, has seen the pandemic expose shortcomings in its democratic institutions. With their own government’s handling of the public health crisis criticized as disorganized and insufficient, many among the American chattering classes have openly admired China for its authoritarian efficiency in tackling the crisis, an image Beijing has been expertly playing at home and abroad.Many among the American chattering classes have openly admired China for its authoritarian efficiency in tackling the crisis. U.S. President Donald Trump—who has made containing China’s power a priority of his presidency—will see his reelection chances diminish if he is judged to have mishandled the crisis.
Paradoxically, however, the coronavirus pandemic is bound to strengthen the Trumpian worldview. China’s clear and obvious responsibility for allowing a localized epidemic in the city of Wuhan to grow into a global pandemic offers ammunition to the critics of globalization who see China as an untrustworthy partner. Because of the pandemic, the fortunes of those who question globalization, support nationalism, and distrust China are likely to rise.
What effect this will have on November’s U.S. presidential election will be determined by the course of the outbreak, and whether Trump can marshal an effective response. But the coronavirus has only hastened the realization that has been dawning in the West for some time: The great strength of liberal societies—their openness—creates vulnerabilities in an interconnected world, vulnerabilities their enemies are actively working to exploit.
This poses problems unique to liberal democracies. Just one example: While banning large gatherings may be essential to slowing a pandemic, the freedom to assemble is a right which in the United States is guaranteed in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Civil liberties at the core of a democracy are coming under pressure as governments are tempted to invoke emergency powers. Each democracy, whether in North America or Europe, must negotiate these issues over the coming months.
If the liberal societies of the West are searching for hopeful signs amid the chaos, they may be found in the democracies of Asia: South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan seem, on the whole, to be responding more nimbly and more successfully to the coronavirus than Asia’s bastion of repression. Whatever advantages of authoritarianism Beijing may be trying to hawk in this sudden seller’s market, liberal societies must remain self-assured and act united. Unlike China, liberal democracies possess the flexibility, curiosity, and cultural ingenuity to learn from this experience and emerge stronger to face the next crisis that befalls them.


foreignpolicy--2020-03-25--Mourning the Olympics and All the Celebrations We’re Losing to the Pandemic

Mourning the Olympics and All the Celebrations We ’ re Losing to the Pandemic Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ’ s announcement on Tuesday that this summer ’ s Tokyo Olympics will be postponed for one year was not a surprise—it was inevitable .
The games weren ’ t scheduled to start until July , but on top of the uncertainty about whether public health restrictions would allow a global gathering on that scale in four months , the coronavirus pandemic has already disrupted the lead-up for participants , organizers , and spectators .
Athletes ’ training regimes have become @ @ @ @ @ @ @ competitors within countries have been canceled .
For the first time outside of World War I and World War II , the modern Olympics will not happen as scheduled .
In the midst of a still-escalating pandemic , most of our attention is rightly focused on dealing with the twin public health and economic emergencies we face .
But we can also take time to mourn the loss of festivals and celebrations , of weddings and funerals , of graduation ceremonies and family reunions that have been canceled , postponed , or transported @ @ @ @ @ @ @ videoconferences .
We can mourn the loss of festivals and celebrations , weddings and funerals , graduation ceremonies and family reunions that have been canceled , postponed , or transported to the newly colonized planet of Zoom videoconferences .
Empathy is important especially in a time like this , and we can allow ourselves to feel for the seniors in college who are spending their final spring back in their parents ’ basements rather than staying up late in a dorm room dreaming about the future .
We can spare a thought for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a year and a fortune planning weddings that would bring their families together and now wonder whether they ’ ll ever have the celebration they planned .
Postponing the Olympics is a loss , too .
We should care about the athletes who have dedicated most of their young lives to excellence at sport .
The sacrifices they make to compete—their time , their financial resources , their education , their bodies—are immense .
They spend years preparing for this competition , minutely planning their training regimes to achieve peak competitiveness at exactly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Olympics will happen next year , but there will be some athletes for whom the extra year will be the difference between making the team and staying at home .
Others who might not have made it to Tokyo this summer will take their places .
For all of them , the horizon has moved farther away—a year of additional sacrifice until their shot at standing on the podium .
In a different way , losing the games this summer is a loss for the rest of us , too .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world is a moment when we could really use a celebration of the Olympic spirit : a coming together that reminds us that the whole world is in this together ; a spectacle that inspires awe of our fellow human beings .
Of course many of us feel pride when our country ’ s athletes succeed—the Olympics are a contest among nations .
But I find that no matter which country an athlete represents , as they step up onto the podium with a tearful eye and triumphant smile , years of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hyperspeed reflection reel , I feel a flash of transcendent joy .
There is even a momentary sense of a kind of benign guilt : I am partaking in the athlete ’ s happiness by marveling at the beauty of someone achieving what I never could .
The Olympics teach us that empathy is nurtured in moments of elation as well as suffering .
The Olympic Games showcase the capacity of human beings to stretch the limits of what the human body can do .
They are also an opportunity for us to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to embrace our common humanity .
Unlike so many rituals of decades and centuries past , these games first held over 2,000 years ago have not become an anachronism and still resonate with our 21st-century experience .
It ’ s not frivolous to mourn their postponement ; we need celebrations of the human spirit and our global community in times like these .

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s announcement on Tuesday that this summer’s Tokyo Olympics will be postponed for one year was not a surprise—it was inevitable. The games weren’t scheduled to start until July, but on top of the uncertainty about whether public health restrictions would allow a global gathering on that scale in four months, the coronavirus pandemic has already disrupted the lead-up for participants, organizers, and spectators. Athletes’ training regimes have become impractical. The qualifying events for selecting competitors within countries have been canceled. For the first time outside of World War I and World War II, the modern Olympics will not happen as scheduled.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s announcement on Tuesday that this summer’s Tokyo Olympics will be postponed for one year was not a surprise—it was inevitable. The games weren’t scheduled to start until July, but on top of the uncertainty about whether public health restrictions would allow a global gathering on that scale in four months, the coronavirus pandemic has already disrupted the lead-up for participants, organizers, and spectators. Athletes’ training regimes have become impractical. The qualifying events for selecting competitors within countries have been canceled. For the first time outside of World War I and World War II, the modern Olympics will not happen as scheduled.
In the midst of a still-escalating pandemic, most of our attention is rightly focused on dealing with the twin public health and economic emergencies we face. But we can also take time to mourn the loss of festivals and celebrations, of weddings and funerals, of graduation ceremonies and family reunions that have been canceled, postponed, or transported to the newly colonized planet of Zoom videoconferences. We can mourn the loss of festivals and celebrations, weddings and funerals, graduation ceremonies and family reunions that have been canceled, postponed, or transported to the newly colonized planet of Zoom videoconferences. Empathy is important especially in a time like this, and we can allow ourselves to feel for the seniors in college who are spending their final spring back in their parents’ basements rather than staying up late in a dorm room dreaming about the future. We can spare a thought for the brides and grooms who have spent a year and a fortune planning weddings that would bring their families together and now wonder whether they’ll ever have the celebration they planned.
Postponing the Olympics is a loss, too. We should care about the athletes who have dedicated most of their young lives to excellence at sport. The sacrifices they make to compete—their time, their financial resources, their education, their bodies—are immense. They spend years preparing for this competition, minutely planning their training regimes to achieve peak competitiveness at exactly the time of the games. Yes, the Olympics will happen next year, but there will be some athletes for whom the extra year will be the difference between making the team and staying at home. Others who might not have made it to Tokyo this summer will take their places. For all of them, the horizon has moved farther away—a year of additional sacrifice until their shot at standing on the podium.
In a different way, losing the games this summer is a loss for the rest of us, too. This tremendously painful and uncertain moment for the world is a moment when we could really use a celebration of the Olympic spirit: a coming together that reminds us that the whole world is in this together; a spectacle that inspires awe of our fellow human beings.
Of course many of us feel pride when our country’s athletes succeed—the Olympics are a contest among nations. But I find that no matter which country an athlete represents, as they step up onto the podium with a tearful eye and triumphant smile, years of training spinning through their head like a hyperspeed reflection reel, I feel a flash of transcendent joy. There is even a momentary sense of a kind of benign guilt: I am partaking in the athlete’s happiness by marveling at the beauty of someone achieving what I never could. The Olympics teach us that empathy is nurtured in moments of elation as well as suffering.
The Olympic Games showcase the capacity of human beings to stretch the limits of what the human body can do. They are also an opportunity for us to enlarge the scope of our empathy and to embrace our common humanity. Unlike so many rituals of decades and centuries past, these games first held over 2,000 years ago have not become an anachronism and still resonate with our 21st-century experience. It’s not frivolous to mourn their postponement; we need celebrations of the human spirit and our global community in times like these.