Pandemic Opens Window Of Opportunity For Global Autocrats To Expand Their Power, Quell Any Dissent
Extraordinary times may call for extraordinary measures, but will government leaders relinquish their new power once the crisis has passed? Many fear that it will erase democratic gains made in some countries. Global news comes out of China, North Korea, Sweden, Mexico and Europe, as well.
The New York Times:
For Autocrats, And Others, Coronavirus Is A Chance To Grab Even More Power
In Hungary, the prime minister can now rule by decree. In Britain, ministers have what a critic called “eye-watering” power to detain people and close borders. Israel’s prime minister has shut down courts and begun an intrusive surveillance of citizens. Chile has sent the military to public squares once occupied by protesters. Bolivia has postponed elections. As the coronavirus pandemic brings the world to a juddering halt and anxious citizens demand action, leaders across the globe are invoking executive powers and seizing virtually dictatorial authority with scant resistance. (Gebrekidan, 3/30)
The Associated Press:
Dismantling Democracy? Virus Used As Excuse To Quell Dissent
Soldiers patrol the streets with their fingers on machine gun triggers. The army guards an exhibition center-turned-makeshift-hospital crowded with rows of metal beds for those infected with the coronavirus. And Serbia’s president warns residents that Belgrade’s graveyards won’t be big enough to bury the dead if people ignore his government’s lockdown orders. (Stojanovic, 3/31)
The Wall Street Journal:
Russian Soldiers In Italy Contain The Coronavirus And Mark A Political Shift
The images released by the Russian Defense Ministry were unprecedented. Russian and Italian generals gathered around a map of the Italian peninsula, plotting the route of a Russian convoy. Military vehicles, flying Russian flags and emblazoned with “From Russia with Love” in Italian, Russian and English, were shown driving across Italy to the northern city of Bergamo, one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 11,000 Italians. (Trofimov, 3/31)
Reuters:
China To Focus On Asymptomatic Coronavirus Cases As Public Fears Grow
As it eases its strict coronavirus curbs, China has urged authorities to pay more attention to asymptomatic cases, part of efforts to allay public fears that large numbers of infectious people have gone unreported. China is easing travel restrictions and allowing people to return to work in the city of Wuhan and the surrounding province of Hubei after two months of strict curbs on people’s movements with no new cases of the coronavirus reported in the region where it emerged last year for seven days. (Stanway, 3/31)
The Washington Post:
As Wuhan Reopens, China Revs Its Engine To Move Past Coronavirus. But It's Stuck In Second Gear.
After 10 weeks confined to their apartments, unable to exercise, shop for groceries or walk their dogs, Wuhan residents are emerging into the daylight. The subway and intercity trains are running again. Shopping malls and even the Tesla store are reopening. State-owned companies and manufacturing businesses are turning on their lights, with others to follow. (Fifield, 3/31)
The Wall Street Journal:
China’s Coronavirus-Battered Economy Shows Tentative Signs Of Renewed Life
An official gauge of China’s manufacturing activity rebounded strongly in March as work resumption picked up, though economists warned that business activity remains far from normal following a devastating coronavirus outbreak. China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers index jumped to a reading of 52.0 in March from a record low of 35.7 in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday. (Cheng, 3/31)
Reuters:
Coronavirus Epidemic 'Far From Over' In Asia: WHO Official
The coronavirus epidemic is “far from over” in the Asia-Pacific region, and current measures to curb the spread of the virus are buying time for countries to prepare for large-scale community transmissions, a WHO official said on Tuesday. (3/31)
The New York Times:
North Korea Claims No Coronavirus Cases. Can It Be Trusted?
Shin Dong-yun, a scientist from the North Korean Institute of Virology, rushed to the northwestern border with China in early February. There, he conducted 300 tests, skipping meals to assess a stream of people so that “the country is protected from the invasion of the novel coronavirus.” Stories like this, carried in the state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun, only deepen one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic: How could North Korea claim to not have a single coronavirus case while countries around the world stagger under the exploding epidemic? (Sang-Hun, 3/31)
The Wall Street Journal:
Inside Sweden’s Radically Different Approach To The Coronavirus
The ski pistes are open, the restaurants are doing ample business and the malls are awash with shoppers.Welcome to Sweden, the last holdout among the small number of Western countries to have taken a radically different approach to the coronavirus pandemic. While social life in Europe and much of the U.S. now centers on the home after governments imposed increasingly drastic curbs on freedom of movement, Sweden left offices and stores open, issued recommendations rather than restrictions, and waited to see what happens. (Pancevski, 3/30)
CIDRAP:
Officials Watch For COVID-19 To Stabilize In Europe; Rapid Growth Shifts To Other Areas
Global COVID-19 cases continued their steady increase, with a glimmer of hope that activity may soon stabilize in some of Europe's hot spots, but with growing worries about the threat of the pandemic virus and the impact of social distancing measures in India. The global number of cases pushed well into the 700,000s today, reaching 777,286 from 178 countries, along with 37,140 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard. (Schnirring, 3/30)
The Washington Post:
Coronavirus On The Border: Why Mexico Has So Few Cases Compared With The U.S.
The U.S.-Mexico border has long been a region of contrasts. But people in both countries are puzzling over the latest one: The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus on the Mexican side is just a small fraction of the U.S. count. On Sunday, confirmed cases in California topped 6,200, compared with just 23 in Baja California. Arizona had 919 cases, dwarfing the 14 in neighboring Sonora. New Mexico reported 237 cases; in Chihuahua state, there were six. The U.S.-Mexico border is the busiest in the world, with an estimated 1 million legal crossings per day. The neighbors’ economies are intertwined. (Sheridan, 3/30)
The Associated Press:
Crammed In Filthy Cells, Political Prisoners Fear Infection
Reza Khandan got the word from friends locked away in Iran’s most feared prison, Evin. A prisoner and a guard in their cell block had been removed because they were suspected of having coronavirus, and two guards in the women’s ward had shown symptoms. It was frightening news. Khandan’s wife, Nasrin Sotoudeh, one of Iran’s most prominent human rights lawyers, is imprisoned in that ward in close quarters with 20 other women. (Michael, El Deeb and Keath, 3/31)
Politico:
'This Is A 24/7 Job': State Department's Playbook For Getting Stranded Americans Home
As the coronavirus spread and nations shut their borders, the State Department hustled to put together practices for bringing Americans home, according to a document that illustrates the tense nature of the massive multi-country effort to help thousands of desperate Americans amid rapidly changing circumstances. In a step-by-step checklist, obtained by POLITICO, State staff outlined how they had helped Americans stranded in Morocco, where employees at the embassy there worked to charter nine flights over 48 hours starting March 20, before the country unexpectedly closed its borders. The document stands as a sort of playbook for an agency that is continuing to try to return Americans home. (Mintz, 3/30)
