Content

New Atlanticist

Apr 23, 2020

Gaza is unprepared for coronavirus: Providing aid could avert a security and economic catastrophe

By Evanna Hu

Given Gaza’s isolation and the fact that almost two million people are cramped into such a small space—Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas on Earth—physical distancing, especially within refugee camps, is literally impossible. Though there has been a lot of forced ingenuity from Gazans—adapting existing materials to make sanitizers, facial masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE)—it is far from enough.

Coronavirus Middle East

New Atlanticist

Apr 23, 2020

COVID-19 is transforming education for all: Fast tracking the shift to distant learning

By Robert Feller

The spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has presented the world with a series of challenges that can deepen inequalities across societies, but also (or maybe especially) in the world of education, which is now forced to move into the online realm. COVID-19, however, also gives us the opportunity to increase the quality and access to education for the world’s most vulnerable young people. The impact of new, digital innovations on the education of thousands of young refugees is huge and demands our urgent attention.

Coronavirus Syria

New Atlanticist

Apr 22, 2020

Coronavirus spurs Europe’s quest for digital sovereignty

By Kenneth Propp

All of the virus-related developments—growing skepticism about global sourcing, the deepening threat of disinformation, the centrality of digital services in a return towards normality, and the privacy and security questions that dog them—will have an impact on the EU’s longer-term quest for digital sovereignty.

Digital Policy European Union

The future is here

Apr 22, 2020

Europe prepares stimulus as US Senate passes $484 billion in relief; CDC warns of virus second wave

By Atlantic Council

US Senators passed a $484 billion in relief for small businesses and hospitals, while Europe’s leaders prepared for a stimulus package of their own. A second wave of coronavirus could be even worse because of flu, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Cases of coronavirus emerged in California earlier than first thought. Press reports revised the death toll upwards in the UK and beyond.

Coronavirus

New Atlanticist

Apr 22, 2020

The pandemic’s next stop: The financial system

By Bart Oosterveld

The peak of bank failures closures during the Global Financial Crisis happened two years after the collapse of real estate prices—there is an argument that there may be some time before the financial sector’s reserves are depleted. The wider picture however shows gyrating equity and commodity markets, very high unemployment, and a fragmented ‘reopening’ picture. All in all, the moment of the need for a meaningful injection of capital, whether from private markets or from the taxpayers, is approaching.

Coronavirus International Financial Institutions

New Atlanticist

Apr 22, 2020

Digitizing the dollar in the age of COVID-19

By Michael Greenwald

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to cast a shadow over the future of the global economy, the dollar, while currently surging, finds itself at another larger inflection point; it needs to again prove its worth as the essential global currency.

China Coronavirus

MENASource

Apr 22, 2020

Challenges for Iraq’s new government under Mustafa Al-Kadhimi

By Abbas Kadhim

The protests that started in October 2019 ushered in a new political era in Iraq. For the first time in the post-2003 process of democratic transition, a government was forced to resign due to popular pressure. The resignation of Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi’s cabinet forced the Iraqi political leadership to face contentious constitutional and procedural […]

Iraq Middle East
gtc cargo ships in port

GeoTech Cues

Apr 21, 2020

Earth Day 2020 call for action: Mitigating the global food crises associated with COVID-19

By Sara-Jayne Terp, Sahil Shah (Guest Author), and Molly Jahn (Guest Author)

At the beginning of April, the Atlantic Council GeoTech Center published an data-driven analysis examining “Global food security during COVID-19”. This follow-up report dives into three specific food security concerns informed by that data and presents three solutions that world leaders can implement now to get ahead of the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the global food supply.

Civil Society Coronavirus

UkraineAlert

Apr 21, 2020

Ban on farmland sales to foreigners risks starving Ukraine of investment

By Bate Toms

Ukraine has recently moved to end a two-decade ban on the sale of farmland, but restrictions on purchases by foreigners will remain in place and threaten to block a key source of international investment.

Economy & Business Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Apr 21, 2020

The 5×5—On viral infections online and in the real world

By Simon Handler

Cybersecurity often gets reduced to breaches and hacking, but the world has witnessed multiple pandemics in cyberspace and could learn more about response to exponential events.

Coronavirus Cybersecurity