Publications

China’s rise from the ashes of Coronavirus, like the proverbial Sphinx, is giving hope to humanity. But the Covid-19 is testing the limits populism, isolationism, unilateralism, parochial nationalisms, xenophobia and anti-globalization; with the world turning the calamity into a USChina diplomatic clash in a geopolitical jostling for global influence. In Africa, the Coronavirus is feeding the anti-migration narratives and programmes, powerfully pushing the world back to “fortress Europe.

“When America sneezes, the world catches a cold.” This held true for the decades before China became a rival superpower and the “world’s factory”. With the outbreak of the deadly Coronavirus, when China sneezes, we all catch the flu. Coronavirus, that broke out in Wuhan in China’s Hubei Province in December 2019, has morphed into the largest global crisis since the 2008–2009 financial crisis. Pundits are warning that if the gloomier projections of COVID-19 unfold, the

world will face one of its worst peacetime crises of modern times. Between December 31, 2019 and March 13, 2020, no less than 133 860 people worldwide have contracted the deadly virus, including over 67,000 of them having recovered and 4 967 dead. Not surprisingly, the World Health Organization declared Coronavirus a global pandemic on March 11. Kenya becomes the latest African country to confirm its first-ever case of Coronavirus on March 13, raising Africa’s tally to more than a 100 cases. Sadly, even as the Coronavirus spreads, devastating the earth’s poorer nations in Africa, the world’s largest powers are dithering as Rome burns.