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Amidst the ongoing pandemic, tensions between the United States have started to rise. Both countries pointing blame as to contributing to the spread of the virus. Officials within the United States government have repeatedly criticized China for withholding information about how serious the virus was, and how contagious it is. According to The Hill “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser Robert O’Brien have blamed China for suppressing information about the coronavirus early on, pointing to reports of efforts to silence doctors who sounded alarms about the virus”. While on the other hand, China has been displeased with the United State’s lack of immediate action to prevent people from spreading it to one other. While there are social distancing and at-home lockdowns in place now, China was saying this is something that should have been done much earlier.

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Just yesterday, President Trump and President Xi discussed matters over the phone, with both claiming they have reached a better understanding as to how to combat this pandemic cooperatively instead of with blame towards each other. Over the past several days, Trump has noticeably stopped referring to the virus as the Chinese Virus, as many people spoke out as to how this could have racist implications and cause discrimination and hate against Asians. In response to this, Trump was quoted saying “I don’t have to say it, if they feel so strongly about it” (NBC).

Personally, I believe that there is no need to specifically put blame towards China during these difficult times. This virus is something that humanity has to come together to fight, so blame this on an entire nation or a group of people only divides us and our common goal in eradicating the coronavirus once and for all.

Both countries have agreed to share as much research and data with each other as possible, so everybody can be informed and updated on the situation. This will be helpful because it will allow both countries to look at the data and understand the best preventative measures and best treatments when combating this virus. President Xi was quoted saying “Cooperation is the only correct choice. I hope the U.S side could take real actions. The two sides should work together to enhance cooperation fighting the virus and develop non-confrontational relations” (Bloomberg). Hopefully, the United States and China can follow through on their promises of cooperation, as it will benefit us all.

If I am being 100% honest, this is my third post about the coronavirus on this blog alone and I am getting somewhat tired of covering this topic. In all of my life I have never seen something completely halt life as we know it the way this pandemic has. However, as this is a serious issue that has impacted almost every single person on the globe, I do want to take the time to discussion the situation in Italy, as this country has faced some of the absolute worst that COViD-19 has to offer.

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Recently it just came out that the Italian death toll has overtaken Chinas, with 3,405 deaths in the country as of March 19th (BBC). The country is currently in complete lockdown, with boarders shut down, most businesses closed, and even penalties against citizens who leave their home for non-essential reasons. The restrictions that have been put in place and the lengths the Italian government have gone to to further prevent the spread of the outbreak is almost unprecedented for a Western European country.

Unfortunately, according to CBS “Italy’s Ministry of Health said that 10% of the infected are health care workers”. It is scary to think that the people who are putting their lives on the line to combat this virus are being exposed at alarming rates. Many of those who are working intensively in the country have put out videos of how overwhelming the situation currently is. Patients are being forced to share oxygen devices due to the lack of sufficient equipment and some are even being turned away from care at hospitals because doctors and nurses are truly just too overwhelmed at the moment. It really is a scary time to be living in Italy at the moment, and all we can truly hope for is that society’s practicing of social distancing can help to slow the spread so that these emergency rooms can become a much more manageable situation for those working endlessly in the healthcare profession.

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Also, I would like to add that it has been reported that Italy has a higher hospital bed per capita than the United States– meaning that if we did see a sudden surge of positive Coronavirus cases, our current systems will become even more overwhelmed than in Italy. Of course, hopefully our stronger awareness of how dire and serious the situation truly is will help us, along with the rest of the world, in preventing more circumstances like this– and hopefully we see the circumstances in Italy to brighten soon.

When it comes to the coronavirus, societies first focus should be on ensuring those impacted are receiving the medical treatment that they need to overcome the virus. It is vital that we put the health of those most susceptible to catching the illness first and foremost. However, it is hard not to notice the economic impacts that have also come about amidst this crisis, with families, small businesses, and multi-national corporations all facing negative side effects of COVID-19. 

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As the number of outbreaks across the globe has been rising, the stock market has become increasingly volatile— worrying investors about the future of the economy. The Dow Jones— an index that tracks thirty prominent publicly-owned companies and is a strong indicator of how the overall stock market is doing is down 31.1% since January, making this the biggest decline in such a short period of time since 1987. Investors are in a panic about how this will impact the growth rates of the economy moving forward.

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However, while the stock markets are a major part of the global economy, experts say that this is not the best indicator of how the United States as a whole is doing, considering most Americans own few or no stocks on Wall Street. We have seen the unemployment rate rising as “The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits surged last week by 70,000” (Time).The people being impacted by this global crisis the most are those who do not have yearly salaries, because as many restaurants, shops, and other businesses are forced to temporarily close due to practices of social distancing they are not able to work and earn their hourly salaries. The government is attempting to pass legislation that allows for money to be directly sent to families in need, but as of now nothing from Washington has been officially passed.

Also, another notable industry that has been feeling the effects of this Coronavirus outbreak is the airline industry. With global travel bans growing stricter by the day, these companies are missing out on billions of dollars of revenue, putting the entire industry in fear of a possible collapse. This would not only impact the CEOs and owners of these various companies, but also the flight attendants, TSA, air traffic control, and many more, furthering the fear of what the global unemployment situation will look like.

While these are hard and uncertain times, there is not much that can be done other than aiding our communities when possible, staying safe, and hoping that this will all come to an end soon enough.

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The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one that can be traced back centuries, as both the Jews and Arab Muslims say they claimed the land all of those years ago. However, the political conflicts really started to heat up in the early 20th century, and little progress has since been made to settle the disputes between the two groups of people. The center of conflict has been around who has claims to the land—which is located east of the Mediterranean Sea— and how it is ultimately controlled. 

Not long ago, Donald Trump announced that the United States will formally recognize the land as Jerusalem, and belonging to the Israeli’s. In recent peace agreements taken place during United Nations Conferences, the United States has been aiding Israel in the push that the land be undivided as Jerusalem, and arguing other countries to recognize this as well. Of course, the Palestinian Government immediately rejected this proposal, with their President Mahmoud Abbas making the statement “This is an Israeli-American preemptive plan in order to put an end to the question of Palestine.  It was rejected by us because it considers that East Jerusalem is no longer under the sovereignty of the State of Palestine” (UN News).

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Unfortunately, the people living in this region have been forced to be nothing more than collateral damage amongst this decades-long political dispute. Human Rights Watch, an organization set up by a few hundred people of dozens of nationalities has been keeping track of the hardships these people have faced, stating ‘Israeli authorities destroyed 504 Palestinian homes and other structures in 2019 as November 11, the majority for lacking construction permits. Israel makes it nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain such permits in East Jerusalem” (HumanRightsWatch).This is just one of the many examples of how these people are enduring the losses of their homes, loved ones and more, due to the lack of compromise on how to divide the given land.

Furthermore, just this past week CNN reported “Three Palestinians were killed in clashes in the West Bank and 12 Israeli soldiers were injured in a ramming attack in Jerusalem”. This was due to the recent rising tensions caused by the United States announcement of their plans for the region at the UN. With both Israel and Palestine believing they have full claims to the territory, and neither willing to compromise even parts of the region, it is unlikely we will see drastic change in the conditions of the conflict.

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One thing we have heard a lot about in the news lately is the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus. However there are a lot of questions circling around the disease, such as “How contagious is it?”, “What are the symptoms?” “What is the likelihood that this will effect people we know locally?” And lastly “Is this just another ebola scare?”— deadly disease that impacted many in Africa, but left little reason for people in other parts of the world to fear for their lives.

To give some background on what the actual coronavirus is, I went to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cdc.gov  for more details. The virus can be found in many different animals, such as cats, camels, bats, and of course humans. It is most commonly spread when people are in close contact with someone who is infected, and that person sneezes or coughs around them. Unfortunately, the symptoms for the disease are just fevers, coughing, and shortness of breath, meaning that at first glance it is easy to assume someone with the disease is just battling the common cold. “CDC believes at this time that symptoms of 2019-nCoV may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 after exposure” cdc.gov/coronavirus

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The 2019 scare began in China, with “the coronavirus outbreak, which has reached every province in China, sickening more than 7,700 people and killing 170” (New York Times).Foreign visitors to Wuhan, China, from places such as the United States and Australia, during the recent outbreak have been quarantined when they tried returning to their own country. Experts are saying that right now we are in the most crucial period, because we need to focus on preventative measures and on containing the disease before it becomes globally widespread. Considering this is a virus, and as of right now there is not a known cure, efforts to help people who are already infected have not been nearly as effective.

Also, one of the biggest concerns doctors have is that if the coronavirus reaches Africa.  Parts of the continent would definitely not be as prepared to handle disease as more developed parts of the world, meaning it could spread quickly if it did reach Africa. Especially since people in certain regions of the continent would not have access to global news, they would not necessarily be immediately aware of the serious conditions of the virus.

Overall, many people and governments around the world have been making their best efforts to combat this disease.

When we hear people discussing politics, often times it is common to hears world like “capitalism” and “communism” being thrown around as if they are things we see on a daily basis. In reality no government around the world holds a true capitalist or communist economy, rather they each fall somewhere along the spectrum in between the two extremes. Due to the common misconceptions around the concepts, and being an Econ major myself—highly interest in the topic— I wanted to take some time to explore the definitions, pros, and cons, of the two systems.

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The formal definition of capitalism is “an economic system in which a country’s businesses and industry are controlled and run for profit by private owners rather than by the government” The general idea here, is that the people who produce the best products will be the ones who are successful and will eventually become wealthy. This form of economy tends to promote hard-work, innovation, and completion amongst members of society. We also here terms such as “Laissez-faire” or “free market” being associated with capitalism, which essentially means there is a limited amount of government intervention in the economy— with it really only stepping in to prevent the formation of monopolies and unfair trade. In a pure free market, things like tariffs and subsidies do not exist, and everything bends according to the laws of supply and demand. The downfalls here are that those who do not have competitive skills, such as the poor, elderly, and disabled, do not have the same abilities to produce in a market as others do, and are often not taken well care of in this type of system. The United States generally tends to lean closer to this side of the capitalism vs. communism spectrum.

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 On the other hand, the formal definition of communism is “a political movement that believes in an economic system in which the state controls the means of producing everything for the people. It aims to create a society in which everyone is treated equally” This idea was popularized by Karl Marx, an economist who believed each person should do what they are good at and what makes them happy, and the total production of this across society will be split evenly. One of the biggest strengths of this type of economy is that due to the government having so much control, large productions are able to be executed quickly. However the disadvantages are that because the government controls price, instead of the lows of supply and demand, it is easy for products to be come out of date with consumer preferences. It is also not a strong system to promote competition and hard-work as people lack the incentive for these things if everyone is ultimately treated the same in the end.

Overall, both economies have major pros and cons, but it is best to remember that it is rare to see a country entirely follow one system or the other. (sources.)

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Brexit— it has a word we have heard for years, but as Americans, not something most of us were too familiar with and something many people had never even heard of until it flooded the news in 2016. This is when the United Kingdom formally held a referendum to determine whether they should leave the European Union— a group of 28 nations formed to enact free trade and travel across much of Europe. “The referendum turnout was very high at 72%, with more than 30 million people voting – 17.4 million people opting for Brexit” BBC. As this news first broke three and a half years ago, many have been left wondering what will really come out of this whole Brexit deal, and why this has not come to a conclusion already. However, despite being the process being more complicated than the United Kingdom initially thought, we could be seeing an end to the negations by the end of this month.

Conflicting ideas about how Brexit should be handled amongst British Parliament is the main reason as to why this has become such a drawn out process. With some people disagreeing on the propositions of the new trade laws and others opposing the exit of the European Union altogether, it has been difficult to come to conclusive agreements. Main topics of concern revolve around the rights of citizens of Britain who live in other parts of Europe, and how much it will formally cost to go through with the departure. On top of this, Prime Minister Theresa May announced she would be stepping down from her position in May of 2019, leaving the Conservative Party with little form of leadership until Boris Johnson was officially elected to her position in July. (inews).

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However, amidst the numerous delays and backstops, and all of the other complications that have left the United Kingdom wondering where their nation will stand with the rest of the world, Boris Johnson has been promising to “get Brexit done” “get Brexit done” and that day could finally come January 31st. By this date, Britain will officially enter a transition period of around eleven months, where trade agreements will be similar to how they were in the past to give people time to adjust to the new circumstances. Despite the tremendous progress in the Brexit negations recently, there is still a lot left to be discussed and finalized before we hear an end of the situation.

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Over the past year or so, we have heard a lot about an impending trade war in the news between the United States and China, with words like tariffs, deficits, and sanctions flying around like crazy. It seemed as if the countries were not even close to compromise and the economic relations between the two were slowly spiraling, hurting businesses, consumers, and governments in the process. However, recently in the past week the two nations announced they had reached Phase I in agreements, in hopes that this is the beginning of the end of the trade war.

According to ForeignAffairs “As part of the deal, the United States agreed to cancel the 15-percent tariffs that had been scheduled to take effect on December 15 on $160 billion worth of Chinese goods, and to halve an earlier set of tariffs on another $120 billion worth of goods. In exchange, China agreed to increase its purchase of U.S. products by $200 billion in the next two years.” (source) This is beneficial to China because removing tariffs allows goods and services to be purchased at a lower price by consumers, which creates more transactions in the economy. Also, the United States gains from this agreement as well as an increase in exports will help to expand the nations Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With US exports to China decreasing by 12.5% last year , this deal should see the numbers returning to where they should be.

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Also, one of the biggest issues the United States and China have faced over the past few years that have prevented them from moving further along in agreements has to do with Chinese intellectual property laws. President Trump has been claiming these laws were not strict enough and were putting foreign investors at risk. However the Chinese Supreme Court has been adjusting these laws, such as shaping them to be more similar to those in the United States, which as allowed the United States to be more willing to recent negotiations. This has been one of the first steps in the two nations efforts to reach agreements with each other.

Overall, while efforts are being made by both sides, there is still a considerable amount of distrust and negative perceptions of each others intentions coming from both countries. Seeing some form of progress being made is an encouraging step, but still a long way away from seeing a potential end to this trade war.