A Weekly Political News Magazine
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Issue 1796- April - 17/04/2020
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Andrew Cuomo: The New York Governor’s Rise to the Spotlight www.majalla.com
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Editorial
A Weekly Political News Magazine
www.majalla.com/eng Even among the bitterest of adversaries, times of crisis can breed moments of unity and solidarity. The current Coronavirus pandemic has united the world against a common foe that does not discriminate and can attack people of all nationalities, social standings and ethnicities. While many leaders around the world are still playing petty blame games against other governments or organizations, others have shown promise of deeper cooperation. One extraordinary development is the prospects of reconciliation between the Palestinians and Israel in this fight against the virus. This week’s cover story by Mohamed Abo Don focuses on these developments as he indicates that the idea of both sides working together is popular among Palestinians. He also provides examples of how both sides are looking into cooperating, for instance the Palestinian Authority has been in close contact with Israeli leadership since the pandemic started and even Hamas is looking to do a prisoner exchange with Israel as a sign of being open to collaboration. The Islamic Republic of Iran’s delayed response to the coronavirus has caused it to be the worst affected country in the Middle East. As the country has already been ravaged by US sanctions, the virus has taken another heavy toll on its economy. To alleviate the economic hardships, Rouhani is looking to lift travel restrictions and social distancing measures. Nevertheless, this strategy of herd immunity might cost of millions more Iranian civilians. Joseph Braude writes on Iran’s tough choice, as he points out the pros and cons of each path the country could take. As Iran’s economy and health sector suffer at this time, the regime has been trying to use the crisis to rebuild relations with the West and its regional neighbours. For the past few weeks, the regime has been asking the US to lift sanctions on account of the debilitating effects of the pandemic. However, Washington has so far refused to budge. Other countries, such as the UK, the EU member states and even the UAE have been more cooperative with the Islamic republic. Yasmine El Geressi writes on how Iran has been using the crisis to build new bridges with the world, and how, in turn, other countries have been responding to such cries for help. As the holy month of Ramadan is approaching, millions of Muslims around the world are preparing to spend the month in lockdown or quarantine. As social distancing measures bring a whole new dimension to how Muslims will observe the month, Ali El Shamy provides a report on how this year’s Ramadan will be different.
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A Weekly Political News Magazine
Prepare to Spend : 2020 Ramadan 38 Muslims Holy Month Under Lockdown
Issue 1796- April - 17/04/2020
14 Politicians are Embracing the Misleading
Coronavirus Cure Claims Infecting the Internet
18 Iran’s Virus Diplomacy
30 Don’t Count on China to Lift the Global Economy
26 South Korea Offers a Lesson in Best Practices
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Should You Take a Vitamin B12 Supplement ? 3
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to Bypass Cinemas, ‘Trolls World Tour’ 40 Forced Celebrates Harmony, Diversity and Hope
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The Reverend Stuart Elliott blesses the new fire as part of his Service of New Light for Easter Eve on the shore of Llyn Mymbyr in Snowdonia on April 08, 2020 in Capel Curig, Wales. - Getty
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Police officers wearing protective suits fetch a resident suspected of having COVID-19 from his home in a slum area to be taken to an isolation facility on April 15, 2020 in Manila, Philippines. - Getty
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agency, but that now is the time for the world to unite in its fight against the new coronavirus.
New York Governor Says if Trump Ordered New York to Reopen, he ’‘Wouldn’t Do It
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday he would not abide by any order that U.S. President Donald Trump might give to reopen his state in an unsafe manner during the coronavirus outbreak. “If he ordered me to reopen in a way that would endanger the public health of the people of my state, I wouldn’t do it,” Cuomo said in an interview with CNN. Trump said on Monday he
Coronavirus Cases Pass 2 Million Worldwide The coronavirus pandemic passed 2 million confirmed infections and 130,000 deaths worldwide on Wednesday — bleak markers that experts say vastly understate the true spread and toll of the contagion because of a lack of testing. The figures have roughly doubled in 13 days and continue to grow steadily. The actual number of cases is much higher than the official figures suggest, with countries varying in how much they are testing people. Even as some European countries, including Germany, hopeful that the worst is behind them, begin to take careful steps to lift restrictions imposed to slow the virus, outbreaks in many parts of the world are still considered far from their peaks.
Trump Cuts WHO Funding Prompting Global Condemnation
Donald Trump was condemned for putting countless lives at risk on Tuesday when he announced the US is freezing payments to the World Health Organization (WHO) over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The US president said funding would be on hold for 60 to 90 days pending a review of the WHO’s warnings about the coronavirus and China. He accused the global body of “severely mismanaging and covering up” the threat, even though it declared a public health emergency on 30 January – after which he continued to hold rallies, play golf and compare the coronavirus to the common flu. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday he regrets U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull funding for the
believed he had “total authority” over states in terms of the U.S. coronavirus response, a stance that is not supported by the Constitution and was immediately rejected by legal experts and some governors. Cuomo said any such order would set up a constitutional challenge between the states and the federal government that would go to court.
Trump Says U.S. Investigating Whether Virus Came from Wuhan Lab
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday his government is trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from a lab in Wuhan, China, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Beijing “needs to come clean” on what they know. The source of the virus remains a mystery. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday that U.S. intelligence indicates that the coronavirus likely occurred naturally, as opposed to being created in a laboratory in China, but there is no certainty either way. Fox News reported on Wednesday that the
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virus originated in a Wuhan laboratory not as a bioweapon, but as part of China’s effort to demonstrate that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal to or greater than the capabilities of the United States.
Iran Parliament Hears Coronavirus Deaths Almost Double Official Count
The death toll in Iran from the coronavirus pandemic is likely nearly double the officially reported figures, due to undercounting and because not everyone with breathing problems has been tested for the virus, a parliament report said. Iranian health officials offered no comment on the report, which represents the highest-level charge yet from within the Islamic Republic’s government of its figures being questionable, something long suspected by international experts. Iran on Wednesday put the death toll at 4,777, out of 76,389 confirmed cases of the virus — still making it the Mideast’s worst outbreak by far. The report, released Tuesday, comes as Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani continues to push for a slow reopening of the country’s economy, which remains targeted by crushing U.S. sanctions. If its own figures offered to the World Health Organization are wrong, it adds to fears by some that encouraging people to return to work will spark a second wave of infections.
had agreed to reduce output by 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) for May and June, after four days of talks and following pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to arrest the price decline. OPEC+ sources said they expected total global oil cuts to amount to more than 20 million bpd, or 20 percent of global supply, effective May 1. OPEC had the same figure in its draft statement but removed it from the final version.
OPEC, Russia Approve BiggestEver Oil Cut to Support Prices Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
OPEC and allies led by Russia agreed on Sunday to a record cut in output to prop up oil prices amid the coronavirus pandemic in an unprecedented deal with fellow oil nations, including the United States, that could curb global oil supply by 20%. Measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus have destroyed demand for fuel and driven down oil prices, straining budgets of oil producers and hammering the U.S. shale industry, which is more vulnerable to low prices due to its higher costs. The group, known as OPEC+, said it
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Saudi Arabia Resumes Talks with Yemen’s Houthis as Truce Falters
Saudi Arabia has resumed indirect talks with Yemen’s Houthi movement to cement a faltering ceasefire, sources familiar with the discussions said, as the United Nations pushes for a de-escalation to prepare for a coronavirus outbreak. The Iran-aligned Houthis have yet to accept the nationwide truce prompted by the pandemic and announced by the Saudiled coalition last week, and violence has continued on several frontlines. Aid groups say a coronavirus outbreak could be catastrophic given Yemen’s shattered health system and widespread hunger and disease after five years of war in which more than 100,000 have been killed. Saudi and Houthi officials communicated over the weekend as Riyadh strives to reach an understanding on a binding truce, two sources close to the discussions told Reuters.
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The Coronavirus Brings New Hope for Israeli-Palestinian Reconciliation Talks How a Pandemic Can Have the Power to Unite Gaza: by Mohamed Abo Don
ordinating efforts.
As the entire world is battling the Coronavirus pandemic, something astounding started happening in the Middle East. Israel and the Palestinian territories, just like the rest of the world, have both been in state of emergency due to the spread of the virus. As both nations are now facing a common enemy, signs of reconciliation are starting to appear. During his recent press conferences, Ibrahim Molhem, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority, has talked about the prospects of coordination and joint military training between both sides. Israeli officials have also showed optimism as Yotam Shaffer, a spokesperson for the Israeli Defence Ministry has said that both sides have already cooperated in more ways than one. For instance, both sides have worked to evacuate tourists out of their cities before initiating lockdowns, and both sides have also exchanged information on Palestinians arriving at Lod airport. The Palestinian News Agency’s website has recently published an article on a phone call between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, in which the latter expressed the need for both sides to cooperate in the face of this pandemic which has overtaken the world, while the former welcomed this initiative of co-
PANDEMICS IN DIPLOMATIC ACCORDS While it might appear as though such talks of medical cooperation came out of thin air, past accords signed between both sides have detailed the need for coordination during times of outbreaks. Article 17 of the 1995 Oslo II Accords mentioned that both sides would cooperate in combating epidemics and contagious diseases, since this is an issue that effects both sides and does not know the bounds of geography and borders. The article further stated that: “1. Israel and the Palestinian side shall exchange information regarding epidemics and contagious diseases, shall cooperate in combating them and shall develop methods for exchange of medical files and documents. 2. The health systems of Israel and of the Palestinian side will maintain good working relations in all matters, including mutual assistance in providing first aid in cases of emergency, medical instruction, professional training and exchange of information.� A less legal and more pragmatic reason why talks of collaboration have started to materialise is because the Coronavirus is a difficult challenge that neither Israel nor the
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An official source in the PLO Committee for Interaction with Israeli Society, who preferred to not give his name to Majalla, said that times like these help reduce disputes between the two parties on both official and societal levels. This is because cooperation is now compulsory due to the reality that they find themselves in. cooperation between both sides: “Cooperation is essentially a based on security and humanitarianism, and we have not seen any differences with regards to those aspects, even after US President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in 2018.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during the funeral of former Israeli leader Shimon Peres in 2016 in Jerusalem - Getty
Palestinians can tackle alone. Nevertheless, one should not think that other issues pertaining the conflict between both sides wouldn’t be factors in this war against this common enemy. Naturally, matters such as Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Palestinian workers working in Israel, the status of Jerusalem as a shared capital between both sides, and Palestinians crossing Israeli borders will be important factors that will impact the cooperation between both sides. Aziz El Masry, a researcher in politics and history, believes that cooperation between both sides is legally compulsory based on the signed agreements mentioned above. Furthermore, it is delusional to think that both sides have always cut ties, on the contrary ever since its establishment 1994, the Palestinian Authority has always had open communications with Israel. These open communications have remained in spite of the political differences between both sides, differences that have only grown wider since last January’s announcement of the Deal of the Century. During his interview with Majalla, El Masry stated that he did not think that there was a political element when it came to
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Furthermore, we have seen both sides work together during times of crisis. For instance, the Palestinian Authority once sent members of its civil defences to help put out huge fires in the northern Israeli region. Israel has also helped the Palestinian Authority reinforce its security within the West Bank. Moreover, in 2017 there was an announcement of upcoming joint military exercises between both sides and Jordan. The aim of these exercises was to ensure that all sides are prepared in the case of any future natural disasters.
FILLING THE VACUUM Many world leaders and notable individuals have spoken of Israel and the Palestinian peoples’ efforts to coordinate in the fight against the Coronavirus. Among such individuals was the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay E. Mladenov who recently tweeted: “Today I spoke to my US, Russia, EU colleagues of the Middle East Quartet. We discussed how to revive meaningful peace negotiations towards the goal of two states. I briefed them on UN efforts to support excellent Israeli Palestinian cooperation against COVID19.” Moreover a number of Israeli news websites have stated that many world leaders have separately contacted Israeli and Palestinian leadership, welcoming their efforts of cooperation. According to one article published in the Times of Israel’s website, many Israeli political and security figures have been increasing contacts with the Palestinian Authority
for the past few weeks in order to discuss ways of dealing with the Coronavirus. This is a great contrast to previous periods when both sides would not even discuss issues pertaining to their conflict, as a matter of fact some reports indicate that both sets of leaderships are now in constant communication to find ways of dealing with the virus. An official source in the PLO Committee for Interaction with Israeli Society, who preferred to not give his name to Majalla, said that times like these help reduce disputes between the two parties on both official and societal levels. This is because cooperation is now compulsory due to the reality that they find themselves in. It is this reality that has led both sides to putting political differences aside. “We
According to a recent poll conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, 3/2 of Palestinian residents support collaboration between Israel and Palestinians in tackling the Coronavirus.
can use this time as an oppurtunity to fill the vaccum left by the lack of political dialogue with talks of huminatarian talks that can unite both people. The talks can result in the provision of things needed most such as medical/nutritional needs, security and stability.” The anonymous source also said that any talks with the Israelis would need to be based on the recognition and preversation of Palestinian rights and principles, without that pillar no collabrative efforts can take place or continue. The source would go on to say that there are many parts of the Israeli political establishment, especially the parties that are more moderate when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict, who can be relied on to convey the Palestinians’ concerns. He also notes that the Committee is hard at work meeting with Israeli officials, and during said meetings they always emphasis the suffering and concerns of the Palestinians. Political analyst Islam Atallah seemed less optimistic on the prospects of political reconciliation between both parties. In an interview with Majalla he said that cooperation on societal and security issues between the two parties does not often result in cooperation in the wider international political spectrum.
POPULAR CALLS FOR COOPERATION Ever since this crisis started, there have been few voices on the Palestinian side rejecting the prospects of cooperation. What’s even more extraodinary is the fact that even members of Hamas have backed down from their anti-reconciliation rhetoric. Al Masry states that this silence from Hamas is another example of support for cooperation. As previ-
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Antiseptics being distributed to Palestinian passers-by (Majalla)
Palestinian crowds fill shops during the Coronavirus pandemic )(Majalla
ously stated this is a disease that doesn’t discriminate, furthermore the Palestinian health system is weak and could use the support from any external party that has efficient healthcare capabilties. According to a recent poll conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, 2/3 of Palestinian residents support collaboration between Israel and Palestinians in tackling the Coronavirus. The poll was conducted on hundreds of Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, furthermore respondents were chosen according to the typical techniques of random
We have seen both sides work together during times of crisis. For instance, the Palestinian Authority once sent members of its civil defences to help put out huge fires in the northern Israeli region. geographical selection, in which the margin of statistical error is less than 4 per cent. Majalla also spoke to several Palestinians living in both Hamas and PA administered regions, respectively and opinions on cooperation varied. Some believed that collaboration on the Coronavirus crisis will lead to further political synergy between both sides, this in turn will increase chances of peace between both nations even beyond the pandemic period. Others meanwhile felt that Israeli policies that impact Palestinian human rights will come in the way of any future peace process. Twenty-two-year old Hani Murad is a student who lives in the southern region of the Gaza Strip and studies English in one of the local universities. He states that he has been observing Israeli public attitudes toward Palestinian lands since the beginning of the crisis. He further said that any
Beach in Gaza deserted due to the Coronavirus )pandemic (Majalla
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peace process would require the Israeli citizens to be on board with the idea. Nihal Ibrahim is a young woman living in Ramallah and works for one of the civil society institutions. She notes that tensions between Palestinians and Israelis have simmered down recently. However, many grassroots Palestinians are still uneasy with the idea of adapting and living with Israelis.
?WHAT ABOUT THE GAZA STRIP The Gaza Strip is a difficult topic to address for a number of reasons. For one thing, the region is controlled by the Islamist resistance movement Hamas, which rejects the idea of Israeli statehood altogether. Furthermore, the group has conducted many military attacks on Israel in the past decade or so. Another reason that makes reconcilation between the Gaza Strip and Israel difficult is the presence of a military blockade between them which the latter controls. This blockade ensures
In spite of these difficulties, there is a glimmer of hope of talks between Israel and Hamas. Israel recently allowed the entry of medical and monetary aid to Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
that only individuals with special permits are allowed to move through the border, this contrasts with the border between Israel and the West Bank where movement of people is much easier. The blockade started in 2006 after Hamas kidnapped an Israeli soldier from one of the military posts situated at the border. The increased Fatah-Hamas tensions since 2007 have resulted in a political crisis which in turn led to continued Fatah rule in the West Bank and a Hamas takeover in the Gaza Strip. Since then the Gaza Strip has been further seculuded from both Palestinian and Israeli leadership. In spite of these difficulties, there is a glimmer of hope of talks between Israel and Hamas. Israel recently allowed the entry of medical and monetary aid to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Hamas’s Gaza leader, Yahya Al-Sinwar, recently appeared live on the local Al-Aqsa satellite channel said that there’s am initiative to start negotiations with Israel on the subject of Israeli soldiers that are held hostage in Gaza. This, of course, is one of the most complex issues of the ongoing disputes between Israel and Hamas. He also said that both sides can potentially do a prisoner exchange, and he noted that Israel already takes a humintarian stance with regards to prisioners. This is because Israel releases Palestinian prisoners who are sick, elderly or women, as such Al-Sinwar said a partial prisoner exchange would be possible on such a basis. He did, nevertheless, leave a ominous message in the interview stating that “the Hebrew state would have to pay a hefty price for such a prisoner exchange”, and he did not specify what he meant by that. If a prisoner exchange goes without a hitch, then we might witness a resurgence of popularity for Hamas in Gaza and negative sentiments towards Israel might also fall.
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Palestinian Authority Spokesperson Ibrahim Molhim (Majalla)
Political analyst Islam Atallah seemed less optimistic on the prospects of political reconciliation between both parties. In an interview with Majalla he said that cooperation on societal and security issues between the two parties does not often result in cooperation in the wider international political spectrum.
Political Analyst Islam Attalla (Majalla)
A factory worker (Matzot Tel Aviv) wears masks and gloves delivering a shipment of masks on April 07, 2020 in Bnei Brak, Israel. - Getty
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Iran, Devastated by Coronavirus, Seeks to Lift Travel Restrictions In a bid to Salvage Economy Meanwhile, Iranian Public Health Officials Remain Opposed to Lifting of Restrictions as Death Count Climbs 16
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by Joseph Braude Iranian authorities have yet to find their footing as the coronavirus outbreak continues to ravage the country and the demands of social distancing exact a high economic toll. In a bid to salvage an economy already weakened by American sanctions, Rouhani has promised a loan to impoverished Iranians by next week and sought to lift travel restrictions before the virus is contained.
AS IRAN’S OUTBREAK SPREADS, THE ECONOMY TUMBLES Covid-19 continues to spread throughout Iran, exacting an especially high toll in and around the capital. Dr. Alireza Zali, who heads Tehran’s Coronavirus Combat Headquarters, said on Wednesday said that the city of Tehran is now “one of the biggest hotspots of coronavirus in the country” and the Tehran province as a whole is showing markedly higher rates of infection than the remainder of the country. While the death count continues to climb, the economic implications are only beginning to come into full view. In an interview with ISNA on April 11, Labor Minister Ali Rabiei said the outbreak has affected 3.3 million full-time employees and four million selfemployed workers in Iran. In other words, over seven million Iranians have either lost their jobs or seen their employment suspended or downgraded. Members of the Iranian Red Crescent test people for coronavirus Covid19- symptoms, as police blocked Tehran to Alborz highway to check every car following orders by the Iranian government, outside Tehran on March 2020 ,26.(Getty)
Indications of discontent with Tehran’s management of the crisis are visible even through the most hardline organs of the Iranian establishment. The daily Jomhouri-ye Eslami, known for its close association to the office of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has suggested that financial institutions operating under his aegis should provide direct support to low-income Iranians hit by the economic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak, contending that “no economic support by ordinary people can alleviate the hardships imposed on the poor by this outbreak … big financial powers should come to solve the problem and rescue the people.” President Rouhani has promised a ten million rial loan to low-income Iranians, to be deposited in their bank accounts no later than April 20. The details of the plan remain vague.
”THERE IS NO MIDDLE PATH“ On Sunday, Iranian state media announced that the ban
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The move to ease economic restrictions in a country that has yet to contain its outbreak reflects deep anxieties within Tehran’s senior officials as to how much strain the Iranian economy, already weakened by the U.S.’s ‘Maximum Pressure’ campaign, can withstand. on travel between cities within Iranian provinces had been lifted, and that limitations on inter-province travel would end in seven days, on April 20. The move to ease economic restrictions in a country that has yet to contain its outbreak reflects deep anxieties within Tehran’s senior officials as to how much strain the Iranian economy, already weakened by the U.S.’s ‘Maximum Pressure’ campaign, can withstand. As government spokesman Ali Rabiei said in a televised weekly news conference, “We have to fight against the coronavirus and the virus of sanctions together.” While Rouhani insists that the next step is “smart social distancing” — that is, an end to closures that interfere with “the Iranian lifestyle and domestic patterns” — Iranian public health officials remain clearly opposed to any lifting of restrictions. Speaking to state media on April 11, Dr. Ali Maher, the Planning Deputy of the Coronavirus Combat Taskforce of Tehran, said the Rouhani government must choose between implementing strict closures and opting for a “herd immunity” strategy that would enable the economy to re-open. “There is no middle path,” Dr. Ali Maher said, noting that a strategy of herd immunity, while superficially appealing, would ultimately lead to large numbers of deaths and the overwhelming of the healthcare sector. A recent poll in Tehran conducted by ISPA, the Iranian Students Polling Agency, yielded several findings that speak to the dilemmas posed by the government’s tentative plans to ease closures. 75 percent of respondents in the poll of over 1,000 said that social distancing measures should remain in place, while 70 percent claimed to be experiencing severe difficulties in providing for their families economically. Nearly half of respondents expressed skepticism toward official government statistics pertaining to the coronavirus outbreak in Iran.
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Iran’s Virus Diplomacy With US Sanctions Intact, Tehran’s Desperate Plea for Funds Gains Traction in Europe and the Gulf by Yasmine El-Geressi The coronavirus has hit the Middle East at a time when the region is already burdened with a series of long-running conflicts, economic crises, and political unrest. The first Covid-19 deaths in the region were reported on February 19, when two Iranians died from the virus in the holy city of Qom. The economically hamstrung country quickly became the Middle East’s coronavirus epicenter and currently has almost 5,000
official deaths, although the unofficial numbers are expected to be much higher. According to many predictive models, the coronavirus could kill 0.5 million to 1.5 million people in the Islamic republic and authorities in Tehran have come under extensive scrutiny at home and abroad for their delayed response and lack of transparency. As the country faces an internal struggle to combat the virus, many are questioning how the emergency will impact relations between a desperate Tehran and its adversaries.
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Tehran would need to dramatically change its regional policies as a prerequisite for the Emirati COVID19medical aid to signal the opening of a much-needed diplomatic dialogue for reducing tension in the region. General Qasem Soleimani by the United States and the strike targeting Iraq’s Ain al-Asad military base by Iran in response. Iran says that US sanctions have impeded its ability to import equipment vital for controlling the pandemic but the US frequently reiterates that the sanctions exempt the sale of medicine and medical devices. Before the virus, sanctions had already cost Iran about $200 billion in revenue, mainly from decimated oil sales, and devalued the currency by half in the past two years. Economists said the coronavirus would shrink Iran’s GDP by a third and create at least a $10 billion budget deficit this year. Thus, a broad campaign was started to call for removing sanctions. This collective effort included Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif writing a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres; Iranian President Hassan Rouhani issuing a message to the people of America; 235 Iranian artists writing a letter to their global counterparts; and Iranian activists, scholars and intellectuals — many of whom are based abroad and part of the opposition to the Iranian state — writing to Trump. In another sign of desperation, Iran made its first request to the International Monetary Fund since the 1960s – asking for a $5 billion emergency loan. A man covers his face with a scarf after deaths and new confirmed cases revealed from the coronavirus in Qom, Iran on February ,25 2020. (Getty)
US-IRAN RELATIONS WORSEN The outbreak of coronavirus has prompted unprecedented health and economic crises in both the US and Iran. But while the crisis could have provided Tehran and Washington an opportunity to cooperate against a common foe, the hostility and mistrust between them has proven too wide to bridge. Despite the disasters, both countries are escalating their years-long conflict which been more or less static since the killing of
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But the Trump Administration has been unequivocal: the spread of the virus will not save it from the US sanctions. Secretary of State Mike said in a tweet that Iran’s “concerted effort to lift U.S. sanctions isn’t about fighting the pandemic. It’s about cash for the regime leaders.” He has accused Iran’s leaders of “trying to avoid responsibility for their grossly incompetent and deadly governance.” When Zarif accused the United States of waging “medical terror,” the State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus
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tweeted “Stop lying,” adding, “It’s not the sanctions. It’s the regime.” If anything, the US has doubled down, imposing fresh sanctions in March, even as it offered Iran medical aid to help combat the pandemic, which Iran refused, claiming that the virus was “created by America,” despite there being no scientific proof offered anywhere to support such claims. “I do not know how real this accusation is but when it exists, who in their right mind would trust you to bring them medication?” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, adding: “possibly your medicine is a way to spread the virus more.” He also alleged the virus “is specifically built for Iran using the genetic data of Iranians, which they have obtained through different means”.
EUROPE BYASSES US SANCTIONS But Iran’s plea is gaining traction elsewhere, winning support from allies like Russia and China, but also the European Union and the UK. The EU donated $22 million in humanitarian aid to Iran in March to help it fight the outbreak in its first use of the E3 financial mechanism set up last year. The “E3” (France, Germany and the UK) conceived the Instex trade channel to help European countries save a landmark international nuclear deal with Tehran after President Donald Trump withdrew the US
The EU said it will support request from Iran’s Central Bank for IMF financial help. This could create further friction with the US which has said it is seeking to block the request because the Iranian Central Bank is under US sanctions.
from the agreement in 2018. But the European states have struggled for more than 12 months to launch the mechanism in the face of technical challenges and fierce opposition from Washington. The EU also said it will support request from Iran’s Central Bank for IMF financial help. This could create further friction with the US administration which has said it is seeking to block the request because the Iranian Central Bank is under US sanctions and is known for financing Iran’s destabilising activity. The US also said that “any nation considering humanitarian assistance to Iran should seek the release of all dual and foreign nationals” from Iranian prisons. But the UK has taken a less stringent approach not by making the release of all its dual nationals a precondition for aid. Intensive discussions between Iran and continental
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Health officers, wearing masks and special protective suits, take care of patients infected by the coronavirus (COVID19-) at a hospital in Tehran, Iran on March 2020 ,02. (Getty)
If anything, the US has doubled down, imposing fresh sanctions in March, even as it offered Iran medical aid to help combat the pandemic, which Iran refused, claiming that the virus was “created by America” political tensions with Iran, the current global health crisis is not a competition and cannot be fought in isolation. The UAE has twice facilitated flights for the World Health Organisation (WHO) to deliver medical supplies and WHO experts to help 15,000 healthcare workers. Kuwait has also announced that it will donate $10 million to Iran while Qatar has sent masks and hygiene products, demonstrating that GCC countries have, temporarily at least, put aside its tense diplomatic relations with Iran to instead prioritise the urgent humanitarian crisis.
Europe over the coronavirus crisis have run in parallel with talks over the release of prisoners such as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, raising hopes of a narrow opening for a diplomatic breakthrough. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, British-Iranian aid worker, has had her temporary leave from prison extended and is being considered for clemency. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that while this is a welcome step, the UK government now urges the Iranian government to “release all UK dual nationals arbitrarily detained in Iran, and enable them to return to their families in the UK.”
REGIONAL HUMANITARIAN OUTREACH Another possible diplomatic opening created by the crisis has been in expressions of support with Iran from some unexpected sources. The UAE and others in the region have shown that, whatever the existing
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The Emirati foreign minister had a rare phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart in which he stressed ‘the importance of collective work and efforts to survive such global challenges’. Another significant step was a tweet from Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi, that appeared to suggest the UAE’s actions could lead towards a possible softening of bilateral relations. Mousavi applauded the UAE, as well as Uzbekistan and the United Nations’ UNICEF, for their support: ‘My country is sincerely thankful for these humanitarian efforts and will never forget the way they stood with Iran in hard times’. Such aid and communication efforts are important and unprecedented in recent years between the longstanding regional adversaries. But while Iran declared on April 6 that its coronavirus coordination with UAE has further improved both countries’ ties, Tehran would need to dramatically change its regional policies as a prerequisite for the Emirati COVID-19 medical aid to signal the opening of a much-needed diplomatic dialogue for reducing tension in the region.
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Politicians are Embracing the Misleading Coronavirus Cure Claims Infecting the Internet Social Media Platforms and TV Broadcasters are Under Pressure to Curb the Spread of Misinformation Coming from the Top 22
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At its worst, misinformation can be fatal. In Iran, over 600 people have died and over 3,000 were hospitalised after drinking high-concentration alcohol in the mistaken belief that it can cure coronavirus. as fast as the new coronavirus. While billions of us remain stuck up our homes under strict lockdows, on WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube and elsewhere, a range of bogus stories and conspiracy theories concerning COVID19- have gained considerable global momentum. One poll by YouGov and the Economist in March 2020 found 13 percent of Americans believed the Covid19- crisis was a hoax, for example, while a whopping 49 percent believed the epidemic might be man-made. This is, as the World Health Organization declared in February, an infodemic: “an over-abundance of information—some accurate and some not—that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it.”
by Yasmine El-Geressi The rise of “fake news” isn’t a creation of the digital age. Long before Facebook, from the 80s through to the 2000s dangerous rumours circulated about Aids– from the belief that the HIV virus was human-made in a government laboratory to the idea that the HIV tests were unreliable, and even the curious theory that it could be treated the milk of arthritic goats. These claims increased risky behaviour and exacerbated the crisis. Now, in the social media age, we are seeing a fresh inundation of fake news that has spread almost
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At its worst, misinformation can be fatal. In Iran, over 600 people have died and over 3,000 were hospitalised after drinking high-concentration alcohol in the mistaken belief that it can cure coronavirus. “The numbers are very high and are beyond our expectations,” Iranian judicial spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmaili told a staterun news service, according to the Mirror. A video broadcast on Iranian networks and shared online showed a five-year-old boy, who had apparently gone blind after his parents gave him the liquid, hooked up to breathing apparatus. In a desperate search for a cure, families have been turning to fake remedies that have spread across social media, including alcohol, which is banned in the Islamic Republic. Even some world leaders have been guilty of spreading inaccurate information and promoting unproven remedies that may do much more harm than good. While the jury is still out on
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its efficacy, the antimalarial chloroquine is potentially very dangerous, having recently killed a man in Arizona who drank it after hearing President Donald Trump call it “a tremendous breakthrough.” The toxic ingredient they consumed was not the medication form of chloroquine. Instead, it was an ingredient listed on a parasite treatment for fish. Facebook and Twitter are taking the rare step of policing world leaders and other political figures. Both social networks rarely interfere with messages from world leaders but the coronavirus has created a new sense of urgency. Facebook and Twitter deleted a video from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who asserted that the drug hydroxychloroquine was effective in treating the virus and was “working in all cases.” Facebook said it had removed the video from both that site and Instagram, which it also owns. The posts violated its community standards for causing harm, it told BBC News. He has repeatedly downplayed the virus and encouraged Brazilians to ignore medical advice on social distancing. Twitter took down tweets from Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who called the treatment “100 percent effective” in treating the virus after touting a New York doctor’s dubious claims about a cure. It also deleted a tweet by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro who shared a virusstopping homemade “brew”. According to a report by the Reuters Institute for
Social media networks rarely interfere with messages from world leaders but the coronavirus has created a new sense of urgency.
the Study of Journalism and the Oxford Internet Institute, high-level politicians, celebrities, and prominent public figures generated %69 of the social media engagement around coronavirus misinformation, even though they accounted for only %20 of the misleading posts in a sample. The authors of the report chalk this up to the individuals’ large followings. TV media outlets — which hold themselves to much higher editorial standards than social media networks — are now trying to find their own balance. CNN and MSNBC started cutting away from Trump’s sometimes factually incorrect speeches during the coronavirus task force briefings when they go off-topic. This week CNN even stopped its live coverage of the daily White House briefing on Monday when Trump began
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President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro adjusts his protective mask during a press conference regarding government plans and measures about the Coronavirus outbreak in Brazil. (Getty)
According to a report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and the Oxford Internet Institute, high-level politicians, celebrities, and prominent public figures generated %69 of the social media engagement around coronavirus misinformation. regulation,” reported The Verge. In an open letter to Fox News heads Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch, a group of 74 professors of journalism and journalists have called the network’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic a “danger to public health”. The letter says that Fox News, which is regularly named as one of the most trusted networks in America, is endangering its own viewers, the average age of whom is 65, making them one of the two most at-risk groups to experience complications if they contract the virus.
playing a compilation of news clips portraying his handling of the pandemic in a positive light. UN Secretary General on Tuesday saluted “journalists and others fact-checking the mountain of misleading stories and social media posts.” But some journalists have also come under fire for their coverage of the pandemic. “Advocacy group Free Press submitted a scorchedearth complaint to the Federal Communications Commission, urging it to investigate stations airing Trump’s false statements under the “broadcast hoaxes” ban. (The FCC denied the petition, declaring that “we will not censor the news.”) The request echoed the common calls to make platforms ban misinformation — but for a medium that’s not usually seen as a target for
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“Viewers of Fox News, including the president of the United States, have been regularly subjected to misinformation relayed by the network—false statements downplaying the prevalence of Covid19- and its harms; misleading recommendations of activities that people should undertake to protect themselves and others, including casual recommendations of untested drugs; false assessments of the value of measures urged upon the public by their elected political leadership and public health authorities,” the letter says. Tucker Carlson was also mentioned for his touting of a “flimsy” French study about the effectiveness of two drugs in treating the coronavirus. The next day the president referred to “very, very encouraging early results” from the drugs and called a third drug a “game changer.”
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South Korea Offers a Lesson in Best Practices The United States May Be Left With Only the Most Invasive of Them by Victor Cha When it comes to the novel coronavirus, South Korea has taken tracing to a new level. When passengers deplane at Incheon International Airport near Seoul, they pass through mandatory temperature checks and are required to download the health ministry’s self-diagnosis app. Once at
their destinations, they must use the app every day to self-report any symptoms of COVID19-, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. The movements of those who test positive are tracked, and other people in their vicinity receive socialdistancing alerts on their phones. Most Americans would chafe at this type of Big
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Brother surveillance as contrary to the values of freedom and privacy, even in these disruptive times. To compare South Korea’s infection numbers with those of the United States, however, is to wonder whether combating the virus and reopening the economy could require temporarily eschewing those values in favour of invasive policies. The United States and South Korea confirmed their first cases of COVID19- within a day of each other, but since then, the United States has registered case numbers in six digits, whereas South Korea has barely cracked 10,000 and has witnessed a slowdown in the rate of infection. South Korea’s COVID19- mortality rate is onethird that of the United States. And per capita, South Korea has tested three times as many citizens as the United States has—thanks in part to South Korean companies, which produce more than 350,000 test kits per day and plan to increase their output to one million.
A medical staff waiting at the sample collection point at the ‹Walk Thru› centre. The Seoul government opened a ‹Walk Thru› centre testing for corona virus cases only for residents in Seoul coming from abroad in response to the global coronavirus(COVID19-) pandemic. (Getty)
But South Korea’s surveillance is only one small aspect of what has become the gold standard for flattening the curve. The South Korean response—a blend of quick action and policy innovations coordinated by the national government—has proven enormously effective in containing the COVID19- outbreak and can provide lessons for other countries, such as the United States, which have faltered by comparison. But because the United States has squandered valuable time to contain the virus, it may be forced to consider a version of South Korea’s more intrusive solutions if it wants to save lives, reopen businesses, and arrest economic free fall.
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE The timeline of South Korea’s response is one of efficient containment. The country wasted little time. Less than a week after South Korea detected its first case of COVID19- on January 20, health officials met with 20 medical and pharmaceutical companies to jump-start the production and approval of test kits. After some initial hesitation, the government declared a national emergency on February 23. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump would take three more weeks to do
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On March 5, the government purchased 80 percent of the masks produced domestically. It prioritized hospitals for distribution and then created a price control and ration system. the same. South Korea placed a premium on working quickly, even after its early start. At the end of January— just nine days after that first positive case—the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and the National Health Insurance Service established a “1339” call center to update the public and collect case data. At the same time, the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency started supplying more than 700,000 facemasks to vulnerable workplaces. About two weeks after the first case was confirmed, the government approved and distributed test kits capable of producing results in six hours. South Korea then proceeded to test more than 20,000 people daily. The quick response can be attributed to the lessons South Korea learned during the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in 2015. During that epidemic, South Korea suffered the largest number of cases outside of Saudi Arabia, in part because the government’s response was slow and inadequate. The public lacked information, and the health-care system lacked test kits. Carriers of the virus moved from one facility to another in search of tests. To avoid repeating those errors, the South Korean government created emergency response systems, trained for the next pandemic, and passed a law providing for the immediate approval of testing systems in the event of a health crisis. The latter policy allowed for the quick production of test kits during the COVID19- outbreak.
INNOVATION NATION South Korea’s constructive response to the new
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epidemic owes a great deal to innovation. Much attention has already been given to South Korea’s use of high-tech apps and CCTV to geolocate and tag sick people. But South Korea’s most elegant innovations have been common sense ones that have saved lives and slowed the spread of the virus. About one month after South Korea’s first positive case, for example, health officials came up with the idea of a drive-through testing facility. The first one was set up in the parking lot of a university on February 23. There are now more than 70 drive-through facilities and more than 600 testing facilities nationwide. These facilities allowed for thousands to be tested daily even while maintaining social distancing, as patients waited safely in the confines of their vehicles. Another simple but pragmatic idea was the “designated site” system, in which the government assigned some medical facilities to handle COVID19- cases exclusively and others to handle other ailments. Designated sites were listed on the government app and identified with large signs on their premises. People in HAZMAT suits stood at hospital entrances to direct walk-in patients to the designated and nondesignated sites. This system helped keep virus-afflicted patients away from other patients, thus reducing the spread of the disease.
The United States and South Korea confirmed their first cases of COVID19- within a day of each other, but since then, the United States has registered case numbers in six digits, whereas South Korea has barely cracked 10,000 and has witnessed a slowdown in the rate of infection.
ALL POLITICS IS NATIONAL South Korea’s COVID19- response would have been far less nimble without the coordination of the national government. The government brought the public and private sectors together to solve problems, and it responded to the outbreak on a national scale, rather than leaving local authorities to address the epidemic piecemeal. National authorities are preparing for the recovery from the pandemic’s economic fallout by announcing aid packages for cities and provinces, suspending social security payments, and providing cash payments to households below the median income level. Nowhere is the effect of national coordination more apparent than in the case of facemasks. South Korea suffered a mask shortage similar to that of the United States, and there, too, the shortage led to hoarding and price gouging. On March 5, the government purchased 80 percent of the masks produced domestically. It prioritized hospitals for distribution and then created a price control and ration system. To prevent hoarding, citizens were allowed to purchase masks only on designated days based on the last digits of their birth years. Due to the government’s control over distribution, a mask in South Korea costs about 1.27$ and can be purchased at a pharmacy, a post office, or an agricultural cooperative. The wide supply ensures that mayors and governors do not have to outbid one another for medical supplies. By contrast, the United States’ haphazard, decentralized response has left states to fight with one another over federal stockpiles and foreign imports of medical equipment. An N95mask is selling in the United States on eBay for as high as 30$.
EMBRACING BIG BROTHER The United States bungled several aspects of its early pandemic response and thus lost a great deal of time. Initially, Trump thought a travel ban on China and Europe was enough to stop the
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Sample testing devices used in diagnosing the COVID19novel coronavirus are checked on a production line as they are prepared to be included in testing kits for shipment at the SD Biosensor biodiagnostic company near Cheongju, south of Seoul on March ,27 2020. (Getty)
About two weeks after the first case was confirmed, the government approved and distributed test kits capable of producing results in six hours. South Korea then proceeded to test more than 20,000 people daily. this late juncture, the solutions left for the United States to choose from may be the more invasive ones in South Korea’s arsenal. Effective testing and contact tracing could have contained the outbreak early. That horse has evidently left the barn—but pervasive testing, comprehensive contact tracing, and persistent social distancing are precisely what will be required in order for portions of the economy to recover and safely reopen. The United States still needs to develop tests and figure out how to trace contacts at scale. One way to do this is to train and enlist an army of technicians to map out the web of interactions for each infected individual. Alternatively, the United States could follow South Korea in leveraging the one piece of technology that every citizen possesses—a cell phone.
spread of the virus. To add insult to injury, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention produced test kits that didn’t work, and the Federal Drug Administration did not allow for an expedited regulatory approval process. But the next steps matter. If the United States wants to reopen the economy soon, it can still draw from some of South Korea’s best practices to flatten the curve in virus hot spots and keep cases to a minimum in parts of the country that have yet to experience a severe outbreak. Unfortunately, at
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There are, to be sure, unwelcome Big Brother elements to South Korea’s self-diagnosis and tracking apps. Americans value their privacy as a constitutional right and may, as a result, reject location tracing, opting instead to wait for a vaccine. But that wait could take well over one year and could create untold financial, physical, and psychological strains. South Korea’s phone app is a possible solution; it effectively uses GPS, a technology that is familiar to most Americans. Given its early lag in testing and tracking, the United States must take this uncomfortable step toward social tracking, even temporarily—or risk the loss of tens of thousands of more lives. This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs.
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Don’t Count on China to Lift the Global Economy A Vast Rural Underclass Is Dragging Down Growth by Dexter Roberts As life grinds to a halt in much of the world because of the novel coronavirus, the country that until recently was the hardest hit by the deadly pandemic is slowly coming back
to life. The number of new infections in China has fallen dramatically in recent weeks, and cities across the country are returning to something close to normal. Residents are coming out of quarantine, once more strolling in parks and even venturing into restaurants and coffee shops. Companies
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are reopening and people are starting to return to work, although authorities have banned international visitors to prevent new cases from being imported. Last month, the tech giant Apple shut its retail stores globally—with the striking exception of greater China. Will China be a lone bright spot as other major economies struggle with the virus in the months ahead? And when the crisis finally ends, will China resume its role as the major driver of global growth, boosting the fortunes of multinationals once again? That appears to be the hope of many who have praised China for its draconian and seemingly effective response to the virus while forgetting or forgiving its initial blundering attempt to cover up the outbreak. The reality, however, is likely to be far different. After decades of annual double-digit growth, China’s economy—and in particular, its once booming consumption sector—is on a course to stall even as it recovers from its recent coronavirusinduced collapse.
THE RURAL UNDERCLASS
The cleaner is on duty in the street on April 2020 ,11 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. he government started lifting outbound travel restrictions on April 8 from Wednesday after almost 11 weeks of lockdown to stem the spread of COVID19-. (Getty)
Such a grim prognosis might come as a surprise after two decades of extraordinary growth. China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, opening once cosseted industries to competition and forcing thousands of state-owned firms to merge or go bankrupt. Over the decade that followed, foreign investment jumped from 47$ billion to 124$ billion. Hundreds of millions of rural Chinese left their farms during this period, becoming nongmingong—“farmer-workers”—and laboring alongside laid-off state enterprise employees in new exportoriented factories. These changes unleashed a wave of productivity and together with earlier reforms that created an urban housing market, led to a rapid expansion of personal wealth. By 2012, China’s middle and upper classes had swollen to 182 million people. The consulting firm McKinsey & Company projects that by 2022, some 300 million Chinese will qualify as middle and upper class. But the growth of this middle class alone cannot ensure China’s future. As many a multinational corporation has discovered, Chinese urbanites are already consuming nearly as much as they possibly can. Future economic growth must come from pushing into lower-tier markets and finding new customers in China’s interior, far from the coasts that have benefited most from the last two decades of growth. China’s leaders have sought to expand domestic consumption as part of their plan to transition from an export- and debt-dependent economy to one more reliant on the spending power of the Chinese people. But household consumption has remained about 40 percent of GDP in recent years, well below the global average of around 60 percent. Rather than joining the ranks of new consumers as many had
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An antiquated land-ownership system, also from the era of Mao Zedong, further suppresses social mobility for China’s rural poor. hoped, rural Chinese—including the several hundred million who have migrated to cities—have effectively become an underclass. Overall incomes have risen, but people with rural origins still earn less than half of what city natives pull in yearly. As industries automate and demand for labor dwindles, those from rural backgrounds struggle to reinvent themselves as service workers, gig workers, or entrepreneurs in their hometowns and villages. Restrictive practices that date back to the 1950s hamper rural dwellers. China’s system of household registration, or hukou, once ensured that the country had ample and cheap agricultural products as it industrialized. But the system still ties people’s social welfare benefits to their place of birth instead of to the place where they live. As a result, migrants are unable to get decent, affordable health care or a good education for their children in the cities where they live. Instead, they go to subpar private medical clinics and put their children in private schools that provide poor yet often expensive educational programs. The hukou also artificially depresses the wages of migrants by making it harder for them to organize or otherwise press their interests with employers. The practice once guaranteed a steady supply of cheap labor for China’s “Factory to the World” economic model, but it now prevents migrant workers from becoming middle-class consumers. Finally, the hukou requires rural Chinese to set aside large portions of their earnings to cover unexpected medical bills, tuition fees, and retirement. All that saving prevents people registered in rural areas from spending like their urban counterparts and depresses overall consumption. It also explains why China has an artificially high national savings rate of about 45 percent of GDP, more than twice the global average of around 20 percent. Migrant children drop out of school at far higher rates than other Chinese children. Their primary education is often inadequate, and they are forced to return to the countryside for middle school and high school. Many feel alienated living alone in interior provinces and studying at huge, impersonal boarding schools. In part because of these problems, only about a quarter of China’s labor force has graduated from high school, research by the Stanford economist Scott Rozelle has shown. Many migrant children are unqualified for skilled or high-paying jobs.
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An antiquated land-ownership system, also from the era of Mao Zedong, further suppresses social mobility for China’s rural poor. In contrast to urban real estate, which can be rented or sold at market rates, rural landholdings are “collectively owned.” Migrants and farmers cannot rent or sell their property for nonagricultural purposes. This difference has helped make the country that was once known for its egalitarianism one of the most unequal countries in the world. According to the economists Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman, the proportion of total wealth held by the richest one percent of Chinese grew from just over 15 percent in 1995 to 30 percent in 2015. This rate of consolidation is roughly in line with that of oligarchic Russia, where the richest one percent of the population saw its share of total wealth double over the same period to 43 percent. China’s wealthiest ten percent now hold 67 percent of all wealth, a proportion that is also comparable to Russia. Making matters worse is China’s regressive tax system, which relies substantially on value-added taxes that fall most heavily on the poor, further crimping their ability to spend.
WEDDED TO THE PAST So why doesn’t China simply jettison these decades-old policies and free its hinterlands to drive productivity and growth? After all, that is exactly what the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that they would do back in 2013. But since then, efforts to reform the hukou and land-ownership systems have been limited. Only the smaller, often economically unattractive cities have been opened for permanent settlement by migrants, and little progress has been made toward giving farmers more control over their landholdings. City officials who oversee social welfare programs, including education and health care, see the cost of integrating new families as exorbitant. Local governments in
Real reforms that would unleash the productivity of China’s hinterlands would require a significant relaxation of CCP control over cities, as well as the countryside—a concession that party leaders are unlikely to embrace.
rural areas, unlike individual landholders, are allowed to sell and lease collectively owned tracts for commercial purposes. They have become highly reliant on that revenue stream, according to the University of Washington political scientist Susan Whiting, and so are loath to grant stronger property rights to rural people. To make matters worse, officially registered city dwellers, including urban government officials, tend to view migrants as aliens and tolerate them only as long as undesirable jobs need to be filled—such as those on manufacturing lines or construction sites. Waidiren, or “outsiders,” as migrants are derisively called, are commonly blamed for all manner of urban ills, from rising crime rates to traffic jams to communicable diseases, such as COVID19-, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Chinese who were lucky enough to be born with urban residency have little interest in competing with migrant families for spots in already overcrowded schools and hospitals. Municipal governments are pushing migrant workers out
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Chinese students who are children of migrants wait in line for lunch in a classroom at an un-official school on December 2015 ,18 in Beijing, China. (Getty)
So why doesn’t China simply jettison these decades-old policies and free its hinterlands to drive productivity and growth? After all, that is exactly what the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that they would do back in 2013.
of many cities in China and forcing them to return to their hometowns. In 2018, many top-tier cities began expelling migrant families from crowded apartment blocks in the name of public safety, restricting permits for migrant-run small businesses and shutting down private schools. Now, many other cities are doing the same. China’s leaders, pursuing their grand vision of rebalancing to a more consumption-driven economy, have attempted to choreograph the changes from above: rather than loosening household registration and letting migrants live and work where they wish, officials have mostly opened up small cities that they view as likely to benefit from an influx of people. Too often, these cities suffer from low growth and offer few employment opportunities. Beijing seems to think it can rejuvenate these depressed regions by simply pushing migrants toward them—as if the new residents will magically find jobs or create small businesses—and at the same time solve the problem of excess housing stock with high vacancy rates. The hope among Chinese economic planners is that they can boost rural consumption without launching sweeping
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reforms of restrictive Mao-era policies. The nongmingong, so the argument goes, will earn more—and consume more— working in new service industries and in the gig economy or by becoming entrepreneurs. No longer toiling in factories or on construction sites, they will instead write mobile apps, drive for ridesharing companies, and run tour companies in their hometowns. The problem is that most rural-born Chinese don’t have the skills for these trades, and the gig economy has shed employees rapidly as the overall economy has slowed. Skilled sectors like telecoms, information technology, computers, finance, and business services still don’t make up a large share of China’s service sector, and they aren’t growing quickly, according to Hong Kong University of Science and Technology economist Albert Park. Instead, lowend service jobs known for low pay and high risk, such as motorcycle courier, have become the most common among rural and migrant Chinese. Real reforms that would unleash the productivity of China’s hinterlands would require a significant relaxation of CCP control over cities, as well as the countryside—a concession that party leaders, intent on tightening rather than loosening their grip on power, are unlikely to embrace. Not only would rural governments lose valuable revenue streams and urban ones acquire new economic burdens, but the party would lose one of its most powerful tools of social control: the ability to dictate where half the population lives. But unless the CCP can integrate rural-born people and enable them to join the ranks of the middle class, China’s economy is unlikely to maintain the transformative level of growth that has defined the last two decades. And the shadow over China’s economy will darken prospects well beyond its borders. Even as the country shakes off some of the damage done by the coronavirus, it won’t be able to lift the global economy out of recession. It will be lucky to avoid one itself. This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs.com.
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Coronavirus and the Future of Surveillance Democracies Must Offer an Alternative to Authoritarian Solutions by Nicholas Wright The novel coronavirus pandemic is causing tens of thousands of deaths, wreaking economic devastation, leading to lockdowns across much of the world, and upending societies and their assumptions. But going forward, one of its most significant legacies will be the way that the pandemic dovetails with another major global disruption of the last few years—the rise and spread of digital surveillance enabled by artificial intelligence (AI).
Public health measures have always depended on surveillance, but that has been especially true in governments’ responses to the coronavirus. China, after initially suppressing news of the outbreak in Wuhan, used its arsenal of surveillance tools to tackle the pandemic. These techniques ranged from deploying hundreds of thousands of neighborhood monitors to log the movements and temperatures of individuals, to the mass surveillance of mobile phone, rail, and flight data to track down people who had traveled to affected regions. But democratic countries in East Asia also
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A security guard looks at the tourists through his augmented reality (AR) eyewear equipped with an infrared temperature detector in Xixi Wetland Park in Hangzhou in east China›s Zhejiang province Tuesday, March ,24 2020. The eyewear will alert the guard when it detects someone with fever signs, the latest weapon in the fight against the COVID19-. (Getty)
used expansive surveillance powers to battle COVID19-, the disease caused by the coronavirus. South Korea harnessed closed-circuit television (CCTV) and credit card data to track the movements of individuals, and Taiwan integrated health and other databases so all Taiwanese hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies could access the travel information of their patients. As they struggle to contain the spread of the virus, Western liberal democracies are looking to China’s tools for limiting the outbreak and wondering whether they should adopt some of those authoritarian methods. Over the past decade, China has been building a digital authoritarian surveillance state at home while vying with the United States on the international stage to determine global standards and shape key network infrastructure, exporting 5G technology and Orwellian systems of facial recognition abroad. The overlap of these two global disruptions—the epidemiological and the technological—will shape the next few years of global history. East Asian countries have demonstrated that a robust regime of surveillance is essential to fighting a pandemic. Western democracies must rise to meet the need for “democratic surveillance” to protect their own populations. But what models can the West demonstrate that take advantage of the great benefits of AI-enabled surveillance without sacrificing liberal values? Although poorly understood at the time, one of the biggest long-term impacts of the September 11 attacks was expanded surveillance in the United States and other democracies, by both public and private sectors. Similarly, one of COVID19-’s most important long-term impacts will be the reshaping of digital surveillance across the globe, prompted by the public health need to more closely monitor citizens. The stakes are high. If democracies fail to turn the future of global surveillance in their favor, digital authoritarian competitors stand ready to offer their own model to the world.
THE WATCHFUL JOHN SNOW Battling epidemics has long required the monitoring of populations to understand and then limit the spread of disease. One of the founders of epidemiology pioneered the use of surveillance to tackle infectious disease (just a mile from the London medical school where I studied). He was a doctor named John Snow. Asiatic cholera first arrived in the United Kingdom in 1831. That first wave killed thousands and outbreaks recurred for years afterward. One of those, in 1853, killed over 10,000 Britons. In August and September 1854, the London neighborhood of Soho endured a terrible outbreak. Over three days, 127 people around a single street died. Snow lived nearby, and his local contacts allowed him to monitor the epidemic. He combed the district, interviewing the families of victims. His findings led him to a water pump that proved to be the source of the outbreak. With a microscope, he found suspicious “white, flocculent particles” in the water. About ten days into the outbreak, he persuaded local authorities to remove the pump handle as an experiment. Cholera cases in the neighborhood swiftly dropped. Snow went on to
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Public health measures have always depended on surveillance, but that has been especially true in governments’ responses to the coronavirus. carefully trace cases, compile data, and persuade authorities and medical practitioners of the connection between water and the spread of cholera. Since Snow’s day, every functioning state has built institutions that attempt to safeguard public health. Modern public health methods and practices have saved hundreds of millions of lives. And each generation since Snow has used ever more powerful tools of surveillance in the service of the common good. Indeed, more broadly, surveillance was central to a great deal of social and economic progress over the past two centuries. In the United Kingdom, key nineteenth-century key advances—such as those enabled by the Factory Acts that protected child and adult workers—required new regimes of inspection. The initial fourman inspectorate founded to enforce limits on child factory labor was tiny, but its precedent was enormous. Authorities created new police forces not on existing or overseas models of the secret police but instead to be “consistent with the character of a free country.” The British example also illustrated how proliferating habits of surveillance didn’t undermine democracy; the United Kingdom’s parliamentary system became more democratic even as the state adopted more powers of surveillance. For good or ill, the story of economic and political development in many democratic countries is inextricable from the expansion of the state’s ability to monitor its citizenry. Of course, not all of the state’s uses of surveillance are benign. Throughout the twentieth century, the governments of ostensibly democratic countries used intrusive surveillance techniques such as wiretaps to monitor political rivals and suppress dissent. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government expanded its powers, including broadening warrantless surveillance by the National Security Agency and establishing the domestic Total Information Awareness project that aimed to identify terrorist suspects through sifting vast amounts of digital data. The turn toward greater surveillance after 11/9 had knock-on effects in the private sector: the United States did not adopt commercial privacy protections that would have guarded the data of individuals, thereby enabling the business models of companies such as Facebook and Google that profit from gathering such data.
COVID AND CONTROL Just as the September 11 attacks ushered in new surveillance
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practices in the United States, the coronavirus pandemic might do the same for many nations around the world. Afflicted countries are all eager to better control their citizens. Every functioning state now has a public health strategy to tackle COVID19- that emphasizes both monitoring residents and trying to influence their behavior. But neither the United States nor European countries have used the widespread and intrusive surveillance methods applied in East Asia. So far, the Western approach promises to be much less successful than East Asian strategies. Consider the strategies of five East Asian countries—ranging from the democracies of South Korea and Taiwan to the authoritarian Chinese state—that all relied on prominent surveillance methods. South Korea has so far successfully curbed the spread of COVID19- using classic public health surveillance through large-scale testing. But Seoul has also intrusively tracked down potentially infected individuals by looking at credit card transactions, CCTV footage, and other data. Local authorities have released personal data, sometimes with the consequence that individuals can be identified publicly. Korean officials can enforce self-quarantine through a location-tracking smartphone app. Taiwan has kept the number of cases very low by employing strict surveillance of people coming into the country and widely distributing that information. In February, for instance, Taiwan announced that all hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies across the country could access their patients’ travel histories. Integrating public- and private-sector databases in such ways would prove difficult in the United Kingdom or the United States or under existing European Union regulations. Just as in South Korea, officials in Taiwan use phone apps to enforce the self-quarantine of suspected infected individuals. Hong Kong issues all new arrivals an electronic wristband that monitors whether they violate quarantine. Singapore has kept a lid on the pandemic using CCTV footage and the investigative powers of the police: refusal to cooperate with public health requirements is illegal.
Throughout the twentieth century, the governments of ostensibly democratic countries used intrusive surveillance techniques such as wiretaps to monitor political rivals and suppress dissent.
China’s sheer size makes it the most significant case. Beijing has successfully curbed the spread of the disease. Yes, the pandemic originated in China, but that doesn’t diminish the tangible success of China’s strategy of heavy surveillance. Its “grid management” system divides the country into tiny sections and assigns people to watch over one another. Over a million local monitors log movements, take temperatures, and enforce rules about residents’ activities. At the same time, China has also harnessed its panoply of digital tools. State-run rail companies, airlines, and the major telecom providers all require customers to present government-issued identity cards to buy SIM cards or tickets, enabling unusually precise mass surveillance of individuals who traveled through certain regions. Color-coded smartphone apps tag people as green (free to travel through city checkpoints) or as orange or red (subject to restrictions on movement). Authorities in Beijing have employed facial recognition algorithms to identify commuters who aren’t wearing a mask or who aren’t wearing one properly.
TOWARD DEMOCRATIC SURVEILLANCE Although many East Asian countries have been able to contain the disease, Western democracies seem to have been caught
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CCTV cameras operate in Whitehall, London on August 2019 ,16. (Photo by Tolga AKMEN / AFP/ Getty)
unprepared. Since public health strategies depend on the surveillance of local populations, Western governments will face huge pressure to increase their surveillance capabilities to ward off future pandemics. Epidemiologists, for instance, still anticipate a flu pandemic in the near future that may kill tens of millions. As a public health emergency, the coronavirus pandemic highlights the strengths of the powerful surveillance tools often deployed by authoritarian states such as China. Liberal democracies do need to find ways to take advantage of AI-related surveillance, while ensuring that these technologies don’t infringe dangerously on the rights of individuals. And they must contend with China’s ambitious global effort to pose an alternative system to the liberal democratic one. China exports its digital authoritarian model through endeavors such as the “Digital Silk Road,” the technological arm of China’s infrastructure and investment Belt and Road Initiative. That effort alone has amassed over 17$ billion in loans and investments, including funding for telecom networks, e-commerce, mobile payment systems, and big-data projects around the world. Beijing competes fiercely with democracies in shaping the digital future—wrestling, for instance, over technical standards bodies such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at the
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United Nations. Western liberal democracies must be unafraid in trying to sharpen their powers of surveillance for public health purposes. There is nothing oxymoronic about the idea of “democratic surveillance.” After all, in the past two centuries, the United States and United Kingdom have simultaneously strengthened their democratic institutions while increasing their powers of surveillance. Looking ahead, liberal democracies should identify which methods practiced in East Asia to contain COVID19- are worthy of emulation and avoid those requiring intrusive surveillance. In particular, Western countries should learn from the speed and scale of interventions in East Asia. Every functioning, large democratic state in normal times employs thousands of “John Snows”—public health officials and the facilities they manage for contact tracing and testing— but democracies also need to build reserve capabilities to rapidly scale that capacity up to tens or hundreds of thousands of John Snows. These reserve surveillance forces should be made democratically accountable under legislation, and they should be embedded in national public health bodies such as the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and in local public health organizations. Such a structure would eschew the use of security services, the police, the military, and intrusive mass surveillance. Public health data should be ferociously ring-fenced and siloed and not routinely augmented by credit card, CCTV, or mass immigration data. As demonstrated by Taiwan, government transparency and an engaged civil society are important in battling a pandemic. The private sector can help bolster reserve capabilities to surge ventilators or medical tests, but democracies should steer digital technology companies away from data grabs and toward developing effective, transparent tools that aggressively shield individual privacy. A reserve army of John Snows must be built to boost public health efforts, not to hoard personal information for other uses. After developing this model domestically, democracies must try to export it globally as the world rebuilds in the wake of the pandemic. Democracies must redouble efforts to ensure that the global standards—for AI, digitally connected objects (such as cars or refrigerators), and even the Internet itself— now being shaped in the ITU and other forums do not have authoritarian habits of surveillance baked into their design. Similarly, they must work through international agencies such as the World Health Organization, as well as academic and other networks, to ensure that democratic principles govern international thinking about public health. Democracies must recognize that while intrusive surveillance may have helped China control the spread of the disease, authoritarian disingenuousness and a lack of transparency were a prime cause of the outbreak in the first place. But if they are to be successful in their global competition with authoritarian states such as China, liberal democracies cannot simply preach. They must also demonstrate success. This article was originally published on ForeignAffairs.com.
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Ramadan 2020 : Muslims Prepare to Spend Holy Month Under Lockdown
How the Coronavirus Has Impacted Ramadan by Ali El Shamy A number of religious festivals have taken place/are set to take place in April. As of the writing of this piece, Jews around the world are celebrating the holy holiday of Passover, while Christians are also celebrating Easter, the most important religious festival in the Christian calendar. The month of April will also witness the beginning of the holy Islamic month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin on April 23 and end on May 23 (though dates may vary as it is based on the lunar Hijri
calendar). During Ramadan, Muslims around the world fast by abstaining from food and drink from dawn to sunset. Muslims observing the fast are also required to participate in a number of spiritual activities such as prayer, and they’re encouraged to give to charity and read from the Holy Quran. Ramadan is also a time in which families and friends gather to break fast together, and the first day of Ramadan is usually when many extended families meet and have a hearty meal after a long day of fasting. Some Muslims might even go to Mecca to participate in the Umrah pilgrimage, which unlike the Hajj, can be performed at any time
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of the year. However, the novel Coronavirus has forced people around the world to adapt to new changes, and Muslims around the world will also need to adapt to new ways of religious observance and gatherings. While things may seem grim now, Jews and Christians have also been forced to make sacrifices with regards to Passover and Easter, respectively. While this year’s Ramadan will be different, there is no doubt it will be memorable. Here’s a list of how Ramadan will be affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.
NO PRAYER CONGREGATIONS
A man wearing a face mask walks at the Khayameya Street in old Cairo, Egypt, 12 April 2020.which is famous for selling Ramadan lanterns (Fanous) ahead of Islam›s holy fasting month of Ramadan. (Photo by Ziad Ahmed/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Throughout the month of Ramadan, it is customary for Muslims to congregate at mosques and participate in daily prayers. While not all Muslims pray at mosques, many pious Muslims consider Ramadan a good opportunity to increase their times spent in prayer and reflection. Furthermore, every night after the Isha prayer (the fifth and final prayer of the five daily Muslim prayers), mosques hold the Taraweh prayers. During the Taraweh prayers, large portions of the Quran are read, and the number of rakat (prayer cycles) is increased (the number of rakat a congregations performs during Taraweh varies from mosque to mosque). In many Muslim countries, it is common to hear imams leading Taraweh prayers recite Quranic verses into midnight, and it is common to find many Muslims spending their post-iftar evenings at the mosque. However, due to lockdowns and social distancing restrictions that are being enforced in a number of Muslim countries, most mosques have been shut down. Videos and images of landmark mosques such as Masjid Al Haram, the El Aqsa and Amr ibn al-As being vacant during times of prayer made headlines all over the Muslim world. For the first time in living memory, mosques all around the world were not welcoming Muslims for weekly Friday prayers. As such, Muslims have had to spend the last few Fridays praying regular Duhr (second of the five daily Muslim prayers) at home rather than Friday prayers at mosques. Even though social distancing restrictions will prevent Muslims from gathering at mosques, it’s not all gloom and doom for those wishing to pray Taraweh prayers. While it is encouraged to pray tarawih in mosques, it is permissable to pray Taraweh prayers at home. There is a question of whether or not congregational prayers can be done virtually. While priests and rabbis all over the world have been streaming online sermons to fill the void left as a result of the pandemic, most imams don’t think that virtual congregations can replace physical congregations. That isn’t to say that imams have rejected the idea entirely, some have been recording spoken word sermons for Friday (without the prayers) and posting them online.
NO FAMILY GATHERINGS Ramadan is a time in which families and friends gather to break their fast together. Again the social distancing measures
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Even though social distancing restrictions will prevent Muslims from gathering at mosques, it’s not all gloom and doom for those wishing to pray Taraweh prayers. While it is encouraged to pray tarawih in mosques, it is permissable to pray Taraweh prayers at home. put in place will make that difficult. Understandbly, this can be an especially tough time for those who live alone and look forward to those annual family gatherings for company and comfort. Thankfully, with the advent of technology, friends and families can have virtual reunions via video messaging platforms such as Skype or facetime. Many Muslim countries which are usually busy this time of year, will be uncharateristically quiet and somber. Countires such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan have imposed strict lockdown measures to help curb the spread of the virus. Other countries such as Malaysia have gone as far as arresting and detaining those who violate lockdown measures which have been put in place since March. While gatherings might in theory be possible in countries with less strict measures, such as Egypt which only has a 8 PM to 6 AM curfew in place, the fact that most Ramadan gatherings and events take place in the evening would make such prospective reunions difficult.
ALTERNATIVES TO IFTAR TABLES As charity is one of the traditions of Ramadan, it is customary to find “Ma’edat Al Rahman” (tables of mercy) which are charities which provide Iftar meals to the needy. Streets across Muslim countries are lined up with tables which host tens to hundreds of people who are provided with a full iftar meal during Maghrib. The tradition started in Egypt by Ahmed bin Touloun in 880. During Ramadan, he invited dignataries and merchants to dine with him in his residence and then he ordered them to open their own homes for the needy during the month. While the tradition has been on an on again and off again basis, since the 20th century it has become a mainstay in Egypt. Moreover, the tradition has spread to a number of Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Lebanon, Turkey and Nigeria. As social distancing measures make such public gatherings difficult, the Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf (religious endowments) stated that the charitable effort would be cancelled for this year’s Ramadan. Instead, those who were going to provide an Iftar table should instead give food, aid or money directly to the needy and this can be done through charities which provide “Ramadan boxes” filled with food and supplies which are given to needy families.
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Lebanon Under Lockdown
by: Elie Fawaz
Lebanon is in desperate need monetary aid. However, few countries are willing to give Lebanon such aid because of the current economic crisis, which has resulted, from the Coronavirus pandemic and because of Hezbollah’s grip on the Lebanese government
The current coronavirus lockdown measures in Lebanon have resulted in a national economic downturn, which has been getting worse day by day. The Lebanese government has failed to implement plans, which would ease the economic and social plight of the Lebanese people. Meanwhile amidst this crisis, Mohamed Ali Younis, one of the leaders of Hezbollah who was in charge of its secret agents, was murdered under mysterious circumstances. This murder further exposed the weakness of the Hezbollah controlled state apparatus, and more importantly it showed why Hezbollah is unable to offer Lebanon salvation from its woes. Up until this moment, we do not know the perpetrators of the murder, however some “security sources” have stated that three cars were chasing the vehicle that Yonis was in and the men who were pursuing opened fire on Younis and his friend who was with him in the car. While Younis lost his life, his friend survived the attack. Some people have associated the murder with that of Joseph El Hayak who was one of the aides of Amer El Fakhoury (one of the overseers of the Khiam Detention Centres). El Hayak, who was murdered two weeks ago, was a prisoner of the Lebanese state. However, he was eventually released due to US sanction threats against Lebanon should it continue to keep US citizens imprisoned, and El Hayak had American citizenship. Another theory states that the Israeli Mossad secret service murdered Younis due to his ties with Hezbollah secret agents, and due to an alleged theory, which stated that he was close to discovering a secret network in Lebanon working for the Israeli state. Hezbollah’s media agencies only published obituaries for Younis without providing any details behind his murder. Setting aside the theories behind his murder, there are two basic observations that need to be made with regards to the place of murder and the way it was conducted. First and foremost, the setting of the murder is considered to be one of Hezbollah’s most tightly controlled areas, and one of its most secure havens. Second, whoever conducted the operation knew of Younis’s work, operations and movements. To any observer this can mean one thing, Hezbollah’s security capabilities, contrary to what it likes to portray to the world, is collapsing at an alarming rate. Another important observation to consider was that Mohamed Ali Younis was murdered while conducting a security operation on Lebanese territory; an operation that the Lebanese state had no knowledge of, therefore this incident was out of the state’s control. The only reason why Lebanese security forces are present on the ground is so that they can look good for the media and the public. The state will also only conduct a mock investigation due to the fact that it has no knowledge
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of Yonis’s operation and its goals. As such, the state lacks the information that would enable it to get to the bottom of the murder; indeed Hezbollah is the only entity in Lebanon, which can solve the mystery of the assassination and the reasons behind it. This event mirrors the drone incident from a few months back when a drone exploded in Southern Lebanon, the location of Hezbollah’s headquarters. Instantly after the explosion, Hezbollah arrived at the scene and collected all the debris. When state security forces came to conduct its own investigations, they had discovered that Hezbollah had left nothing for them to investigate. Hezbollah then claimed that Israel was attacking the Southern Lebanese suburb and the explosion was a result of a self-defence operation from Hezbollah to thwart said attack. Ever since the murder of Prime Minister Rafik El Hariri, Hezbollah started to slowly penetrate the multiple power centres that make up the Lebanese government. As a result, Hezbollah would become one of the ruling powers in Lebanon, and eventually it would supersede the rest of the power centres. The extent of Hezbollah’s supremacy was displayed when its political opponents, namely the security forces, and the Future Movement decided to join the group’s ruling coalition and accept Aoun as the new President of the country. On this day, it was said that Hezbollah is a regional problem that Lebanon cannot deal with, so if you can’t beat them join them. This is a scandalous reality that some politicians and opinion writers are trying to cover up; they do this by arguing that Lebanon’s political apparatus has a complex sectarian peculiarity. But, such flimsy arguments are no longer fooling anyone, especially international observers, who are anxiously watching the events unfold in Lebanon. Jamil Jabiq, the former Health Minister and pro-Hezbollah government official, once rejected an aid package worth 150 million US dollars. The reason for this rejection was because the organization donating the package placed the condition that neither Hezbollah nor its institutions could utilize any of the money donated. This shows that world organizations and international corporations are no longer comfortable with making deals with Hezbollah, especially since the US has placed the group in its list of designated terror organizations. As such, any dealings with Hezbollah would put corporations at risk of receiving sanctions from the US government. Nevertheless, Lebanon is in desperate need monetary aid. However, few countries are willing to give Lebanon such aid because of the current economic crisis, which has resulted, from the Coronavirus pandemic and because of Hezbollah’s grip on the Lebanese government. As a result, Lebanon might remain on lockdown as long as Hezbollah is still on top of the ruling state apparatus.
A Weekly Political News Magazine
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Issue 1796- April - 17/04/2020
Andrew Cuomo: The New York Governor’s Rise to the Spotlight www.majalla.com
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Should You Take a Vitamin B 12 Supplement ? You May Need a Little or a Lot of B12, But it›s Worth Investigating by Harvard Health Letter Annie Oakley, the larger-than-life sharpshooter and star of Buffalo Bill›s Wild West Show, was cut down by an invisible foe: a deadly form of anaemia caused by a lack of vitamin B12. Back in Annie›s day, we didn›t know B12 existed or that deficiency could lead to dangerous consequences (for Annie, it was death in 1926). It wasn›t until later in the 20th century that scientists discovered B12 and how to use it as a treatment. Today, B12 supplements are available at every drugstore
and supermarket. They›re promoted for warding off deadly anaemia as well as neuropathy, memory loss, depression, and more. Should you consider taking them?
AN ESSENTIAL VITAMIN
B12 (also known as cobalamin) is essential for keeping your brain and nerves healthy and for making DNA and red blood cells. B12 also helps lower levels of homocysteine, an amino acid linked (in high levels) to dementia, heart disease, stroke, and osteoporosis. We typically get B12 through diet. Rich sources include beef, liver, clams, poultry, fish, fortified cereals, eggs, cheese, yogurt, milk, and fortified plant milks (like soy, almond, or
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rice milks). For us to digest B12, we first have to shake it loose from these foods. Stomach acid helps do that. The freed-up vitamin then binds to a protein (intrinsic factor, produced by cells in the stomach lining) and makes its way to the small intestine, where it›s absorbed into the bloodstream.
B12 DEFICIENCY
An estimated %3.2 of adults ages 50 or older have very low B12 levels, and up to %20 may have borderline deficiency. Aging is often the cause. «We tend to produce less stomach acid as we get older. That makes it harder to extract B12 from food,» says Dr. Meir Stampfer, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Other causes of B12 deficiency include • taking heartburn medications that suppress stomach acid • eating a diet that does not include animal products • weight loss surgery • autoimmune diseases that attack the stomach lining or gastrointestinal tract. How can you tell if you›re low in B12? «The first signs of deficiency can be present but so subtle that they are not
Annie Oakley, the larger-than-life sharpshooter and star of Buffalo Bill›s Wild West Show, was cut down by an invisible foe: a deadly form of anaemia caused by a lack of vitamin B12. at age 65. After that, I›ll check every three or four years,» says Dr. Suzanne Salamon, associate chief of gerontology at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Blood tests look for markers of anemia, low levels of B12, and high levels of homocysteine and methylmalonic acid (MMA). «MMA is the best indicator of deficiency,» Dr. Stampfer says.
TREATMENT
Treating B12 deficiency could be as simple as eating more B-12rich foods or avoiding heartburn medication. Or you may need a B12 supplement. «I may recommend an overthe-counter B12 pill of 1,000 micrograms daily if B12 is borderline low or MMA is borderline high. After the level is back to the normal range, I will often decrease the dosage,» Dr. Salamon says. If you take a B12 pill, Dr. Stampfer recommends taking the natural form (methylcobalamin), not the synthetic form (cyanocobalamin). «Studies suggest cyanocobalamin may impair kidney function in people with borderline kidney problems, so it›s better to stay on the safe side,» he says.
recognized,» Dr. Stampfer says. For example, you may have muscle weakness that you chalk up to other causes. Symptoms of full-blown B12 deficiency include • balance problems • depression • extreme fatigue or muscle weakness • memory loss or confusion • numbness or tingling in the hands and legs (due to nerve damage) • anemia.
SHOULD YOU GET CHECKED?
Checking B12 levels in the blood is not routine, but it may be a good idea in our older years. «I usually check patients starting
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What if you have reduced stomach acid? «In supplement form, B12 isn›t bound to the food, so you don›t need stomach acid to extract it,» Dr. Stampfer notes. Annie Oakley suffered from a rare condition called pernicious anaemia. In this condition, people don›t make enough intrinsic factor and therefore have great trouble absorbing any B12 from the intestine. For people with this problem, B12 pills may not work, and injections of B12 may be required. Is a supplement warranted if you›re not deficient? «It surely is if you don›t eat animal products,» Dr. Stampfer says, «and it›s a good idea for all older individuals. Deficiency can be prevented at a very low cost and low hassle by taking a multivitamin with the average daily recommended amount of 2.8 micrograms of B12.»
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Forced to Bypass Cinemas, ‘Trolls World Tour’ Celebrates Harmony, Diversity and Hope Animated Film Becomes First Feature to Skip a Cinema Release Amidst Pandemic by Tracy Brown The first studio feature to completely bypass the theatrical window during this time of pandemic-related stay-at-home orders, “Trolls World Tour” invaded homes as an experiment in premium VOD. “I am focusing on the real big positive of it: the joy of being able to share it with so many people all at once,” director Walt Dohrn told the Los Angeles Times during a recent phone interview. “Because the movie is designed to make you feel good. The comedy and the
music and the colors and art direction, it’s all designed for the audience to have a good time.” Now tasked with bringing cheer to unexpectedly gloomy times, the DreamWorks Animation sequel follows Queen Poppy and her peppy band of Pop Trolls as they discover their kingdom is just one of many in a world filled with different kinds of Trolls. Each Troll land represents a different genre of music, including techno, funk, rock, classical and country. According to Poppy’s father, King Peppy, “In ancient
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times, the Trolls lived in harmony until they became intolerant of each other’s music,” and it’s exactly the kind of world-building premise you’d expect from a sequel. As producer Gina Shay explains, “(It’s) kind of like when you’re in the car with your family, and everybody wants to listen to something different. And then they decided to all put on their headphones and go their separate ways and create their own lands that were in isolation.” As Poppy meets these other Trolls during her musical adventure, she learns that what her father told her is not quite the full story, and her journey leads her to discover what it takes to become a better leader and a better friend. In addition to introducing new factions and expanding the brightly colored, textured, fibrous landscape introduced in the original film, diversity and inclusivity are among the relatable themes the filmmakers had in mind. At the same time, “Trolls World Tour” remains grounded in a strong female lead. “We kind of see this as a coming-of-age film for (Poppy),” said Dohrn. “So her growth as a character and specifically as a leader allowed us to kind of find what our narrative arc was — the kind of overarching thematic elements, and how it relates to her personally. Now that she’s become the Queen of Trolls, what kind of lesson would a newly appointed leader learn?” “Poppy is Queen Poppy now, not Princess Poppy. She’s in a position of leadership and she’s figuring out how to do that,” said Anna Kendrick, who voices the diminutive pink monarch. “Her character journey is really about listening to other people and taking into account other people’s feelings and other people’s experiences.”
Anna Kendrick at the «Trolls World Tour» Press Conference at DreamWorks Animation on February 2020 ,04 in Glendale, California. (Photo by Vera Anderson/WireImage)
For Poppy, learning to listen is about being open to ideas and input from others during their journey as well as being able to properly communicate with her friends. But she’s not the only Troll that has a thing or two to learn about listening to others. Queen Barb, voiced by Rachel Bloom, is a Rock Troll with major plans to unify all the Trolls under one banner by turning them all into rock zombies by using the six magic strings possessed by the separate main tribes. “We really tried to run a parallel with our protagonists and antagonists,” said Dohrn. “Early on we decided there’s a lot of similarities between Poppy and Queen Barb that might not be obvious on the external side, but when you get down to it, they shared their faults and
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Now tasked with bringing cheer to unexpectedly gloomy times, the DreamWorks Animation sequel follows Queen Poppy and her peppy band of Pop Trolls as they discover their kingdom is just one of many in a world filled with different kinds of Trolls. their passion.” “The Queen of Rock is bringing out a rock apocalypse on the world. She wants everyone to listen to her music,” said Shay of Barb’s world tour to wipe out all other music. “They both have similar intentions. It’s just that Barb is going about it the wrong way.” While Queen Barb is especially vocal about hating pop music, Poppy herself rejects the idea of sad music and insists cheery pop is better. “We really wanted to create a movie where there weren’t really any villains, but we still needed conflict,” said Dohrn. “We felt like, even though we didn’t want to vilify rock, that rock was an appropriate antagonist … traditionally the music can be pretty aggressive. Their attitudes can be aggressive, the lyrics are a little aggressive. I don’t think they would deny that, the rock folk.” The different genres — K-pop, reggaeton and smooth jazz are also among those that briefly appear — emerge as more than just different sonic stylings in the film. They are different identities. According to the filmmakers, George Clinton, who voices King Quincy of the Funk Trolls, and UCLA professor Darnell Hunt were among those consulted to help toe the line between appreciation and appropriation in how some of these genres are represented. “The movie talks about the necessity of the authenticity of an experience of a genre and the cultural identity associated with that and celebrating the differences,” said Dohrn. “I think that’s ultimately what the film is about.” Kendrick, too, appreciated that the film’s theme was
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updated to fit our times. “When I was growing up, the message was, ‘We might be different, but don’t worry, we’re all the same,’” said Kendrick. “I’m really happy that the way that we’re teaching the next generation of kids is really more about (how) we’re all different and that’s great. “We don’t have to be the same. We don’t have to constantly be looking for the things that make us the same in order to relate to people. We can just go ‘You’re totally different and that rocks.’”
abstract. The filmmakers found it also allows for a more creative delivery.
Music is uniquely suited to engage with this inclusive message because it can be presented through harmonies and mashups whereas other metaphors can become too
And that’s one reason why Kendrick also accentuates the positives of the unprecedented circumstances around “Trolls World Tour’s” release.
“The movie talks about the necessity of the authenticity of an experience of a genre and the cultural identity associated with that and celebrating the differences,” said Dohrn.
“If you just focus on the music, it didn’t feel like we were having to get on a soapbox with this message,” said Dohrn. “It’s an important theme and important message, but we didn’t want to feel like that’s what (‘Trolls World Tour’ is) all about.… Even though it’s got all this stuff running underneath it, it’s designed to be a lot of fun.”
“I think it’s as weird as literally everything else in the world. Nothing else is normal, so this isn’t normal either,” said Kendrick. “When I found out that they were going to … put it on-demand so that people could have the movies come to them, so to speak, that just made me really, really happy because I know that a lot of people will be in isolation with young kids. And it’s great that there will be something new for them to watch as well.” Originally published in the LA Times
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Poppy and Branch (voiced by Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake) are back in the movie ‹Trolls World Tour.› (DreamWorks Animation/TNS)
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Andrew Cuomo: The New York Governor’s Rise to the Spotlight Majalla – London Andrew Mark Cuomo was born on Dec. 1957 ,6, and is the second child of Mario Cuomo and Matilda Raffa Cuomo. He grew up in Queens, where his grandparents ran a small grocery store after emigrating from Salerno, Italy, in the 1920s. He three children -- Mariah, Cara, and Michaela -with Kerry Kennedy. He was married to Kennedy, the daughter of late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, from 1990 to 2005; and was in a relationship with TV chef Sandra Lee from 2005 to 2019. Cuomo graduated from Fordham University in the Bronx in 1979 and got his law degree from Albany Law School in 1982. After college, he worked as the campaign manager for his father Mario Cuomo, who served as governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994; the younger Cuomo headed the Transition Committee for his father’s first term and served as an advisor to the Governor taking a salary of 1$ a year. “Mario Cuomo instilled in him the belief that government was the vehicle to make change and do justice,” his biography says. According to the Rolling Stone, his father was considered “one of the great political orators of his generation, an intellectual whose bookshelves contained works by Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, and Teilhard de Chardin.” Cuomo then served as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for the final three years of former President Bill Clinton›s administration. He was an assistant secretary in the department earlier in Clinton›s time in office. Cuomo made his first run for the New York governorship in 2002 but withdrew from the race after making a controversial
comment about then-Governor George Pataki›s lack of leadership following the terrorist attacks of September 2001 ,11. It was perceived as a major gaffe for the Democratic hopeful, and Cuomo dropped out of the public eye for a few years to work in real estate. He then returned to the spotlight as New York›s attorney general in 2006. In 2010, he was elected governor of New York and has been reelected twice. As governor, Cuomo he passed some of the strictest gun control laws in the U.S.; introduced, oversaw paid family leave; an increase in the minimum wage; legalization of medical marijuana; the creation of the United States Climate Alliance, a group of states that agreed to follow the Paris Climate Accords in fighting climate change, and passed a new tax code that raises taxes for the wealthy and lowered taxes for the middle class. But Cuomo managed to upset a lot of people in New York. “He perturbed the left (by his deals with state Senate Republicans), the right (by supporting a slew of liberal initiatives) and even clean government folks,” according to CNN. Cuomo’s favorable ratings in New York were near their all-time low earlier this year, after serving nine years in office. But following the confirmation of the first coronavirus patient in New York on March 2020 ,1, he surfaced the national spotlight as the number of confirmed patients exploded in the coming weeks, turning New York into the center of the pandemic. One poll reckons %87 of New Yorkers like the way Cuomo›s handled the coronavirus crisis. The New York Post has dubbed it «Cuomentum». He has even recieved support from past critics, including former New York City Mayor
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Rudy Giuliani and Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, a Republican who ran against Cuomo in 2018. “It’s uncharted waters, and he’s providing the leadership necessary in what is a very trying time for us all,” Molinaro told the Wall Street Journal. His daily televised news conferences have become appointment-to-view. US television networks have carried them in full, almost unheard of for a state governor, and it›s reported the White House changed the time of their daily television briefings to avoid colliding with him on air. Meanwhile, Cuomo hasn’t been afraid to clash with President Donald Trump. Although the governor has praised the President and the efforts of the federal government, tensions have been rising between the two. In one news conference last month, Cuomo attacked the White House for its failure to address the dire shortage of medical supplies in New York. Cuomo harshly has also criticised the president on several morning news shows. He took issue with the president›s claim of «total authority» over the states, which Cuomo — and legal experts — said is unconstitutional. Cuomo vowed to challenge in court any presidential order to reopen the state against his will. Cuomo has won so much praise that many have said he should consider a run for President. His name was floated as a potential 2020 candidate before the race got underway but across a bunch of state and national polls, the most frequent share Cuomo got was %0, and he averaged just %0.4. Though Cuomo has vociferously denied harboring presidential ambitions, it is telling that speculation about a future Cuomo run for the White House is now one of the hottest topics in US politics.
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o
pinion
Hezbollah’s Drug Dealing and Money Laundering
by Alia Mansour
Drug dealing is one of Hezbollah’s primary sources of income and the group’s reliance on drug dealing has grown in recent years
A few days ago, Russian police seized a truck loaded with 200 thousand US dollars worth of drugs at a rural town near Damascus. The truck originated from Lebanon and could be traced back to a Hezbollah leader. News of this seizure went unnoticed in Lebanon and Syria. In reality, drug dealing is one of Hezbollah’s primary sources of income and the group’s reliance on drug dealing has grown in recent years. This is mainly due to the fact that the group is attempting to ease its financial dependence on Tehran, which has been suffering from the various international sanctions placed on it. The Special Operations Division of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), recently started investigating Hezbollah’s drug activities. According to their investigations, the group’s illicit drug operations have been funding its terror plots for the past 30 years. The group used to also deal in cocaine, and its primary supplier of the substance was the Colombian drug cartel Oficina de Envigado. Hezbollah’s drug and money laundering operations started in the 1990s. Imad Mughniyeh launched said operations as a source of funding in addition to the money the group received from Iran. The operations have now expanded beyond Lebanese borders, as the group’s drug activities have reached both Americas, Europe, Australia and a number of Arab countries such as Jordan, Morroco and others. A few years ago, the American DEA led “Project Cassandra” which was meant to undercut Hezbollah funding from illicit drug trading. The project involved intelligence agencies from seven countries, among them were that of France, Belgium, Germany and Italy. The project managed to arrest a number of Hezbollah members who were involved in smuggling and dealing millions of dollars worth of drugs to fund the group’s militant operations. The group is also involved in drug trafficking in Mexico, and has a number of drug partners who are officials in Venezuala. The group is also involved in smuggling drugs from Colomubia into the US, West Africa, the Middle East and Europe. In addition to drug trafficking and money laundering, Hezbollah has always carried out terrorist operations both within and beyond Lebanon. Kuwait was its first international victim. In1983 Hezbollah carried out a number of terrorist attacks with the Iraqi Dawa Party. This series of bombings targeted vital installations such as the Kuwait International Airport, a major oil refinery, and both the US and French embassies, respectively. Additionally, both groups also worked together to hijack a Kuwaiti commercial plane. In Kuwait, what became known as the “Abdali Cell”, a Kuwaiti terrorist cell supported by the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran, was accumulating weapons in order to carry out security operations inside Kuwait, but the Kuwaiti security authorities arrested the cell members before they managed to carry out any operation. One also mustn’t forget the 1996 attack on Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Hezbollah trained the perpetrators of the attack, who smuggled weapons from Lebanon to Saudi Arabia and exploded a tank loaded with explosives at the Khobar housing complex. In 2015, Saudi Arabia managed to arrest Ahmed Ibrahim Al Mughassil a Saudi man who was wanted in connection to the 1996 attack. In addition to drug trafficking, money laundering, and terrorist operations, Hezbollah also participates in military opeartions beyong Lebanese borders and it does so without consulting the Lebanese government. Hezbollah militias are involved in a multitude of conflicts around the Middle East. They are fighting in Syria alongside the Bashar Al Asssad regime, they have joined forces with the Houthis in Yemen and they are helping pro-Iranian Iraqi forces in policing Iraq. Hezbollah is also accused of assasinating a number of politicians and officials in Lebanon, including late Prime Minister Rafik El Harriri. The International Criminal Court’s decision regarding the assasination is just around the corner. After years of remaining the most powerful group in Lebanon, it now stands to become the only ruling power in the country. This especially true under the current government of President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Hassan Diab. Now President Aoun is asking the international community for monetary aid, as if the current Hezbollah controlled government will use the funds to rebuild Lebanon. The international community will no longer fall for these tricks, and the people of Lebanon will no longer tolerate a government which has not been granted the legitimacy to rule.
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