foreignpolicy--2020-03-30--Google Wants Your Data in Exchange for a Coronavirus Test

Google Wants Your Data in Exchange for a Coronavirus Test While U.S. President Donald Trump may have mangled the details in his press conference , Google ( via its Alphabet sister company Verily ) really has launched a coronavirus screening tool .
The website , which was developed in collaboration with the state of California , was rolled out on March 16 and currently offers coronavirus testing services in four counties .
At first glance , it ’ s simple .
The site runs users through a series of screening questions via the company ’ s Project Baseline health data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them eligible , they ’ re allowed to make an appointment for a much-coveted coronavirus test .
There ’ s just one catch .
Users must have a Google account to use the screening tool .
If you ’ re sitting at home wondering if your cough is seasonal allergies or COVID-19 , you probably think this sounds like a good deal .
And it is a deal , because Google didn ’ t launch its screening tool out of altruism .
It ’ s doing so , at least in part , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ data , as part of the company ’ s intense push into the health care business .
Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic , the company has a new way to get your information .
With the blessing of both federal and state governments , Verily has set up a system where people must choose between sharing their health data with the company and , practically speaking , not getting a coronavirus test .
That ’ s no choice at all , given the stakes of not complying .
And there are plenty of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your health care data to use .
In its frequently asked questions , Verily ’ s website notes that the information users provide may be shared with a long list of other parties , including health care professionals , clinical labs , the California Department of Public Health , and federal , state , and local health authorities .
It may “ also be shared with certain service providers engaged to perform services on behalf of Verily , including Google.
” [ Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak : Get daily updates on the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ countries around the world . ]
While the Verily website clearly states that your data “ will never be joined with your data stored in Google products without your explicit permission , ” that wording implies Google may ask you to give that permission at some point in the future—and it almost certainly will because Google is well aware of the immense value of joining different huge data sets together to come up with new insights and correlations .
There is also little , legally speaking , that stops Google from joining those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while Google does allow you to delete your data , it ’ s unclear how that will apply here—or how many people actually know that ’ s even a possibility . )
Take it or leave it—and don ’ t you really want to know if that cough might kill you ?
Google ’ s ability to force users to consent to data collection may become a more common tactic for companies and governments as the coronavirus rolls on .
Google ’ s ability to , in essence , force users to consent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ common tactic for companies and governments as the coronavirus rolls on , in their ongoing scramble to use technology to more effectively ( and , most likely , profitably ) stop the pandemic .
The hope of a return to some kind of normality after the lockdowns depends on the ability to trace and track cases and limit new outbreaks .
In the coming months , people worldwide are going to be asked to trust that tech companies and governments have our best interests in mind when they collect our data and track @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t earned that trust .
Google ’ s recent health care push has been plagued with missteps and public criticism .
In 2017 , the U.K. Information Commissioner ’ s Office ruled that London ’ s Royal Free Hospital violated the nation ’ s Data Protection Act after it handed over 1.6 million patients ’ personal data to the Google subsidiary DeepMind .
While DeepMind ’ s co-founder promised in 2016 that the company would never link or associate patient data with Google ’ s other products ( in a very similar-sounding claim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that promise went out the window in 2018 , when Google fully absorbed DeepMind ’ s app and the data that went along with it .
In November 2019 , some users tossed their Fitbits in fear ( and to little avail ) after Google acquired both the company and its vast stores of health information .
Soon afterward , a whistleblower sounded the alarm about Google ’ s Project Nightingale , a partnership between the company and the enormous health nonprofit Ascension : The agreement gave Google access to the health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regulators so much that they launched a federal inquiry .
In this context , Google ’ s pushy coronavirus testing tool looks like a very clever business play indeed .
Is being coerced into giving up your data—in exchange for a coronavirus test—really such a bad thing ?
It certainly can be .
Health data breaches are dangerous , and merely collecting heath data and holding onto it exposes the data subject ( you , me , everyone ) to risk .
As the health law expert Charlotte Tschider pointed out in an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every day based on health conditions , and we ’ ve seen how quickly many people who have COVID-19 are identified to media .
There ’ s a very real risk of someone being identified as patient zero or 10 or whatever and potentially getting some attention.
” This very scenario has played out in South Korea , where government public health authorities have used mobile phone data to track the pre-diagnosis movements of people infected with the coronavirus .
Authorities sent out mass texts describing these movements to the general public as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infection risks .
Unfortunately , the data in the texts was badly anonymized , and a number of people ( and their movements ) were quickly reidentified online—leading to embarrassing speculation about affairs , plastic surgery procedures , and even insurance fraud .
U.S. coronavirus survivors have also reported suffering social stigma , public shaming , and hate-mail on their return home , while in Ukraine , protesters attacked buses carrying evacuees from China to a quarantine center .
Data coercion can go a lot further than merely controlling your access to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of data coercion , the Chinese government is partnering with the popular Alipay wallet app to roll out a mandatory coronavirus quarantine app , which uses a questionnaire to assign people a color-coded health status .
( Green means you ’ re free to move about , while red means a mandatory two-week quarantine . )
Across most major Chinese cities , citizens need to show a green code at checkpoints if they wish to get through ; location data and other information are also shared with the police and other authorities .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ by local governments , are making the process exceptionally confusing as different levels of the authorities attempt different techniques .
Google ’ s tactic of linking access to COVID-19 testing to giving up one ’ s data also isn ’ t new .
It ’ s simply one of the few instances where this type of data coercion has happened to relatively privileged people .
Refugees , people of color , the homeless , and other marginalized populations are , unfortunately , very familiar with being forced to give up privacy and personal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ goods and services they need to stay alive , in what some refer to as an ever-growing “ privacy divide ” —a divide that the coronavirus pandemic may help narrow if the tactics that have been tested on the poor and vulnerable are rolled out to everyone else in the near future .
Just as tech is leveraged to control the movements of marginalized people today , it may soon be leveraged to control the movements of the more privileged in the very near future , with the coronavirus as the justification .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t just coercive , though .
It ’ s also an experiment , in that it is a hastily rolled-out and presumably largely untested effort at effectively identifying high-risk patients and getting them tested .
As tech companies and governments around the world scramble to form partnerships to craft innovative responses to the pandemic , we are all likely going to become nonconsenting ( or unsuspecting ) subjects .
And in most cases , we won ’ t be able to meaningfully opt out .
Crisis is often used as a justification @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ideas in a process of humanitarian experimentation , in which the usual rules and oversights are tossed out in favor of supposedly life-saving haste—and the potential dangers and unexpected consequences of those new technologies are largely ignored .
Usually , this type of aid-through-innovation happens to vulnerable people in less wealthy countries , as we saw during the 2014 Ebola outbreak , when aid , research , and tech organizations used the crisis to justify using West Africans ’ mobile data to ( ineffectively ) attempt to track the spread of the disease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was violated , and as recent studies indicate , this type of call-detail record tracking for pandemics may not even work that well—but there was little recourse for pushback from the people surveilled , and resources that should have gone to directly fighting the disease were put toward tech solutions instead .
The coronavirus pandemic may—if tech companies and surveillance-curious governments get their way—extend this type of tech-driven experimentation to just about everyone .
“ Lots of people don ’ t have nomenclature for being experimented on by your government during disaster , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ McDonald .
“ Now we are probably going to have to develop it.
” There are some ways we can push back .
As governments and tech companies roll out new , so-called innovative means of tracking the coronavirus , the public should approach them with a critical eye—and defend the value of privacy and human rights protections during crisis situations .
“ Describing privacy as a trivial thing avoids the very real threats that it presents to people ’ s safety , ” said Lindsey Barrett , a privacy law expert at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re trying to address one safety concern by making people vulnerable in another way—if we ’ re saying that privacy is stupid and anyone trying to criticize these measures is wearing a tin-foil hat—that ’ s disingenuous and unproductive.
” Security tools have a way of embedding themselves permanently .
Of course , the overwhelming nature of the crisis makes it tempting to carve out exceptions , just as the public is being forced to accept the loss of its freedom of movement—at least temporarily .
But security tools have a way of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ why it ’ s important that these new surveillance and data collection tools must come with clear sunset clauses ( as suggested by Tilburg University ’ s Linnet Taylor ) and other legal mechanisms that will force them to , eventually , end .
In the absence of these protections , new surveillance methods that are launched during the pandemic may never go away : Tech surveillance will become a one-way ratchet , a dial of control that can only be turned up .
Google should not quietly become a humdrum partner of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while the pandemic goes on—and if the government and corporations do end up tracking people ’ s movements using phone data , those efforts should have a clearly defined end date and clear guidelines for deleting all that information when it is no longer needed .
Inevitably , the world will be a very different , sadder place when the pandemic ends .
It may also be much less free , a place where both tech companies and governments are capable of using data to strengthen their control over the average person , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ imagine today .
If we want to stop pandemic profiteers from getting far more access to the most intimate details of our lives , then we need to stay vigilant—and we need to act now .

While U.S. President Donald Trump may have mangled the details in his press conference, Google (via its Alphabet sister company Verily) really has launched a coronavirus screening tool . The website, which was developed in collaboration with the state of California, was rolled out on March 16 and currently offers coronavirus testing services in four counties. At first glance, it’s simple. The site runs users through a series of screening questions via the company’s Project Baseline health data collection platform. If the system deems them eligible, they’re allowed to make an appointment for a much-coveted coronavirus test.
While U.S. President Donald Trump may have mangled the details in his press conference, Google (via its Alphabet sister company Verily) really has launched a coronavirus screening tool. The website, which was developed in collaboration with the state of California, was rolled out on March 16 and currently offers coronavirus testing services in four counties. At first glance, it’s simple. The site runs users through a series of screening questions via the company’s Project Baseline health data collection platform. If the system deems them eligible, they’re allowed to make an appointment for a much-coveted coronavirus test.
There’s just one catch. Users must have a Google account to use the screening tool. If you’re sitting at home wondering if your cough is seasonal allergies or COVID-19, you probably think this sounds like a good deal. And it is a deal, because Google didn’t launch its screening tool out of altruism. It’s doing so, at least in part, because it wants access to your health data, as part of the company’s intense push into the health care business.
Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the company has a new way to get your information.
With the blessing of both federal and state governments, Verily has set up a system where people must choose between sharing their health data with the company and, practically speaking, not getting a coronavirus test. That’s no choice at all, given the stakes of not complying. And there are plenty of ways that Verily—and its corporate parent—might put your health care data to use. In its frequently asked questions, Verily’s website notes that the information users provide may be shared with a long list of other parties, including health care professionals, clinical labs, the California Department of Public Health, and federal, state, and local health authorities. It may “also be shared with certain service providers engaged to perform services on behalf of Verily, including Google.”
[Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak: Get daily updates on the pandemic and learn how it’s affecting countries around the world.]
While the Verily website clearly states that your data “will never be joined with your data stored in Google products without your explicit permission,” that wording implies Google may ask you to give that permission at some point in the future—and it almost certainly will because Google is well aware of the immense value of joining different huge data sets together to come up with new insights and correlations. There is also little, legally speaking, that stops Google from joining those data sets together anyway. (And while Google does allow you to delete your data, it’s unclear how that will apply here—or how many people actually know that’s even a possibility.)
Take it or leave it—and don’t you really want to know if that cough might kill you?
Google’s ability to force users to consent to data collection may become a more common tactic for companies and governments as the coronavirus rolls on.
Google’s ability to, in essence, force users to consent to data collection may become a more common tactic for companies and governments as the coronavirus rolls on, in their ongoing scramble to use technology to more effectively (and, most likely, profitably) stop the pandemic. The hope of a return to some kind of normality after the lockdowns depends on the ability to trace and track cases and limit new outbreaks. In the coming months, people worldwide are going to be asked to trust that tech companies and governments have our best interests in mind when they collect our data and track our movements.
Unfortunately—and frighteningly—Google hasn’t earned that trust. Google’s recent health care push has been plagued with missteps and public criticism. In 2017, the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office ruled that London’s Royal Free Hospital violated the nation’s Data Protection Act after it handed over 1.6 million patients’ personal data to the Google subsidiary DeepMind. While DeepMind’s co-founder promised in 2016 that the company would never link or associate patient data with Google’s other products (in a very similar-sounding claim to that which Verily is making), that promise went out the window in 2018, when Google fully absorbed DeepMind’s app and the data that went along with it. In November 2019, some users tossed their Fitbits in fear (and to little avail) after Google acquired both the company and its vast stores of health information. Soon afterward, a whistleblower sounded the alarm about Google’s Project Nightingale, a partnership between the company and the enormous health nonprofit Ascension: The agreement gave Google access to the health data of millions of Americans and concerned regulators so much that they launched a federal inquiry. In this context, Google’s pushy coronavirus testing tool looks like a very clever business play indeed.
Listen Now: Don't Touch Your Face A new podcast from Foreign Policy covering all aspects of the coronavirus pandemic Learn More
Is being coerced into giving up your data—in exchange for a coronavirus test—really such a bad thing? It certainly can be. Health data breaches are dangerous, and merely collecting heath data and holding onto it exposes the data subject (you, me, everyone) to risk. As the health law expert Charlotte Tschider pointed out in an interview, “People are discriminated against every day based on health conditions, and we’ve seen how quickly many people who have COVID-19 are identified to media. There’s a very real risk of someone being identified as patient zero or 10 or whatever and potentially getting some attention.”
This very scenario has played out in South Korea, where government public health authorities have used mobile phone data to track the pre-diagnosis movements of people infected with the coronavirus. Authorities sent out mass texts describing these movements to the general public as a way of alerting them to potential infection risks. Unfortunately, the data in the texts was badly anonymized, and a number of people (and their movements) were quickly reidentified online—leading to embarrassing speculation about affairs, plastic surgery procedures, and even insurance fraud. U.S. coronavirus survivors have also reported suffering social stigma, public shaming, and hate-mail on their return home, while in Ukraine, protesters attacked buses carrying evacuees from China to a quarantine center.
Data coercion can go a lot further than merely controlling your access to a coronavirus test. In a dramatic example of data coercion, the Chinese government is partnering with the popular Alipay wallet app to roll out a mandatory coronavirus quarantine app, which uses a questionnaire to assign people a color-coded health status. (Green means you’re free to move about, while red means a mandatory two-week quarantine.) Across most major Chinese cities, citizens need to show a green code at checkpoints if they wish to get through; location data and other information are also shared with the police and other authorities. Multiple different competing apps, some created by local governments, are making the process exceptionally confusing as different levels of the authorities attempt different techniques.
Google’s tactic of linking access to COVID-19 testing to giving up one’s data also isn’t new. It’s simply one of the few instances where this type of data coercion has happened to relatively privileged people. Refugees, people of color, the homeless, and other marginalized populations are, unfortunately, very familiar with being forced to give up privacy and personal information in exchange for access to the goods and services they need to stay alive, in what some refer to as an ever-growing “privacy divide”—a divide that the coronavirus pandemic may help narrow if the tactics that have been tested on the poor and vulnerable are rolled out to everyone else in the near future. Just as tech is leveraged to control the movements of marginalized people today, it may soon be leveraged to control the movements of the more privileged in the very near future, with the coronavirus as the justification.
Verily’s coronavirus screening tool isn’t just coercive, though. It’s also an experiment, in that it is a hastily rolled-out and presumably largely untested effort at effectively identifying high-risk patients and getting them tested. As tech companies and governments around the world scramble to form partnerships to craft innovative responses to the pandemic, we are all likely going to become nonconsenting (or unsuspecting) subjects. And in most cases, we won’t be able to meaningfully opt out.
Crisis is often used as a justification for rolling out untested new technologies and ideas in a process of humanitarian experimentation, in which the usual rules and oversights are tossed out in favor of supposedly life-saving haste—and the potential dangers and unexpected consequences of those new technologies are largely ignored.
Usually, this type of aid-through-innovation happens to vulnerable people in less wealthy countries, as we saw during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, when aid, research, and tech organizations used the crisis to justify using West Africans’ mobile data to (ineffectively) attempt to track the spread of the disease. Millions of people’s privacy was violated, and as recent studies indicate, this type of call-detail record tracking for pandemics may not even work that well—but there was little recourse for pushback from the people surveilled, and resources that should have gone to directly fighting the disease were put toward tech solutions instead.
The coronavirus pandemic may—if tech companies and surveillance-curious governments get their way—extend this type of tech-driven experimentation to just about everyone. “Lots of people don’t have nomenclature for being experimented on by your government during disaster,” said the privacy expert Sean Martin McDonald. “Now we are probably going to have to develop it.”
There are some ways we can push back. As governments and tech companies roll out new, so-called innovative means of tracking the coronavirus, the public should approach them with a critical eye—and defend the value of privacy and human rights protections during crisis situations. “Describing privacy as a trivial thing avoids the very real threats that it presents to people’s safety,” said Lindsey Barrett, a privacy law expert at Georgetown University. “If we’re trying to address one safety concern by making people vulnerable in another way—if we’re saying that privacy is stupid and anyone trying to criticize these measures is wearing a tin-foil hat—that’s disingenuous and unproductive.”
Security tools have a way of embedding themselves permanently.
Of course, the overwhelming nature of the crisis makes it tempting to carve out exceptions, just as the public is being forced to accept the loss of its freedom of movement—at least temporarily. But security tools have a way of embedding themselves permanently. That’s why it’s important that these new surveillance and data collection tools must come with clear sunset clauses (as suggested by Tilburg University’s Linnet Taylor) and other legal mechanisms that will force them to, eventually, end. In the absence of these protections, new surveillance methods that are launched during the pandemic may never go away: Tech surveillance will become a one-way ratchet, a dial of control that can only be turned up. Google should not quietly become a humdrum partner of public health authorities across the United States while the pandemic goes on—and if the government and corporations do end up tracking people’s movements using phone data, those efforts should have a clearly defined end date and clear guidelines for deleting all that information when it is no longer needed.
Inevitably, the world will be a very different, sadder place when the pandemic ends. It may also be much less free, a place where both tech companies and governments are capable of using data to strengthen their control over the average person, in ways that are difficult even to imagine today. If we want to stop pandemic profiteers from getting far more access to the most intimate details of our lives, then we need to stay vigilant—and we need to act now.


foreignpolicy--2020-03-31--Hungary’s Orban Given Power to Rule By Decree With No End Date

Hungary ’ s Orban Given Power to Rule By Decree With No End Date Here is today ’ s Foreign Policy brief : In Hungary , Viktor Orban gains extraordinary powers and faces calls for expulsion from the EU , Spain surpasses China ’ s coronavirus case total , and Saudi airstrikes hit Yemen .
We welcome your feedback at morningbrief @ foreignpolicy.com .
Citing the urgency of the coronavirus pandemic , Hungary ’ s parliament has approved a bill to allow Prime Minister Viktor Orban to rule by decree , effectively circumventing democratic institutions in a European Union member @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take place while the measures are in effect and the bill does not include an end date .
Under Orban , Hungary has extended emergency measures before : It still operates under a state of emergency declared in 2015 at the onset of Europe ’ s refugee crisis .
The bill includes harsh penalties of up to five years in prison for spreading anything the government deems “ fake news , ” leading to fears over press freedom .
Once the result of the vote was clear , human rights activists across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Amnesty International ’ s Hungary director , said the move gives Orban ’ s government “ carte blanche to restrict human rights.
” Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi went further , and called for Hungary ’ s removal from the European Union , “ After what Orban has done today , the European Union must act and make him change his mind .
Or , simply , expel Hungary from the Union , ” he wrote on Twitter .
Coronavirus spreads autocracy .
Coronavirus panic has led to the curtailment of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the freedom to assemble and to travel is reduced to stop the virus spreading .
In Foreign Policy , Florian Bieber writes that although the coronavirus is temporary , the society it creates could be permanent , “ The pandemic may well lead to a serious decline in democracy around the world .
It is crucial that liberal democracies show self-restraint and vigilance.
” And in today ’ s episode of the Foreign Policy podcast Don ’ t Touch Your Face , Amy Mackinnon and James Palmer investigate whether the pandemic could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ down on authoritarianism .
Spain passes China .
Spain has joined the United States and Italy as one of the few nations to surpass China ’ s coronavirus case total .
Spain reported 85,195 cases on Monday as more than 6,000 new infections were recorded .
Foreign Policy is tracking the pandemic with an interactive map , updated daily .
Yemen airstrikes .
Saudi coalition forces bombed the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Monday as tensions rose for the first time in three months , following the interception of two Houthi-launched ballistic missiles over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the presidential palace compound , a military school , and an air base .
A Houthi-aligned news outlet reported 70 horses were killed in the strike on the military school ; no other deaths have been reported .
The Saudi coalition said that Monday ’ s strikes were aimed at “ legitimate military targets including Houthi ballistic batteries which threaten civilian lives.
” Trump dilutes auto emission standards .
The Trump administration is set to announce changes to car mileage standards today that will effectively dilute the standards set during Barack Obama ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to more fuel-efficient vehicles .
“ When finalized , the rule will benefit our economy , will improve the U.S. fleet ’ s fuel economy , will make vehicles more affordable , and will save lives by increasing the safety of new vehicles , ” EPA spokeswoman Corry Schiermeyer said on Monday .
The United States is the world ’ s sixth-largest car producer and in 2017 transport accounted for 28.9 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions .
Indian police fire teargas at workers .
Indian authorities detained 93 textile workers for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them had to be dispersed by police firing tear gas .
The confrontation began after police informed the workers that they would not be able to travel home as bus and train lines had been suspended .
The nationwide lockdown has led to a humanitarian crisis in India as hundreds of thousands of migrant workers are left without jobs , and miles from their hometowns .
In Foreign Policy , Rana Ayyub reports on how India ’ s lockdown will hurt the country ’ s poorest .
Cummings self-isolates .
Dominic Cummings , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ senior adviser , is self-isolating after exhibiting coronavirus symptoms , according to a government spokesperson .
Johnson was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Friday and is self isolating in 10 Downing Street .
As the pandemic unfolds , Foreign Policy is keeping a running list of world leaders who have tested positive for COVID-19 .
Taliban launches deadly attack .
In a series of attacks across Afghanistan on Sunday night , the Taliban killed at least 27 Afghan service members , Afghan government officials confirmed on Monday .
Although no cease-fire has been called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ due to sit down for peace talks following the U.S.-Taliban deal on February 29 .
A long-awaited prisoner swap between the Taliban and the Afghan government , due to take place today , will now be delayed .
According to the Associated Press , German Big Brother contestants were not the last to learn of the coronavirus pandemic—submarine crews may be the luckiest ones .
Retired Adm. Dominique Salles , who commanded the French ballistic submarine squadron said that in order to maintain a focus on the mission , news from the outside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , is often kept from the rank and file on board the submarine .
That means crew members coming off a 60 or 70 day mission could be in for a rude awakening .
“ No matter how serious an event is , there is nothing a submariner can do about it .
And since he can not do anything , better that he know nothing , ” Salles said .
An astrophysicist in Australia had to endure a brief hospital stay after a homemade invention went badly wrong .
Daniel Reardon was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deter users from touching their faces—a key directive in preventing coronavirus—when magnets from the device lodged in his nose .
An attempt to remove the magnets with pliers proved fruitless when the tool was itself drawn to the magnets .
Eventually Reardon sought professional attention , “ My partner took me to the hospital that she works in because she wanted all her colleagues to laugh at me .
The doctors thought it was quite funny , making comments like ‘ This is an injury due to self-isolation and boredom , ’ ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 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: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban gains extraordinary powers and faces calls for expulsion from the EU, Spain surpasses China ’s coronavirus case total, and Saudi airstrikes hit Yemen.
Here is today’s Foreign Policy brief: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban gains extraordinary powers and faces calls for expulsion from the EU, Spain surpasses China’s coronavirus case total, and Saudi airstrikes hit Yemen.
If you would like to receive Morning Brief in your inbox every weekday, please sign up here.
Hungarian Prime Minister Orban Gains Power to Rule By Decree With No End Date
Citing the urgency of the coronavirus pandemic, Hungary’s parliament has approved a bill to allow Prime Minister Viktor Orban to rule by decree, effectively circumventing democratic institutions in a European Union member state. Notably, no elections can take place while the measures are in effect and the bill does not include an end date. Under Orban, Hungary has extended emergency measures before: It still operates under a state of emergency declared in 2015 at the onset of Europe’s refugee crisis.
The bill includes harsh penalties of up to five years in prison for spreading anything the government deems “fake news,” leading to fears over press freedom.
Once the result of the vote was clear, human rights activists across the world condemned the move. David Vig, Amnesty International’s Hungary director, said the move gives Orban’s government “carte blanche to restrict human rights.”
Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi went further, and called for Hungary’s removal from the European Union, “After what Orban has done today, the European Union must act and make him change his mind. Or, simply, expel Hungary from the Union,” he wrote on Twitter.
Coronavirus spreads autocracy. Coronavirus panic has led to the curtailment of civil liberties in open societies worldwide, as the freedom to assemble and to travel is reduced to stop the virus spreading. In Foreign Policy, Florian Bieber writes that although the coronavirus is temporary, the society it creates could be permanent, “The pandemic may well lead to a serious decline in democracy around the world. It is crucial that liberal democracies show self-restraint and vigilance.”
And in today’s episode of the Foreign Policy podcast Don’t Touch Your Face, Amy Mackinnon and James Palmer investigate whether the pandemic could cause strongmen in Eastern Europe to double down on authoritarianism.
What We’re Following Today
Spain passes China. Spain has joined the United States and Italy as one of the few nations to surpass China’s coronavirus case total. Spain reported 85,195 cases on Monday as more than 6,000 new infections were recorded. Foreign Policy is tracking the pandemic with an interactive map, updated daily.
Yemen airstrikes. Saudi coalition forces bombed the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Monday as tensions rose for the first time in three months, following the interception of two Houthi-launched ballistic missiles over Riyadh on Saturday. The strikes hit the presidential palace compound, a military school, and an air base. A Houthi-aligned news outlet reported 70 horses were killed in the strike on the military school; no other deaths have been reported. The Saudi coalition said that Monday’s strikes were aimed at “legitimate military targets including Houthi ballistic batteries which threaten civilian lives.”
Trump dilutes auto emission standards. The Trump administration is set to announce changes to car mileage standards today that will effectively dilute the standards set during Barack Obama’s presidency and delay any manufacturer shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles. “When finalized, the rule will benefit our economy, will improve the U.S. fleet’s fuel economy, will make vehicles more affordable, and will save lives by increasing the safety of new vehicles,” EPA spokeswoman Corry Schiermeyer said on Monday. The United States is the world’s sixth-largest car producer and in 2017 transport accounted for 28.9 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Keep an Eye On
Indian police fire teargas at workers. Indian authorities detained 93 textile workers for violating lockdown orders after around 500 of them had to be dispersed by police firing tear gas. The confrontation began after police informed the workers that they would not be able to travel home as bus and train lines had been suspended. The nationwide lockdown has led to a humanitarian crisis in India as hundreds of thousands of migrant workers are left without jobs, and miles from their hometowns. In Foreign Policy, Rana Ayyub reports on how India’s lockdown will hurt the country’s poorest.
Cummings self-isolates. Dominic Cummings, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s senior advisor, is self-isolating after exhibiting coronavirus symptoms, according to a government spokesperson. Johnson was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Friday and is self isolating in 10 Downing Street. As the pandemic unfolds, Foreign Policy is keeping a running list of world leaders who have tested positive for COVID-19.
Taliban launches deadly attack. In a series of attacks across Afghanistan on Sunday night, the Taliban killed at least 27 Afghan service members, Afghan government officials confirmed on Monday. Although no cease-fire has been called, the Taliban and Afghan government are due to sit down for peace talks following the U.S.-Taliban deal on February 29. A long-awaited prisoner swap between the Taliban and the Afghan government, due to take place today, will now be delayed.
Odds and Ends
According to the Associated Press, German Big Brother contestants were not the last to learn of the coronavirus pandemic—submarine crews may be the luckiest ones. Retired Adm. Dominique Salles, who commanded the French ballistic submarine squadron said that in order to maintain a focus on the mission, news from the outside world, including deaths of family members, is often kept from the rank and file on board the submarine. That means crew members coming off a 60 or 70 day mission could be in for a rude awakening. “No matter how serious an event is, there is nothing a submariner can do about it. And since he cannot do anything, better that he know nothing,” Salles said.
An astrophysicist in Australia had to endure a brief hospital stay after a homemade invention went badly wrong. Daniel Reardon was attempting to create a device that would deter users from touching their faces—a key directive in preventing coronavirus—when magnets from the device lodged in his nose. An attempt to remove the magnets with pliers proved fruitless when the tool was itself drawn to the magnets. Eventually Reardon sought professional attention, “My partner took me to the hospital that she works in because she wanted all her colleagues to laugh at me. The doctors thought it was quite funny, making comments like ‘This is an injury due to self-isolation and boredom,’” Reardon told The Guardian.
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--2020-03-31--China Isn’t Helping Italy. It’s Waging Information Warfare.

Italy is an ideal outpost for China ’ s wide-reaching propaganda effort to cover up its own responsibility for the global spread of the new coronavirus , all the while presenting itself as a compassionate power aiding Western countries in need .
The government has been pursuing a two-pronged strategy that carefully combines sending medical supplies to assert its relevance in a leaderless world—call it mask diplomacy—while at the same time spreading conspiracy theories to conceal the true origin of the virus .
In this “ global battle of narratives , ” as the European Union ’ s foreign-policy chief @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ China is aggressively pushing the message that , unlike the US , it is a responsible and reliable partner.
” Italy provides the perfect environment to test Beijing ’ s strategy .
It was the first Western country to be hit by a large coronavirus outbreak , and it is therefore urgently in need of medical supplies to support a health care system on the brink of collapse .
But it ’ s also led by a government coalition that includes the Five Star Movement , a Euroskeptic and increasingly pro-Chinese party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stronger relationship with Beijing while downplaying the traditional trans-Atlantic alliance and fueling suspicion toward NATO .
As a result , last year Italy was the first G-7 country to join the Belt and Road Initiative , China ’ s global infrastructure project .
Italy provides the perfect environment to test Beijing ’ s strategy .
It was the first Western country to be hit by a large coronavirus outbreak ; it ’ s also led by a coalition that includes the Five Star Movement , a Euroskeptic and increasingly pro-Chinese party .
Recently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggested the new coronavirus originated in Italy , not in Wuhan , by shrewdly twisting the words of the Italian physician Giuseppe Remuzzi , the director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan .
In an interview with NPR on March 19 , Remuzzi said some doctors in northern Italy “ remember having seen very strange pneumonias , very severe , particularly in old people in December and even in November , ” an anecdotal fact that potentially suggested that the virus that originated in China had spread elsewhere even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Times wrote on Twitter that “ # Italy may have had an unexplained strain of pneumonia as early as November and December 2019 with highly suspected symptoms of # COVID19 , reports said.
” A misleading version of Remuzzi ’ s statement was then broadcast by other arms of the Chinese government ’ s propaganda apparatus , such as China Central Television , and became a trending topic on the popular microblogging platform Weibo .
The Italian doctor , for his part , never even hinted that the coronavirus originated anywhere but China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus emerged in Wuhan first , where it had probably been circulating for some time before it was made public in China , ” Remuzzi told Foreign Policy , explaining that , if anything , the unconfirmed observations regarding previous cases of pneumonia in northern Italy would worsen—rather than ease—the burden of Chinese responsibility in covering up the early cases of COVID-19 , the disease caused by the new coronavirus .
Genetic tests confirmed that the virus originated in China “ beyond a shadow of a doubt , ” said Remuzzi , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from Chinese journalists attempting to politicize his expertise to corroborate Beijing ’ s narrative .
At the same time , Italy was the first beneficiary of China ’ s mask diplomacy .
On March 12 , a Chinese cargo plane bringing nine doctors , masks , respirators , and other medical equipment landed in Rome .
The material displayed the words “ The friendship road knows no borders ” and was presented as a gift to the country going through the emergency .
But it was not really a gift at all .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the newspaper Il Foglio , it was part of a commercial deal formalized a few days before in a phone call between the foreign ministers of China and Italy , Luigi di Maio and Wang Yi .
Italy was buying medical equipment from China , but the government took advantage of a parallel donation made by China ’ s Red Cross to make it look like an instance of its “ politics of generosity.
” A few days later , Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a “ Health Silk Road ” to combat the pandemic .
Di Maio , who recently resigned as the leader of the Five Star Movement , is the point person for the Chinese initiatives in Italy and was instrumental in consolidating the partnership even under the previous government , when Five Star was the junior partner in the unorthodox , all-populist coalition with Matteo Salvini ’ s League .
“ Those who scoffed at our participation in the Belt and Road Initiative now have to admit that investing in that friendship allowed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Di Maio declared glowingly in an interview , sparking reactions from some of his Democratic Party colleagues in government , who are growing tired of seeing their political ally selectively praising China ’ s generous efforts while downplaying the belated solidarity coming from EU members .
“ Many Euroskeptic leaders are acting as China enablers , ” said Lucrezia Poggetti , an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies .
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban personally welcomed a flight from China transporting nearly 70 tons of medical supplies , and Serbian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s flag when a team of doctors landed in Belgrade last week .
“ China is the only friend who can help us , ” Vucic said , complaining about the lack of support from the EU .
“ In Italy ’ s case , we can talk of ‘ useful idiots ’ fueling China ’ s propaganda , ” Poggetti argues , insisting the term aptly describes Di Maio ’ s attitude toward China .
“ In part , he ’ s unaware of what he ’ s doing , in part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Five Star Movement electorate , ” Poggetti told Foreign Policy .
Meanwhile , the far-right League ’ s leader , Matteo Salvini , didn ’ t miss the opportunity to bash Beijing in order to hurt his former political ally ( and now sworn enemy ) Di Maio : “ If the Chinese government knew [ about the virus ] and didn ’ t tell it publicly , it committed a crime against humanity , ” he said during a debate session in the Senate , just a few days after re-upping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hoax claiming that China was actively committed to engineering new viruses in its labs .
Antonio Talia , a journalist and author who writes extensively about China-Italy relations , isn ’ t surprised by the fact that China sees Italy as an easy target for its aggressive propaganda campaign .
“ For a decade , the Five Star Movement has been spreading the idea that the trans-Atlantic alliance is some sort of submission to the American empire , fueling suspicion of NATO , leading their voters into believing in alternative truths , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there are well-functioning systems outside the Western liberal democratic framework , ” Talia said .
The Five Star Movement has long been a hotbed for conspiracy theories and fake news , and these days promoters of bogus ideas can be spotted without leaving the government palace in Rome .
Gunter Pauli , an unorthodox economist who was hired as a consultant by Conte , recently suggested a correlation between 5G and the new coronavirus .
In the battle of narratives , optics matter .
Following weeks of inaction and lack of support among @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now actively countering China ’ s narrative by stressing solidarity among member states .
France and Germany combined have now donated more masks to Italy than China , and Austria contributed 1.6 million more .
German hospitals are taking care of some patients from Italy , while France donated 200,000 protective suits .
But what stands out in the narrative are China ’ s so-called gifts , a team of Cuban doctors that recently arrived in the country , and Russian military vehicles moving around northern Italy , as part of an ostensible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s the biggest Russian contingent ever to land in a NATO member state .
Intra-European disagreements in a time of crisis haven ’ t helped .
The angry clash among EU leaders over “ coronabonds ” that erupted in the recent virtual summit—with Germany and the Netherlands starkly opposing common debt instruments advocated by Italy and Spain—proves the much-vaunted European solidarity is so far more of a public relations strategy than a political reality .
Andrew Small , a senior fellow focusing on Asia at the German Marshall Fund of the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a “ mobilization from various countries in the last couple of days to push back against the efforts to use China ’ s provision of medical supplies as a means to discredit the EU and intra-European solidarity , ” but how successful that will be “ will depend on whether Chinese officials and companies continue to work hand in glove with various politicians in Europe who have other agendas or if Beijing decides it ’ s time to cool it down a bit , ” he told Foreign Policy .
Beijing ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ soft-power strategy have been portrayed by some analysts as an attempt to position itself as a global leader , taking advantage of the relative absence of U.S. leadership as Washington struggles to get a grip on its own COVID-19 outbreak at home , with a caseload that now exceeds those of both Italy and China .
“ My sense is that it ’ s as much a reflection of the pressure they ’ re facing to change the narrative that held Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party culpable for the cover-up and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stages of what has since become a pandemic , ” Small said , stressing that the attempts to pretend the virus had foreign origins are also “ directed at the Chinese public.
” In other words , Chinese efforts may be the result of fear related to the government ’ s responsibility in mishandling and covering up the coronavirus outbreak , rather than an assertive way to affirm its global power in a leaderless world .
The Chinese government is blending international aid with information warfare .
On one hand , it presents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ helping hand to fight the enemy it has now supposedly defeated at home—even while growing doubts about the actual death toll in Wuhan and the many complaints over the quality of the medical equipment shipped from Beijing are casting shadows over the government ’ s benevolent rebranding .
At the same time , the Chinese propaganda machine is taking a page from the Russian disinformation playbook , and it ’ s widely circulating foggy and contradictory theories over the origins of the coronavirus , conveying the idea that it ’ s impossible to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is ripe for both strategies .
A country where political weakness , a public health emergency , and pro-Chinese tendencies overlapped—mostly thanks to a governing party that has been peddling conspiracy theories since before the pandemic—has provided Beijing with an ideal testing ground .

Italy is an ideal outpost for China’s wide-reaching propaganda effort to cover up its own responsibility for the global spread of the new coronavirus, all the while presenting itself as a compassionate power aiding Western countries in need.
Italy is an ideal outpost for China’s wide-reaching propaganda effort to cover up its own responsibility for the global spread of the new coronavirus, all the while presenting itself as a compassionate power aiding Western countries in need.
The government has been pursuing a two-pronged strategy that carefully combines sending medical supplies to assert its relevance in a leaderless world—call it mask diplomacy—while at the same time spreading conspiracy theories to conceal the true origin of the virus. In this “global battle of narratives,” as the European Union’s foreign-policy chief, Josep Borrell, called it, “China is aggressively pushing the message that, unlike the US, it is a responsible and reliable partner.”
Italy provides the perfect environment to test Beijing’s strategy. It was the first Western country to be hit by a large coronavirus outbreak, and it is therefore urgently in need of medical supplies to support a health care system on the brink of collapse. But it’s also led by a government coalition that includes the Five Star Movement, a Euroskeptic and increasingly pro-Chinese party that has for years relentlessly promoted a stronger relationship with Beijing while downplaying the traditional trans-Atlantic alliance and fueling suspicion toward NATO. As a result, last year Italy was the first G-7 country to join the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s global infrastructure project.
Italy provides the perfect environment to test Beijing’s strategy. It was the first Western country to be hit by a large coronavirus outbreak; it’s also led by a coalition that includes the Five Star Movement, a Euroskeptic and increasingly pro-Chinese party.
Recently, China’s state media outlets suggested the new coronavirus originated in Italy, not in Wuhan, by shrewdly twisting the words of the Italian physician Giuseppe Remuzzi, the director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan. In an interview with NPR on March 19, Remuzzi said some doctors in northern Italy “remember having seen very strange pneumonias, very severe, particularly in old people in December and even in November,” an anecdotal fact that potentially suggested that the virus that originated in China had spread elsewhere even before commonly suspected.
[Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak: Get daily updates on the pandemic and learn how it’s affecting countries around the world.]
The state-controlled Global Times wrote on Twitter that “#Italy may have had an unexplained strain of pneumonia as early as November and December 2019 with highly suspected symptoms of #COVID19, reports said.” A misleading version of Remuzzi’s statement was then broadcast by other arms of the Chinese government’s propaganda apparatus, such as China Central Television, and became a trending topic on the popular microblogging platform Weibo.
The Italian doctor, for his part, never even hinted that the coronavirus originated anywhere but China. “We can be certain that the virus emerged in Wuhan first, where it had probably been circulating for some time before it was made public in China,” Remuzzi told Foreign Policy, explaining that, if anything, the unconfirmed observations regarding previous cases of pneumonia in northern Italy would worsen—rather than ease—the burden of Chinese responsibility in covering up the early cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Genetic tests confirmed that the virus originated in China “beyond a shadow of a doubt,” said Remuzzi, who has recently been inundated with requests from Chinese journalists attempting to politicize his expertise to corroborate Beijing’s narrative.
Listen Now: Don't Touch Your Face A new podcast from Foreign Policy covering all aspects of the coronavirus pandemic Learn More
At the same time, Italy was the first beneficiary of China’s mask diplomacy. On March 12, a Chinese cargo plane bringing nine doctors, masks, respirators, and other medical equipment landed in Rome. The material displayed the words “The friendship road knows no borders” and was presented as a gift to the country going through the emergency. But it was not really a gift at all.
Italy was buying medical equipment from China, but the government took advantage of a parallel donation made by China’s Red Cross to make it look like an instance of its “politics of generosity.”
As the Italian reporter Giulia Pompili explained in the newspaper Il Foglio, it was part of a commercial deal formalized a few days before in a phone call between the foreign ministers of China and Italy, Luigi di Maio and Wang Yi. Italy was buying medical equipment from China, but the government took advantage of a parallel donation made by China’s Red Cross to make it look like an instance of its “politics of generosity.” A few days later, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the phone that he was willing to cooperate on a “Health Silk Road” to combat the pandemic.
Di Maio, who recently resigned as the leader of the Five Star Movement, is the point person for the Chinese initiatives in Italy and was instrumental in consolidating the partnership even under the previous government, when Five Star was the junior partner in the unorthodox, all-populist coalition with Matteo Salvini’s League.
“Those who scoffed at our participation in the Belt and Road Initiative now have to admit that investing in that friendship allowed us to save lives in Italy,” Di Maio declared glowingly in an interview, sparking reactions from some of his Democratic Party colleagues in government, who are growing tired of seeing their political ally selectively praising China’s generous efforts while downplaying the belated solidarity coming from EU members.
“Many Euroskeptic leaders are acting as China enablers,” said Lucrezia Poggetti, an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban personally welcomed a flight from China transporting nearly 70 tons of medical supplies, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic theatrically kissed China’s flag when a team of doctors landed in Belgrade last week. “China is the only friend who can help us,” Vucic said, complaining about the lack of support from the EU.
“In Italy’s case, we can talk of ‘useful idiots’ fueling China’s propaganda,” Poggetti argues, insisting the term aptly describes Di Maio’s attitude toward China. “In part, he’s unaware of what he’s doing, in part he’s just trying to please the Five Star Movement electorate,” Poggetti told Foreign Policy. Meanwhile, the far-right League’s leader, Matteo Salvini, didn’t miss the opportunity to bash Beijing in order to hurt his former political ally (and now sworn enemy) Di Maio: “If the Chinese government knew [about the virus] and didn’t tell it publicly, it committed a crime against humanity,” he said during a debate session in the Senate, just a few days after re-upping on his social media an old clickbait hoax claiming that China was actively committed to engineering new viruses in its labs.
Antonio Talia, a journalist and author who writes extensively about China-Italy relations, isn’t surprised by the fact that China sees Italy as an easy target for its aggressive propaganda campaign. “For a decade, the Five Star Movement has been spreading the idea that the trans-Atlantic alliance is some sort of submission to the American empire, fueling suspicion of NATO, leading their voters into believing in alternative truths, and all the while promoting the notion that there are well-functioning systems outside the Western liberal democratic framework,” Talia said.
The Five Star Movement has long been a hotbed for conspiracy theories and fake news, and these days promoters of bogus ideas can be spotted without leaving the government palace in Rome. Gunter Pauli, an unorthodox economist who was hired as a consultant by Conte, recently suggested a correlation between 5G and the new coronavirus.
In the battle of narratives, optics matter. Following weeks of inaction and lack of support among European states, the EU Commission is now actively countering China’s narrative by stressing solidarity among member states. France and Germany combined have now donated more masks to Italy than China, and Austria contributed 1.6 million more. German hospitals are taking care of some patients from Italy, while France donated 200,000 protective suits.
But what stands out in the narrative are China’s so-called gifts, a team of Cuban doctors that recently arrived in the country, and Russian military vehicles moving around northern Italy, as part of an ostensible anti-COVID 19 agreement with Moscow. It’s the biggest Russian contingent ever to land in a NATO member state.
Intra-European disagreements in a time of crisis haven’t helped. The angry clash among EU leaders over “coronabonds” that erupted in the recent virtual summit—with Germany and the Netherlands starkly opposing common debt instruments advocated by Italy and Spain—proves the much-vaunted European solidarity is so far more of a public relations strategy than a political reality.
Andrew Small, a senior fellow focusing on Asia at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, noticed that there has been a “mobilization from various countries in the last couple of days to push back against the efforts to use China’s provision of medical supplies as a means to discredit the EU and intra-European solidarity,” but how successful that will be “will depend on whether Chinese officials and companies continue to work hand in glove with various politicians in Europe who have other agendas or if Beijing decides it’s time to cool it down a bit,” he told Foreign Policy.
Beijing’s increasingly forceful efforts to push its broader soft-power strategy have been portrayed by some analysts as an attempt to position itself as a global leader, taking advantage of the relative absence of U.S. leadership as Washington struggles to get a grip on its own COVID-19 outbreak at home, with a caseload that now exceeds those of both Italy and China.
“My sense is that it’s as much a reflection of the pressure they’re facing to change the narrative that held Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party culpable for the cover-up and suppression of information during the critical early stages of what has since become a pandemic,” Small said, stressing that the attempts to pretend the virus had foreign origins are also “directed at the Chinese public.”
In other words, Chinese efforts may be the result of fear related to the government’s responsibility in mishandling and covering up the coronavirus outbreak, rather than an assertive way to affirm its global power in a leaderless world.
The Chinese government is blending international aid with information warfare. On one hand, it presents itself on the global stage as a helping hand to fight the enemy it has now supposedly defeated at home—even while growing doubts about the actual death toll in Wuhan and the many complaints over the quality of the medical equipment shipped from Beijing are casting shadows over the government’s benevolent rebranding.
At the same time, the Chinese propaganda machine is taking a page from the Russian disinformation playbook, and it’s widely circulating foggy and contradictory theories over the origins of the coronavirus, conveying the idea that it’s impossible to figure out its actual roots. Italy is ripe for both strategies.
A country where political weakness, a public health emergency, and pro-Chinese tendencies overlapped—mostly thanks to a governing party that has been peddling conspiracy theories since before the pandemic—has provided Beijing with an ideal testing ground.


foreignpolicy--2020-03-31--Hezbollah Prepares for Its Next War: Against the Coronavirus

Hezbollah Prepares for Its Next War : Against the Coronavirus BEIRUT—Dozens of journalists piled into a convoy of Hezbollah-arranged vehicles on Tuesday to be transported to the movement ’ s newest front line : the fight against the coronavirus .
Nearby , a line of dozens of paramedics stood ready but completely idle , posed in front of some of the 70 ambulances Hezbollah says it has prepared for epidemic .
Trucks and men on foot from the Islamic Health Society sprayed the streets with disinfectant , filling the neighborhood of Borj el-Barajneh with the smell of chlorine .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The government isn ’ t doing anything , ” said one bystander , Hussein Zaaiter , sitting on a cement step watching the crowd of journalists next to the long row of posed paramedics and ambulances .
“ You can see these ambulances .
You can see them disinfecting the streets.
” Zaaiter sat just a foot from his friend .
Neither was wearing masks or gloves .
Many on the streets of Borj el-Barajneh lingered around without masks or gloves , and pairs of young men zipped by on scooters , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seat .
Hezbollah has also launched a large-scale awareness campaign .
Others in the neighborhood seem split on who is doing what .
Some say the Lebanese government is doing a good job of responding to the pandemic , but many complain of a complete lack of assistance from anyone as they face the double whammy of the coronavirus and a collapsing economy .
So far Lebanon has confirmed about 460 cases of the coronavirus and 11 deaths .
The government , which includes Hezbollah , has declared a state of medical emergency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and sent the army to the streets to enforce it .
But there is a very real concern that that country ’ s medical system will collapse under an outbreak .
Lebanon has good doctors and hospitals , but the medical system is highly privatized , and the public system is poorly funded and suffers from the same sort of clientelism and patronage practices of most Lebanese institutions .
Even in regular times , many Lebanese rely on the health services provided by political parties , rather than the government .
The economic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government even put out a call to Lebanese expats to donate , including IBAN numbers for accounts in U.S. dollars and other currencies .
In this new crisis , Hezbollah and Lebanon ’ s other traditional parties have a fresh opportunity to fill a void left by the state .
And Hezbollah is stepping into the breach .
“ We have shed our blood in resistance , and we will not surrender in front of this epidemic , ” said Hussein Fadlallah , Hezbollah ’ s representative for Beirut District , as he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to prepare for the virus .
The media tour led journalists through a tent where patients would be initially diagnosed , on to another where a man in a full protective suit was ready to swab nostrils , and inside to a room equipped for isolation , with oxygen tanks and trollies of disinfectants , masks , and gloves next to basic hospital beds .
Fadlallah said the facilities and tests are free for everyone in the area and meant to relieve pressure on hospitals .
“ It is a real war that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a warrior , ” Sayyed Hashem Safieddine , the head of Hezbollah ’ s Executive Council , said last week as the group first announced its plans , adding that “ front-line Islamic resistance medics are taking part.
” Hezbollah , considered a terrorist group by the United States , was founded by Iran ’ s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and resisted Israel ’ s occupation of south Lebanon .
It fought another war with Israel in 2006 and has dabbled in regional conflicts , but most significantly it has fought in support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ war there is winding down even as a new one is emerging against the pandemic .
Hezbollah is now mobilizing 25,000 people , has rented hotels for quarantine , and is delivering basic food items to families in need—the sort of stuff governments do in other countries .
But in Lebanon , Hezbollah and other political parties have long filled the void of the country ’ s weak state .
The coronavirus pandemic is no exception .
Many of the country ’ s traditional parties have stepped up the patronage that many Lebanese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the streets .
The Free Patriotic Movement , the rival Lebanese Forces Movement , and the Druze-led Progressive Socialist Party all sent their own disinfectant crews very visibly to the streets .
The latter ’ s leader , Walid Jumblatt , told local TV he would donate $ 600,000 to the cause .
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri , head of the Sunni Future movement , announced he would personally contribute 100 million Lebanese Lira .
All have been previously accused of corruption .
Watching the scene in the Borj el-Barajneh neighborhood @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of his 5-year-old twins on his phone .
An Uber driver , he ’ s lost almost all his income as most people stay home .
He said he heads out a few hours each day but gets few hails .
Even before the virus and the curfew , he was suffering , as prices of basic goods have shot up as much as 40 percent in recent months .
“ No one is doing anything , ” Toufaily said .
Jamil Mouawad , a professor of politics at American University in Beirut @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , putting the country on lockdown , and preparing hospitals and medical facilities the best it can .
Civil society groups and charity organizations have also stepped up to address the crisis .
“ The difference is , traditional parties can market what they do with convoys of vehicles and flags , ” Mouawad said .
The Taif Agreement that ended Lebanon ’ s civil war at the end of 1989 further entrenched the country ’ s sectarian political system and the power of the country ’ s warlords .
Many of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to power during the war , gaining legitimacy and supporters in a time of conflict and crisis .
“ They are offering food and services the same way they did in wartime , ” Mouawad said of the parties .
“ Those that lived through the war know what it is to have a box at the door with a kilo of rice and oil.
” This patronage , paired with sectarian rhetoric , has helped keep Lebanon ’ s political parties strong .
But months of anti-government protests have eroded their popularity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ system that have governed Lebanon for decades .
The coronavirus is creating a timely opportunity for Lebanon ’ s traditional sectarian political parties to again build up support and legitimacy that was eroded by the protest movement .
“ They want to be seen as the only actor offering services , consolidating their legitimacy , ” said Mouawad , stressing this is being done by all of Lebanon ’ s traditional political parties .
“ Hezbollah just has more resources to respond .
”

BEIRUT—Dozens of journalists piled into a convoy of Hezbollah-arranged vehicles on Tuesday to be transported to the movement’s newest front line: the fight against the coronavirus.
BEIRUT—Dozens of journalists piled into a convoy of Hezbollah-arranged vehicles on Tuesday to be transported to the movement’s newest front line: the fight against the coronavirus.
Nearby, a line of dozens of paramedics stood ready but completely idle, posed in front of some of the 70 ambulances Hezbollah says it has prepared for epidemic. Trucks and men on foot from the Islamic Health Society sprayed the streets with disinfectant, filling the neighborhood of Borj el-Barajneh with the smell of chlorine.
“Hezbollah is the only one doing anything. The government isn’t doing anything,” said one bystander, Hussein Zaaiter, sitting on a cement step watching the crowd of journalists next to the long row of posed paramedics and ambulances. “You can see these ambulances. You can see them disinfecting the streets.”
Zaaiter sat just a foot from his friend. Neither was wearing masks or gloves. Many on the streets of Borj el-Barajneh lingered around without masks or gloves, and pairs of young men zipped by on scooters, pressed up against each other sharing the seat. Hezbollah has also launched a large-scale awareness campaign.
[Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak: Get daily updates on the pandemic and learn how it’s affecting countries around the world.]
Others in the neighborhood seem split on who is doing what. Some say the Lebanese government is doing a good job of responding to the pandemic, but many complain of a complete lack of assistance from anyone as they face the double whammy of the coronavirus and a collapsing economy.
So far Lebanon has confirmed about 460 cases of the coronavirus and 11 deaths. The government, which includes Hezbollah, has declared a state of medical emergency, urged people to stay home, and sent the army to the streets to enforce it. But there is a very real concern that the country’s medical system will collapse under an outbreak. Lebanon has good doctors and hospitals, but the medical system is highly privatized, and the public system is poorly funded and suffers from the same sort of clientelism and patronage practices of most Lebanese institutions. Even in regular times, many Lebanese rely on the health services provided by political parties, rather than the government. The economic crisis has weakened it all. The government even put out a call to Lebanese expats to donate, including IBAN numbers for accounts in U.S. dollars and other currencies.
In this new crisis, Hezbollah and Lebanon’s other traditional parties have a fresh opportunity to fill a void left by the state. And Hezbollah is stepping into the breach. “We have shed our blood in resistance, and we will not surrender in front of this epidemic,” said Hussein Fadlallah, Hezbollah’s representative for Beirut District, as he outlined the steps his organization is taking to prepare for the virus.
The media tour led journalists through a tent where patients would be initially diagnosed, on to another where a man in a full protective suit was ready to swab nostrils, and inside to a room equipped for isolation, with oxygen tanks and trollies of disinfectants, masks, and gloves next to basic hospital beds.
Read More A view of a slum area in Lebanon's northern port city of Tripoli. A view of a slum area in Lebanon's northern port city of Tripoli. Cash-Strapped Lebanon Isn’t Ready for the Coronavirus Grappling with economic and political turmoil, Lebanon’s government is underequipped for a public health emergency. Argument | Betsy Joles Lebanese central bank chief Riad Salameh gestures during an interview in his office in Beirut on Dec. 20, 2021. Lebanese central bank chief Riad Salameh gestures during an interview in his office in Beirut on Dec. 20, 2021. Lebanon Is a Global Sanctuary for Criminals A growing list of people protected from justice highlights a pervasive culture of impunity. Shadow Government | David Schenker Lebanese deminers with the Mines Advisory Group, a nongovernmental organization, work in a field in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, on April 13, 2021. Lebanese deminers with the Mines Advisory Group, a nongovernmental organization, work in a field in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, on April 13, 2021. Lebanon Is Still Littered With Land Mines Sappers are working to clear the land of a deadly past. Analysis | Francisco Serrano
Fadlallah said the facilities and tests are free for everyone in the area and meant to relieve pressure on hospitals.
“It is a real war that we must confront with the mindset of a warrior,” Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, said last week as the group first announced its plans, adding that “front-line Islamic resistance medics are taking part.”
Hezbollah, considered a terrorist group by the United States, was founded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and resisted Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon. It fought another war with Israel in 2006 and has dabbled in regional conflicts, but most recently it has fought in support of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The war there is winding down even as a new one is emerging against the pandemic.
Hezbollah is now mobilizing 25,000 people, has rented hotels for quarantine, and is delivering basic food items to families in need—the sort of stuff governments do in other countries.
But in Lebanon, Hezbollah and other political parties have long filled the void of the country’s weak state. The coronavirus pandemic is no exception. Many of the country’s traditional parties have stepped up the patronage that many Lebanese rely on and sent flag-bearing disinfectant trucks to the streets. The Free Patriotic Movement, the rival Lebanese Forces Movement, and the Druze-led Progressive Socialist Party all sent their own disinfectant crews very visibly to the streets. The latter’s leader, Walid Jumblatt, told local TV he would donate $600,000 to the cause. Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, head of the Sunni Future movement, announced he would personally contribute 100 million Lebanese Lira. All have been previously accused of corruption.
Listen Now: Don't Touch Your Face A new podcast from Foreign Policy covering all aspects of the coronavirus pandemic Learn More
Watching the scene in the Borj el-Barajneh neighborhood, Ali Toufaily pulled up a photo of his 5-year-old twins on his phone. An Uber driver, he’s lost almost all his income as most people stay home. He said he heads out a few hours each day but gets few hails. Even before the virus and the curfew, he was suffering, as prices of basic goods have shot up as much as 40 percent in recent months.
“No one is doing anything,” Toufaily said.
Jamil Mouawad, a professor of politics at American University in Beirut, said the state is responding—closing schools, putting the country on lockdown, and preparing hospitals and medical facilities the best it can. Civil society groups and charity organizations have also stepped up to address the crisis.
“The difference is, traditional parties can market what they do with convoys of vehicles and flags,” Mouawad said.
The Taif Agreement that ended Lebanon’s civil war at the end of 1989 further entrenched the country’s sectarian political system and the power of the country’s warlords. Many of the country’s current party leaders rose to power during the war, gaining legitimacy and supporters in a time of conflict and crisis.
“They are offering food and services the same way they did in wartime,” Mouawad said of the parties. “Those that lived through the war know what it is to have a box at the door with a kilo of rice and oil.”
This patronage, paired with sectarian rhetoric, has helped keep Lebanon’s political parties strong. But months of anti-government protests have eroded their popularity and made some question the parties and system that have governed Lebanon for decades. The coronavirus is creating a timely opportunity for Lebanon’s traditional sectarian political parties to again build up support and legitimacy that was eroded by the protest movement.
“They want to be seen as the only actor offering services, consolidating their legitimacy,” said Mouawad, stressing this is being done by all of Lebanon’s traditional political parties. “Hezbollah just has more resources to respond.”


foreignpolicy--2020-03-31--Nepal May Escape the Coronavirus but Not the Crash

Nepal May Escape the Coronavirus but Not the Crash KATHMANDU , Nepal—Officially , there have been only five coronavirus cases in Nepal .
But despite the tiny numbers , the country entered full lockdown on March 24 for at least a week—a decision the government made after finding only the second case , a Nepali student arriving home from France via Qatar .
Flights and long-distance buses have been suspended , and the country ’ s borders are sealed—even to its own citizens .
Originally , Nepal treated the outbreak as a distant threat .
The local jokes around the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even caught on with government officials , who declared the country a “ coronavirus-free zone ” to boost the Visit Nepal 2020 tourism campaign .
As the coronavirus has spread worldwide , however , the mood in Nepal has become increasingly serious .
The border closure is aimed in part at Nepali workers abroad—who are now stuck in foreign countries with little aid from their governments .
So far , most citizens appear to be observing the lockdown—in part because the police have been strict enforcers , including delivering beatings .
In a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than $ 1,000 a year , and which is highly dependent on tourism , the economic impact is likely to be brutal—but no measures have yet been announced .
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday morning for heart issues and has not yet announced any financial measures since his discharge on Friday .
Sher Bahadur Pun of Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital told Foreign Policy : “ The government has prepared , but no country is really perfect to deal with this virus at this time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contain the virus so that we can prepare for the worst scenario.
” Pun added that he was hopeful that conditions in Nepal might mean people had stronger immune systems and that frequent hand-washing was a cultural norm .
Initially , there were many false theories and pieces of fake news around the virus—such as the idea that Nepalis might somehow be immune to the virus or that China ’ s air pollution and poor hygiene were the main culprits , sparing a people who pride themselves on cleanliness .
Like many nations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
According to the Ministry of Health and Population , Nepal has tested just 802 people so far—with 799 negative results , one person in recovery , and three4 in isolation .
The Health Emergency Operation Center reported on Thursday that 17 people were in isolation as a precaution and that 44 new cases were detected but they were found negative .
The ministry has also designated 25 hospitals across the country to deal with the virus and rolled out more than $ 200,000 for the purchase of medical equipment .
The World @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s only testing facility , the National Public Health Laboratory in Kathmandu , and made a statement that the center was capable of accurately testing the virus .
WHO , however , recommended that the center repair and upgrade its facilities .
According to Bikash Devkota , a spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Population , the laboratory has the ability to conduct 4,000 tests in a week , but a lack of swab kits and extensive guidelines for swab testing have limited the daily test to 50 only .
Testing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the government on Saturday sent a flight to Guangzhou , China , to bring back medical equipment ( including swab kits ) that it purchased .
On March 22 , the Jack Ma Foundation announced that it would donate medical supplies to Nepal , and medical supplies provided by China are arriving via the Tatopani border in the north .
Despite the low numbers , Nepal ’ s poverty and lack of doctors could prove catastrophic—though its demographics may be an advantage .
Hospitals lack personal protective equipment ( PPE ) , ventilators @ @ @ @ @ @ @ units , which has made medical staff wary of treating patients .
The hospitals are frantically searching for new staff due to a lack of health workers .
Sameer Dixit of the Center for Molecular Dynamics told Foreign Policy : “ If we face a situation like in Italy , Spain , and the United States , then we can not handle it .
But fortunately , we have a young population , and the most at-risk group makes up only 10 percent of people .
So the government needs to focus on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Only 4 percent of people are over 60.
” The social entrepreneur Mahabir Pun has started to produce PPE from his National Innovation Center , which focuses on the promotion of research and development in Nepal , but medical staff worry the gear may not be up to standards—and say there isn ’ t nearly enough .
Swornim Gyawali , a doctor at a private hospital in Kathmandu , said : “ Our hospital has provided PPE to medical workers but not up to standard .
Front-line workers are worried about getting infected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But there ’ s a lack of coordination and equipment from the government and the system , which scares us.
” The lack of medical preparation has created an exodus of Nepalis , many of whom have residence or citizenship elsewhere and who fled abroad in large numbers while it was still possible .
Fear of total brain drain was another prompt for the flight ban announced on March 20 , due to last until at least March 31 .
Nepal ’ s huge southern neighbor , India , has posted only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experts fear spread there will grow fast .
China , however , may become a source of aid in a country the two Asian powers have often fought for influence over .
Nepal is expected to extend the lockdown to two more weeks and probably announce an economic relief package .
With luck , Nepal might escape the worst of the coronavirus itself—but it can ’ t shake off the damage done by a crashing world .

KATHMANDU, Nepal—Officially, there have been only five coronavirus cases in Nepal. But despite the tiny numbers, the country entered full lockdown on March 24 for at least a week—a decision the government made after finding only the second case, a Nepali student arriving home from France via Qatar. Flights and long-distance buses have been suspended, and the country’s borders are sealed—even to its own citizens.
KATHMANDU, Nepal—Officially, there have been only five coronavirus cases in Nepal. But despite the tiny numbers, the country entered full lockdown on March 24 for at least a week—a decision the government made after finding only the second case, a Nepali student arriving home from France via Qatar. Flights and long-distance buses have been suspended, and the country’s borders are sealed—even to its own citizens.
Originally, Nepal treated the outbreak as a distant threat. The local jokes around the supposed immunity of Nepalis to the virus even caught on with government officials, who declared the country a “coronavirus-free zone” to boost the Visit Nepal 2020 tourism campaign.
As the coronavirus has spread worldwide, however, the mood in Nepal has become increasingly serious. The border closure is aimed in part at Nepali workers abroad—who are now stuck in foreign countries with little aid from their governments.
So far, most citizens appear to be observing the lockdown—in part because the police have been strict enforcers, including delivering beatings. In a country where most people live on less than $1,000 a year, and which is highly dependent on tourism, the economic impact is likely to be brutal—but no measures have yet been announced. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday morning for heart issues and has not yet announced any financial measures since his discharge on Friday.
[Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak: Get daily updates on the pandemic and learn how it’s affecting countries around the world.]
Sher Bahadur Pun of Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital told Foreign Policy: “The government has prepared, but no country is really perfect to deal with this virus at this time. We need to actively trace and contain the virus so that we can prepare for the worst scenario.” Pun added that he was hopeful that conditions in Nepal might mean people had stronger immune systems and that frequent hand-washing was a cultural norm.
Initially, there were many false theories and pieces of fake news around the virus—such as the idea that Nepalis might somehow be immune to the virus or that China’s air pollution and poor hygiene were the main culprits, sparing a people who pride themselves on cleanliness.
Listen Now: Don't Touch Your Face A new podcast from Foreign Policy covering all aspects of the coronavirus pandemic Learn More
Like many nations, Nepal was also lethargic in testing. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, Nepal has tested just 802 people so far—with 799 negative results, one person in recovery, and three4 in isolation. The Health Emergency Operation Center reported on Thursday that 17 people were in isolation as a precaution and that 44 new cases were detected but they were found negative. The ministry has also designated 25 hospitals across the country to deal with the virus and rolled out more than $200,000 for the purchase of medical equipment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) examined Nepal’s only testing facility, the National Public Health Laboratory in Kathmandu, and made a statement that the center was capable of accurately testing the virus. WHO, however, recommended that the center repair and upgrade its facilities. According to Bikash Devkota, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Population, the laboratory has the ability to conduct 4,000 tests in a week, but a lack of swab kits and extensive guidelines for swab testing have limited the daily test to 50 only.
Testing is likely to ramp up, as the government on Saturday sent a flight to Guangzhou, China, to bring back medical equipment (including swab kits) that it purchased. On March 22, the Jack Ma Foundation announced that it would donate medical supplies to Nepal, and medical supplies provided by China are arriving via the Tatopani border in the north.
Despite the low numbers, Nepal’s poverty and lack of doctors could prove catastrophic—though its demographics may be an advantage. Hospitals lack personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, oxygen cylinders, and intensive care units, which has made medical staff wary of treating patients. The hospitals are frantically searching for new staff due to a lack of health workers.
Sameer Dixit of the Center for Molecular Dynamics told Foreign Policy: “If we face a situation like in Italy, Spain, and the United States, then we cannot handle it. But fortunately, we have a young population, and the most at-risk group makes up only 10 percent of people. So the government needs to focus on protecting the old and vulnerable groups. Only 4 percent of people are over 60.”
The social entrepreneur Mahabir Pun has started to produce PPE from his National Innovation Center, which focuses on the promotion of research and development in Nepal, but medical staff worry the gear may not be up to standards—and say there isn’t nearly enough.
Swornim Gyawali, a doctor at a private hospital in Kathmandu, said: “Our hospital has provided PPE to medical workers but not up to standard. Front-line workers are worried about getting infected, as happened in China and Italy. But there’s a lack of coordination and equipment from the government and the system, which scares us.”
The lack of medical preparation has created an exodus of Nepalis, many of whom have residence or citizenship elsewhere and who fled abroad in large numbers while it was still possible. Fear of total brain drain was another prompt for the flight ban announced on March 20, due to last until at least March 31.
Nepal’s huge southern neighbor, India, has posted only small coronavirus numbers so far, but experts fear spread there will grow fast. China, however, may become a source of aid in a country the two Asian powers have often fought for influence over.
Nepal is expected to extend the lockdown to two more weeks and probably announce an economic relief package. With luck, Nepal might escape the worst of the coronavirus itself—but it can’t shake off the damage done by a crashing world.