Covid-19: Pandemic shatters world order, sowing anger and mistrust

18may2020

WASHINGTON: While the coronaviruspandemic wreaks havoc across much of the globe, political and business leaders are already starting to think about what the world might look like once the worst of the outbreak eases.

Collapsing governments, famine, crushed economies and emboldened extremists are all among the darkest post-pandemic scenarios. Yet even less dramatic outlooks have a gloomy tinge, with political alliances crumbling and economies unlikely to rebound fast enough to blunt the impact of hundreds of millions of lost jobs.

Seams that were opening before the virus emerged are tearing apart faster. US-China bickering about the origins and response to the virus now threaten a trade deal that could help the world recover. A fight over distribution of an eventual vaccine is dividing allies. And the United Nations has been sidelined, while autocratic governments have stepped up attacks on civil liberties

Hopes that nations might momentarily set aside their differences to combat the coronavirus have largely evaporated.
"This pandemic is about as close to an asteroid hitting the earth as you can imagine in terms of a common threat," said Richard Fontaine, chief executive officer at the Center for a New American Security in Washington. "But not only has there been no meaningful cooperation, it's become just another vector for competition."

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