[Lionel Laurent] The perfect coronavirus refuge

The world’s tourism hot spots are gradually reopening after the great lockdown, but they don’t look very alluring. Going to the beach will require spacing out parasols and forgetting about the drinks service, while a city break in Europe might mean keeping a mask on while shopping. Not to mention the quarantines being imposed to limit imported infections, hardly a great way to start a vacation. Public health has become a huge factor in tourism: “COVID-free” is the new fiv

May 19, 2020

[Byoung-chul Min] How Korea is fighting against COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic had initially shaken South Korea. In the beginning, as we struggled to contain the virus, the number of infections rose quickly, just as other countries later experienced. However, we were able to quickly cope with this seemingly uncontrollable situation. The two main elements of Korea’s success in overcoming this pandemic are a human-centered philosophy (ideology) and a state-of-the-art disease control system. A human-centered philosophy, where human life and human

May 18, 2020

[Trudy Rubin] Swedish model holds coronavirus lessons for America

As a partisan debate rages over whether and how to reopen the country, America is drifting, with no coherent strategy from the White House. States are opening up helter-skelter. President Donald Trump contradicts his experts and rages at perceived enemies, leaving ordinary citizens confused and angry. In a sane world, the Trump team would be assessing models adopted by nations that have handled COVID-19 better than we have. It would be devising an American model to transition to a safe new norm

May 18, 2020

[Lionel Laurent] COVID-19 vaccine fight getting ugly

An effective COVID-19 vaccine, if it ever arrives, should be treated as a public good for the whole of society. Every continent has been struck by the virus, bar Antarctica. But the combination of national self-interest and pressure for the pharmaceutical industry to turn a profit is already triggering a geopolitical bust up over who actually gets access to the vaccine first. It’s a reminder that the spoils of drug research aren’t equally divided. The system is ripe for a rethink.

May 18, 2020

[Digital Simplicity] Why font matters in an era of multiple digital screens

I had nearly perfect vision. I had no problem reading fine print. I was able to read paperbacks whose font size was deemed too small for average readers. I often read books on the bus or in rooms with poor lighting, which would surely make eye doctors frown. But I was fairly confident about my excellent vision, and I enjoyed the privilege. I bet you have already noticed that in the previous paragraph I used a past tense about my eyesight. As with many other middle-aged people, my eyesight bega

May 17, 2020

[Therese Raphael] Boris Johnson’s reopening strategy confuses Britain

Boris Johnson’s much-anticipated address to the nation Sunday night left many feeling unsatisfied, and others infuriated. For a political team that has often used pithy slogans to devastating effect, the new one unveiled to guide Britain out of the lockdown -- “Stay Alert” -- feels like an epic fail. How does one stay alert and to what, people wondered. Part of the problem was presentational. Johnson’s 13-minute speech was short on details, leaving everyone to wait unti

May 14, 2020

[Andreas Kluth] EU entering constitutional crisis

You might have been under the impression that the European Union has quite enough problems to manage. For one thing, there’s a pandemic going on, causing a recession and a debt crisis that might blow up the currency union. For another, two member states, Poland and Hungary, are going rogue, undermining democracy and the rule of law and increasingly seeking conflict with Brussels. I’m not the only one who’s been wondering whether the EU has a future at all. And now some red-rob

May 14, 2020

[Kim Seong-kon] Be grateful and modest in these challenging times

Amid the ever-widening spread of the novel coronavirus, we realize things that we normally would not. For example, we realize we should be grateful to doctors, nurses and health care workers who are willing to take the risk of contagion in order to save their patients from a dangerous virus. Our gratitude should also go to police officers and ambulance staff, who have to respond to emergencies and whose daily assignments expose them to the contagious virus as well. We should be especially grat

May 13, 2020

[David Ignatius] Russia’s scavenger diplomacy

While most of the world has been on lockdown from the novel coronavirus, the wars and political machinations of the Middle East have continued. Amid this turmoil, Russia appears to be making steady progress as a regional power. The pandemic and collapse of oil prices have pounded the region’s already fragile countries. The Gulf oil kingdoms are slashing budgets; Iran is hunkered down and trying to keep its leadership alive and its strategic weapons programs intact. America, meanwhile, is

May 13, 2020

[Noah Smith] US states must maintain lockdowns

Many states in the US are racing to reopen their economies before measures such as testing, contact tracing and full-time mask-wearing are in place. But one of biggest economic effects of a hasty end of lockdowns won’t be to save businesses; it will be to kick people off of desperately needed government assistance. While almost all other developed nations are seeing their new COVID-19 cases decline as a result of lockdowns and other public-health measures, the US has only managed to reach

May 12, 2020

[Trudy Rubin] Trump’s virus blame game can’t disguise failures

For critical weeks in February and early March President Donald Trump claimed COVID-19 would magically disappear by itself or with warmer weather. That didn’t work. So, with the death toll at more than 75,000 and rising, the president needs a new magic formula to deflect public attention from his slow and chaotic response. And to blur the blame for the tens of thousands of new deaths that will stem from reopening the country without a national testing strategy. The miraculous formula? Bl

May 12, 2020

[Pankaj Mishra] The phony war on the coronavirus

Governments around the world say they’re engaged in a war against the coronavirus. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked the legend of the Mahabharata, fought over 18 days, as he declared, with little warning, a devastating national lockdown. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who always seems to be mentally screening a film of Winston Churchill in World War II, said that “we must act like any wartime government.” Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who has long d

May 11, 2020

[Arvind Subramanian] The threat of enfeebled great powers

The COVID-19 crisis augurs three watersheds: the end of Europe’s integration project, the end of a united, functional America, and the end of the implicit social compact between the Chinese state and its citizens. As a result, all three powers will emerge from the pandemic internally weakened, undermining their ability to provide global leadership. Start with Europe. As with the 2010-12 eurozone crisis, the bloc’s fault line today runs through Italy. Drained over decades of dynamism

May 11, 2020

[Robert J. Fouser] Learning from Korea’s response to COVID-19

The first week of May in South Korea saw the nation come to life as fears of COVID-19 subsided. People took advantage of a series of holidays to go out and enjoy the spring weather. On May 6th, the government’s new guidelines called “everyday distancing” went into effect. The guidelines focus on allowing normal activities with continued social distancing, hand washing, and wearing of face masks. South Korea is not yet free of the pandemic, but it is getting close. Much of Eu

May 8, 2020

[Serendipity] Time to think about end-of-life care

Today is Parents’ Day. In any other year, the day would be celebrated with family dinners, bouquets of red carnations, presents and cash gifts. This year, however, the government is asking people to stay away from the elderly, especially the elderly in care facilities to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. The elderly were among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, their bodies already weak and with underlying health conditions that made them particularly vulnerable to the h

May 8, 2020

[Noah Smith] Reason to protect workers from COVID-19

Harvard economist Melissa Dell recently won the 2020 John Bates Clark medal, which is given to outstanding economists younger than 40. Dell’s most famous research concerns the importance of institutions in a country’s long-term political and economic development. It carries a dire warning for the US as well as other nations. What is an institution? To most people it means well-established organizations, such as big businesses or the civil service. Economists use the word more genera

May 7, 2020

[Kim Myong-sik] Defector lawmakers stand for free democratic system

North Korean defectors Thae Yong-ho and Ji Seong-ho have got off to an uneasy start as freshmen lawmakers of South Korea, facing opposition from their liberal counterparts for inaccurate presumptions on the health status of Kim Jong-un. They need to perform their new jobs in a productive way if they want to pay back any special favors they enjoy here because of their unique backgrounds at this time, when many other refugees from the North are complaining of general public indifference borderi

May 7, 2020

[Kim Seong-kon] ‘Designated Survivor’ and the great leader

Recently on Netflix, I came across an American political thriller drama entitled “Designated Survivor.” The riveting drama mesmerized me instantly by tackling the recurrent theme in American films and literature: “What is America?” “Designated Survivor” also explores, “What makes a great leader?” The drama was so intriguing that 10 million viewers watched its first episode premiere in 2016. The drama series begins as an explosion destroys the Ca

May 6, 2020

[Jean Pisani-Ferry] Building a post-pandemic world

Die-hard green militants regard it as obvious: The COVID-19 crisis only strengthens the urgent need for climate action. But die-hard industrialists are equally convinced: There should be no higher priority than to repair a ravaged economy, postponing stricter environmental regulations if necessary. The battle has started. Its outcome will define the post-pandemic world. Both the public health crisis and the climate crisis highlight the limits of humanity’s power over nature. Both remind u

May 5, 2020