A Turkish military convoy in Idlib province, Syria, Feb. 22, 2020 (AP photo by Ghaith Alsayed).

With the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic crash dominating the headlines, the civil war in Syria has faded into media obscurity. But there is more bad news there that warrants the world’s attention. Turkey is engaged in a military campaign in Syria’s northwestern ldlib province that risks a conflict with Russia, protects radical Islamist rebels and prolongs the civil war, all at the expense of the civilians Turkey claims to protect. Meanwhile, the limited cease-fire deal that Ankara recently negotiated with Moscow only delays further bloodshed. Washington, which provides military aid to Turkey both bilaterally and through NATO, should […]

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In terms of progressive ideas, Uruguay has always punched above its weight. It introduced a free, universal public education system in 1878, 40 years before the United States. Eventually, Uruguay blossomed into one of the most robust social welfare states in Latin America, with the region’s lowest income inequality. It was the first country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana and the second in the region to legalize gay marriage, after Argentina. This small country of 3.5 million people has also burnished its environmental credentials, conserving native forests, protecting biodiverse areas and striving to be carbon neutral by 2030. […]

President Jair Bolsonaro, center, with the economy minister and health minister during a press conference on the coronavirus, Brasilia, Brazil, March 18, 2020 (AP photo by Andre Borges).

Political leaders around the world have responded to the coronavirus pandemic in a wide variety of ways. Some are strictly adhering to the advice of epidemiologists, like the presidents of South Korea and Taiwan. Others are brazenly launching autocratic power grabs, in the case of Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban. Still others are to trying to deny reality itself, as in Turkmenistan, where the government has banned the word “coronavirus.” In Latin America, the responses from national leaders have ranged from buffoonish irresponsibility to stern action. The region is a good place to try to identify what it is about […]

A cash withdrawal at an ATM in Macclesfield, England (Photo by Lynne Cameron for Press Association via AP Images).

Editor’s Note: You can find all of our coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here. If you would like to help support our work, please consider taking advantage of our subscription offer here. With a third of the global population on lockdown amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has killed nearly 40,000 people as of March 31, governments are rightfully thinking about how to make it easier for their citizens to stay home and reduce activities that are likely to further spread the disease. The restrictions on movement, while important for public health reasons, mean that millions of workers are losing […]

Chinese soldiers wearing protective face masks outside the gates to the Forbidden City, Beijing, March 12, 2020 (AP photo by Andy Wong).

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR Newsletter and Engagement Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curates the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. The Chinese government said Tuesday it would start reporting on cases of coronavirus patients who show no symptoms of the disease. The announcement was an implicit acknowledgement that Beijing had been hiding confirmed asymptomatic cases of the virus, as several media reports have alleged. But despite this increase in transparency, there are still reasons to treat China’s coronavirus data with skepticism. The spread of the virus has slowed in recent weeks and authorities have loosened restrictions in much of […]

A U.S. Marines’ gunner mans a turret in an amphibious assault vehicle during a U.S.-Thai joint military exercise on Hat Yao beach, Thailand, Feb. 16, 2019 (AP photo by Sakchai Lalit).

When Gen. David H. Berger took over as commandant of the United State Marine Corps last summer, he proposed a radical restructuring of the 244-year-old force. His plan, details of which were announced last week, calls for pivoting away from fighting protracted conflicts in the Middle East in order to bring the Marines in line with the Trump administration’s National Defense Strategy, which focuses on great power competition with Russia and China. In this case, the emphasis is on China. The Marines are reinventing themselves as a naval expeditionary force focused on countering Beijing’s rising military prowess in the Asia-Pacific […]

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence listen to a briefing about the coronavirus at the White House in Washington, March 31, 2020 (AP photo by Alex Brandon).

Rather than introducing a new world order, the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic are reinforcing recent trends of strategic competition among the United States, Europe and China. As the potential magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic became clear in March, there was a lot of immediate speculation about just what its impact would be. Many of those initial predictions announced a radically transformed world order. A triumphant China, some declared, would capitalize on its success in containing the outbreak to emerge as the new global leader. A closer look at the subsequent responses to the pandemic by governments around the world […]

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