| Hillary Clinton endorses Joe Biden for president Posted: 28 Apr 2020 12:52 PM PDT  Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed presumptive nominee Joe Biden for president during a virtual town hall on Tuesday. "For me, this is a moment where we need a leader, a president like Joe Biden," Clinton said.
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| As states move to reopen, COVID-19 death rate numbers raise a red flag Posted: 29 Apr 2020 08:38 AM PDT  The urge for states to reopen is understandable. Lockdown can't continue forever, and the economy matters too. Low case counts make it look like the worst is over. But reopening now could still prove to be premature.
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| China Accuses U.S. Politicians of Telling ‘Barefaced Lies’ about Beijing’s Coronavirus Response Posted: 29 Apr 2020 05:23 AM PDT  The Chinese foreign ministry on Tuesday accused U.S. politicians of telling "barefaced lies" regarding China's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, after President Trump suggested that the U.S. might seek damages from China because of the outbreak."American politicians have repeatedly ignored the truth and have been telling barefaced lies," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a press conference. "They have only one objective: shirk their responsibility for their own poor epidemic prevention and control measures, and divert public attention."U.S, politicians should "reflect on their own problems and find ways to contain the outbreak as quickly as possible," Geng added.President Trump, who initially praised Beijing's handling of the virus, on Monday said the U.S. could seek to hold China "accountable" for the outbreak."We are not happy with China," Trump told reporters at the White House. "We are not happy with that whole situation because we believe it could have been stopped at the source."The coronavirus has infected at least 3,000,000 people worldwide since it originated in Wuhan, China. According to one study, China could have prevented or at least slowed a wider outbreak of coronavirus if it had quarantined at-risk populations several weeks earlier.U.S. officials have proposed various strategies to compel China to compensate Americans affected by the coronavirus pandemic, whether through infection or loss of work due to business closures. Last week, Missouri attorney general Eric Schmitt announced that his office would sue China for damages to state residents."I think as people take a look at the complaint, I wouldn't be surprised at all if other states follow suit," Schmitt told National Review.
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| New York City Mayor de Blasio singles out the city's Jewish community for flouting coronavirus rules and said cops will start arresting people gathered in large groups Posted: 28 Apr 2020 10:35 PM PDT  Though some members of the Hasidic community have disregarded lockdown rules, New York's large Jewish population has followed coronavirus measures.
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| U.S. coronavirus death toll exceeds Americans killed in Vietnam War as cases top 1 million Posted: 28 Apr 2020 03:17 AM PDT  U.S. cases have doubled in 18 days and make up one-third of all infections in the world, according to the tally. The actual number of cases is thought to be higher, with state public health officials cautioning that shortages of trained workers and materials have limited testing capacity. About 30% of the cases have occurred in New York state, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, followed by New Jersey, Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania.
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| Coronavirus conspiracy theories make Fauci the villain, because someone has to be Posted: 28 Apr 2020 07:00 AM PDT  Dr. Anthony Fauci has emerged as the latest target in the vast web of COVID-19-related conspiracy theories that have been circulating on social media.
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| Rumors over Kim Jong Un's health make one thing clear: North Korea's cult of personality endures Posted: 28 Apr 2020 08:55 PM PDT  Recent speculation about Kim Jong Un's health shows how the fate of North Korea is still seen as inextricably linked to that of one much-hyped individual.
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| Prague's mayor, a critic of Russia, is under police protection after a magazine alleged a Russian assassin had entered the country to kill him Posted: 27 Apr 2020 08:10 PM PDT  The report hasn't been confirmed by Czech authorities, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the report was "fake."
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| Navy orders deeper dive into Roosevelt incident, delays decision on future of Capt. Crozier Posted: 29 Apr 2020 07:17 AM PDT  Acting Navy Secretary James McPherson said he ordered the more comprehensive investigation after receiving the findings of a preliminary inquiry.
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| Taiwan pushes WHO participation in rare ministerial call with U.S. Posted: 27 Apr 2020 06:00 PM PDT |
| US panel wants India on religious freedom blacklist Posted: 28 Apr 2020 11:02 PM PDT  A US government panel on Tuesday called for India to be put on a religious freedom blacklist over a "drastic" downturn under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, triggering a sharp rebuttal from New Delhi. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends but does not set policy, and there is virtually no chance the State Department will follow its lead on India, an increasingly close US ally. In an annual report, the bipartisan panel narrowly agreed that India should join the ranks of "countries of particular concern" that would be subject to sanctions if they do not improve their records.
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| Groceries could see meat shortages by end of week Posted: 27 Apr 2020 12:31 PM PDT  Consumers could start seeing shortages by Friday at supermarket meat counters, expert say.
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| How Tara Reade's allegations could bring down Joe Biden Posted: 29 Apr 2020 02:50 AM PDT  Earlier this month, I wrote a column asking what Democrats should do about sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden, the party's presumptive nominee for president. My answer? Not much. The accusation made by Tara Reade, a former Biden staffer from his days in the Senate during the early 1990s, didn't strike me as especially convincing, so Democrats, I suggested, could move forward without much concern. Though toward the end of the column I included two caveats: If Reade offered further corroboration of her claims or if evidence emerged of a larger pattern of abusive actions toward women on Biden's part, that could well change my views of the matter.Just two weeks later, both of my conditions have been met.Last week we learned that Reade's mother called into the Larry King Show in 1993 to talk about how her daughter had quit working for a "prominent senator" after unspecified "problems" as a staffer. Then earlier this week Business Insider reported that a former neighbor of Reade's (a self-described "strong Democrat") recalls a conversation with her in 1995 or 1996 in which Reade tearfully described being sexually assaulted by Biden. Together, those two stories help to corroborate Reade's specific claim about herself.Finally, on Tuesday, a 2008 essay by the late Alexander Cockburn surfaced in which the journalist reported that Biden had made "unwelcome and unwanted" sexual advances against a woman in 1972 or 1973 — and that he was well known on Capitol Hill for making "loutish sexual advances to staffers, interns, and the like." That establishes a possible longstanding pattern of Biden's behavior that further validates Reade's accusation (and potentially opens the door to others).In light of these revelations, the time has come for a two new questions: Can Biden survive the gathering storm around Tara Reade's allegations? And if so, will that fact be good or bad for the Democratic Party in November?The first question is the easier one to answer: Biden's presumptive nomination is quite likely to survive the corroboration of Reade's claims. That's because members of Biden's electoral base in the Democratic Party — older, culturally moderate white working-class voters in the Midwest and older, culturally moderate African Americans — are unlikely to be turned against him by one corroborated allegation of sexual assault from nearly three decades in the past. If anything, rank-and-file Democrats have expressed regret that some MeToo allegations have taken down popular members of the party (former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken is the example cited most frequently) — and they're also irritated that Democrats are expected to adhere to standards their opponents openly flout.The factions of the party most likely to turn on Biden because of a sexual-assault scandal are those who've been least wedded to his candidacy from the start — those firmly on the left, who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders; and white urban progressives, who tended to favor Sen. Elizabeth Warren's candidacy. Neither group possesses the numbers or influence in the party to get it to overrule the preferences of the other two electorally crucial factions — and obviously their opinions will also carry little weight with the candidate himself. This means that, so long as no additional corroborated accusations materialize, Biden will most likely get to hold onto the nomination if he wants to.That might turn out to be a very bad thing for the party come November.But how could this be? How could a sexual assault allegation place Biden at a disadvantage in the general election against President Trump, a man who has openly bragged on tape of sexual assault and has himself been accused of rape on multiple occasions?On substance, Trump will have zero moral ground to stand on. But he won't be taking a stand in the name of treating women with respect. Neither will he be accusing Biden of being a sexual predator. Instead, he and the entire Republican noise machine will constantly, relentlessly hammer Biden, leading Democrats, and the media for flagrant hypocrisy and double standards. The moral content of the issue won't matter one bit. What will matter is that Biden has set himself up as a moral arbiter on issues of sexual harassment and violence, insisting we must "believe all women," and that in the fall of 2018 he and many other members of his party sought to destroy the reputation of Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh for allegations of sexual assault that were less convincingly corroborated than those Reade has lodged against Biden.The Democratic nominee for president and his party are ruthless political operators who seek above all else to destroy their enemies and help themselves, all the while setting themselves up as impartial moral authorities. This will be the message, driven home over and over again: that claims of purity and impartiality are pretense, transparent fakes. Democrats might posture like they're better than Republicans, including the president, but they aren't. They're every bit as bad. They're just more dishonest about it.The Biden campaign's effort to portray itself as a moral reset from the debasement of the Trump years will run into this counter-message like a power sander. The Trump campaign will strip it away with a barrage of paid ads, prime-time cable news diatribes, and a hailstorm of tweets — all of it repeating the message (illustrated with clips from and about the Kavanaugh hearings) that Biden and his fellow Democrats are every bit the BS artists that Trump is, only they won't admit it. They'll lie about it, right to your face.To Democrats this prediction may sound implausible. There's no way that Trump, a man whose mendaciousness is well established and total, can possibly succeed in portraying Biden as more dishonest than he is. But he won't have to show that Biden is worse, just that he's no better.That's Trump's (perhaps only) winning move — to bring the playing field down to his level, to lower Biden's favorability rating, to make him seem less admirable, less likable, less morally upstanding, less … superior than Trump. He did the same thing against Hillary Clinton in 2016, using the FBI investigation of her email practices while secretary of state as a cudgel. Last summer, the strategy was to impugn Biden's son, making them both look like corrupt wheeler dealers in Ukraine. That didn't work out, but now Reade's allegations have made it possible for Trump and his party to do what they love most of all, which is to accuse Democrats and the media of smarmy double standards instead.Of course this won't work with most Democratic voters, but that won't be its aim. The aim will be to ensure maximal turnout and Trump loyalty among Republicans — and the destruction of Biden's reputation among independents in crucial swing states.Will it succeed? Trump will be facing re-election while presiding over a deadly pandemic and the early stages of an economic depression, so who knows. What I do know is that the behavior Tara Reade has plausibly alleged about the presumptive Democratic nominee is going to be major liability for him as we head toward Election Day.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com The perils of Hooverism This visualization shows how droplets from a single cough can infect an entire airplane AMC says it will no longer show Universal Pictures films because of Trolls World Tour move
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| China's new 'rule of law' in Hong Kong sets stage for new protests Posted: 28 Apr 2020 05:56 PM PDT  China's interpretation of the 'rule of law' governing Hong Kong is likely to further incite protesters following the arrest of activists.
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| The Trump administration has quietly agreed to give 800,000 masks to truck drivers after months of ignoring requests Posted: 29 Apr 2020 08:04 AM PDT  The decision comes after months of truck drivers asking for more support as pay plummets and even large trucking companies fail to protect drivers.
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| Media can't fall into 'opposition party' trap in covering Trump, argues White House reporter Jonathan Karl Posted: 28 Apr 2020 10:21 AM PDT  Jonathan Karl, chief White House correspondent for ABC News, writes in his new book that President Trump is waging "an assault on truth," but also details the ways in which the celebrity star turned commander in chief strategically baits the press into personal grudge matches that undercut the credibility of the media.
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| Trump urges states to consider reopening schools before end of academic year Posted: 28 Apr 2020 03:32 AM PDT  President Trump suggested Monday in a call with governors that states "seriously consider" reopening schools before summer.
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| Chris Hayes Tears Into Tucker Carlson for Peddling ‘Coronavirus Trutherism’ Posted: 28 Apr 2020 06:41 PM PDT  MSNBC host Chris Hayes on Tuesday night blasted cable news rival Tucker Carlson—and Fox News as a whole—for pushing dangerous disinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, accusing the Fox News host of peddling "coronavirus trutherism" and "faux populism" by claiming the virus isn't that "deadly."During Carlson's Monday night broadcast, he leaned on heavily scrutinized claims made by two California doctors to insist that the novel coronavirus, which has currently killed nearly 60,000 Americans, "just isn't nearly as deadly as we thought it was." The Fox News host also asserted that lockdowns and quarantines had done nothing to reduce the death toll or the spread of the virus.Hayes led off Tuesday's broadcast of All In by taking direct aim at Fox News' recent shift to minimizing the lethality of the disease in an effort to convince viewers to push back against social distancing guidelines and restrictions."There's a concerted effort on the part of influential people at the network that we at All In call Trump TV right now to peddle dangerous misinformation about the coronavirus," Hayes declared. "Call it coronavirus trutherism.""The question at issue—one whose answer should be obvious to everyone: Is this disease really as deadly as the vast majority of experts tell us it is, as we've all seen with our own eyes?" he continued before playing a clip of Carlson's remarks.Telling MSNBC viewers that they may wonder why Carlson believes that stay-at-home orders had nothing to do with flattening the curve of the virus, Hayes pointed out that the Fox News host relied on the findings of Dr. Dan Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi, co-owners of a California urgent care facility who claim the mortality rate of coronavirus is only 0.03 percent."Of course, most public health experts have dismissed these doctors' findings," the MSNBC noted. "According to the University of Washington biologist Dr. Carl Bergstrom, who specializes in infectious disease modeling, 'They have used methods that are ludicrous to get results that are completely implausible.'"(Ironically, at the same time Hayes was debunking the California doctors' claims, Carlson was once again touting them in his show-opening monologue.)Hayes then pointed out that published numbers of American coronavirus deaths are almost certainly an undercount due to reports of excess deaths during the first few weeks of the pandemic. He also brought up the high rate of deaths in New York City despite the fact that the city has been locked down for weeks."There is a reason many of the employees of Fox News, which is based in New York, are working from home right now," he added. "At least someone there understands why it is important to continue to keep physical distance."Growing increasingly incensed, the MSNBC star ripped into Carlson for broadcasting from the safety of home isolation while telling viewers that it's now safe to go out."That's his message to you bus drivers and people who work in meat processing factories and you who are providing elder care in a senior facility or a cashier at a grocery store," Hayes fumed. "The cable news pundit wants you to get back out there because it's just not that deadly.""But for all the faux-populist ire being mounted by the conservative politics legacy case from La Jolla, polling shows most Americans continue to believe that shelter-on-place is the right policy," he continued.Hayes then called on Carlson to put his money where his mouth is, suggesting that if the Fox star wants people to get back to work, he can chip in by helping out at a nursing home or pork processing plant."They've lost a ton of people to this disease," the progressive host exclaimed, adding: "Go chop up some pork!"Hayes wrapped up his fiery monologue by noting that many conservative media personalities have done a 360 and are back to minimizing the virus, much as they did before mid-March."The tidal wave of grief and trauma has been unleashed upon this nation in large part because the president and his enablers would not listen," he concluded. "And no amount of cynical whataboutism or politically expedient wishful thinking or junk science is going to change that brutal fact."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Pompeo says no sight of North Korea's Kim, real risk of famine in country Posted: 29 Apr 2020 06:46 AM PDT  The United States has caught no sight of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and is watching reports about his health, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday, adding there was a real risk of famine in the country amid the coronavirus outbreak. Pompeo said the United States was also monitoring the situation more broadly in North Korea, which borders China, given the risk presented by the coronavirus.
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| German doctors are nakedly protesting PPE shortages to show how vulnerable they are without protection Posted: 28 Apr 2020 03:59 PM PDT  One of the doctors, named Ruben Bernau, told a German magazine for doctors: "The nudity is a symbol of how vulnerable we are without protection."
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| U.S. forces surprise Holocaust survivor, play Israeli national anthem via Zoom Posted: 29 Apr 2020 04:23 AM PDT  "The most important thing in life is life itself," Holocaust survivor Abba Naor told NBC News.
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| China says detained Canadians 'in good health' Posted: 29 Apr 2020 02:26 AM PDT  China said Wednesday that two Canadians held for more than 500 days in a case that has roiled diplomatic relations were in "good health", after authorities suspended consular visits over the coronavirus pandemic. Businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig have been in detention since December 2018, an apparent retaliation for the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on a US warrant. The United States wants Meng extradited to face trial on charges related to the Chinese telecom equipment maker's alleged violations of US sanctions against Iran.
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| Chris Cuomo tests negative for COVID-19 but finds his antibodies 'confusing' Posted: 28 Apr 2020 08:43 AM PDT  On the latest episode of "Prime Time," CNN's Chris Cuomo reveals he has recovered from COVID-19 and possesses antibodies. But what does that mean?
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| Women who dare dissent targeted for abuse by Yemen's rebels Posted: 28 Apr 2020 11:05 PM PDT  A dozen officers from the Houthi rebels who control northern Yemen snatched her from her home in the capital, Sanaa, at dawn. Women who dare dissent, or even enter the public sphere, have become targets in an escalating crackdown by the Houthis. Activists and former detainees described to The Associated Press a network of secret detention facilities where they are tortured and sometimes raped.
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| Retired Republican Senator Jeff Flake will vote for Biden over Trump and says GOP needs 'a sound defeat' in 2020 election Posted: 28 Apr 2020 12:12 PM PDT  Retired Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona will not be voting for Donald Trump this November. No, he'll be voting for a Democrat for president for the first time in his life."This won't be the first time I've voted for a Democrat — though not for president [before]. Last time I voted for a third-party candidate. ... But I will not vote for Donald Trump," Mr Flake said in an interview with The Washington Post.
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| The CDC is urging Americans to avoid domestic travel because of the coronavirus. Here's what the US government's latest travel warnings mean for you. Posted: 28 Apr 2020 01:42 PM PDT  The CDC has warned Americans to avoid all nonessential travel within the US because of the coronavirus. Here are the CDC's updated guidelines.
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| Navy Orders Deeper Investigation into Crozier Firing Over 'Unanswered Questions' Posted: 29 Apr 2020 07:42 AM PDT  Gilday last week recommended that Crozier be reinstated as commanding officer of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt.
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| Russia flies nuclear-capable bombers over Baltic Sea in training exercise Posted: 29 Apr 2020 07:27 AM PDT |
| Coronavirus: Top NYC doctor takes her own life Posted: 28 Apr 2020 12:50 PM PDT  The father of 49-year-old Dr Lorna Breen says: "She tried to do her job and it killed her."
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| Reversing course, House won't return to D.C. next week because of coronavirus threat Posted: 28 Apr 2020 10:40 AM PDT  "We made a judgment that we will not come back next week," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said in a phone call with reporters.
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| To Confront China After Coronavirus, We Must See the Bigger Picture Posted: 29 Apr 2020 03:30 AM PDT  NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE I n a popular movie two decades ago, hard-eyed criminals released into Sydney a woman infected with a virus, knowing that unsuspecting Australians would catch the highly contagious disease and, traveling on, unwittingly spread death across a hundred homelands. This past winter, the hard-eyed leaders of China did worse. They allowed not one, but thousands of infected to leave China and enter an unsuspecting world, a world lulled by Beijing. The crucial question is: Why?"China caused an enormous amount of pain [and] loss of life . . . by not sharing the information they had," Secretary of State Pompeo said on April 23. America is angry, he added, and while much remains to be known, China "will pay a price."No subpoenas, no oversight committees, no tell-all books will expose President Xi's calculations as the novel coronavirus spread inside China. The unelected of Beijing guard well their secret debates. The CCP knows the virtues of opacity, of letting uncertainty, complacency, and wishful thinking paralyze the West. Exploiting these has been its way.In 2018, a major Trump-administration speech called CCP misdeeds to task. Some, including, notably, Japan's prime minister, applauded. But many nations looked toward their feet, too reluctant, too sophisticated, perhaps too intimidated to bestir. Staggering COVID-19 losses may yet remind the world of the dangers of drift as great powers go astray.Today's American, European, Japanese, and Asian policymakers, like those of centuries past, bear the burdens of judgment. Uncertainty has ever been the statesman's curse. America's famed diplomat, former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, has written, "Nations learn only by experience, they 'know' only when it is too late to act. But statesmen must act as if their intuition were already experience. . . ."A reassessment of Xi and the CCP looms. From their actions and practices, from assessments of their motives and apparent long-term aims, today's statesmen, like their forebears, must judge future risks and craft the surest course ahead. These are early days, but the picture of Beijing presented so far is troubling.Even before the virus spread in Wuhan, Xi brooded over a worrying hand. The CCP could not intimidate prolonged protests on the streets of freedom-loving Hong Kong. And the Party's oppression there, in determined violation of treaty commitments, spurred voters in Taiwan to rebuff Beijing's hopes for a more amenable regime in Taipei. The world was finally awakening to Xi's increasingly autocratic surveillance state, his harsh repression of Uighur Muslims, and his predatory Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China's economy, essential to Xi's hold on power, had stumbled, in part because of the Trump administration's move to counter China's unfair, neo-mercantilist practices and to condemn their grim geopolitical implications. Worse yet, America's markets hummed, raising reelection hopes within the Trump administration, which had also surpassed modern predecessors in challenging China. Rumors of Party dissatisfaction with Xi seeped out.COVID-19's outbreak in Wuhan further darkened Xi's prospects. As long as the virus raged primarily inside China -- derailing only her economy, stigmatizing only her government -- his troubles would soar. All the while, the world predictably would have leapt ahead, taking Chinese customers, stealing China's long-sought glory.The disease's spread to Berlin and Paris, New York and Tokyo, improved Xi's prospects, at least in the near term. Pandemic diverted foreign eyes from Hong Kong's and the Uighurs' plight. Desperate needs rendered disease-weakened nations more susceptible to China's goods and BRI's short-term appeal. Asian states, wary of Beijing, had new cause to doubt the commitment of a pandemic-preoccupied Washington, while a weakened economy and vastly increased debts would likely constrain future U.S. defense spending, essential to Asian security. An unpredictable element had entered into America's 2020 election.As events unfolded, might Xi have recognized that COVID-19's leap into the wider world promised such political and geopolitical gains? Some say a desire to protect itself first fed a CCP cover-up, as if putting this before the health of innocents were not bad enough. But were CCP leaders blind, as days passed, to other benefits? It is the Chinese way, the noted French Sinologist François Jullien has written, to exploit the potential inherent in unfolding situations. CCP leaders still study China's legendary strategist, Sun Tzu, who advised centuries ago that if, "in the midst of difficulties, we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune."As the CCP realized the imminent disaster COVID-19 posed inside China, Xi suppressed the world's appreciation of its dangers. By sometime in December, Chinese authorities had learned that a novel, highly infectious coronavirus similar to deadly SARS was on the loose. Yet for weeks PRC authorities, including China' National Health Commission, suppressed inquiries and, directly or through the WHO, misled the world about the risks. When Chinese authorities finally acknowledged human-to-human transmission, the CCP took steps to isolate Wuhan from other parts of China, but continued to permit international travel. After the U.S. on January 31, and later Australia, restricted travelers from China, Beijing's spokesmen, artful and indignant, rose to denounce such acts as ill-founded and ill-intentioned.For days, even weeks, after the CCP first knew of the danger, Chinese authorities and customs officers let tens of thousands of travelers, infected among them, leave China and enter an unwary world. In late January, China extended Lunar New Year celebrations, inviting greater international travel. PRC border guards stamped more exit papers. When America restricted such travelers, Beijing allowed more to leave for less cautious lands.Then, as pandemic gripped the world, the CCP brazenly blamed America for COVID-19. Xi once more preened over his authoritarian "China model's" efficiencies, now cauterizing troubles he denies having caused. In Europe, Beijing postured as a savior offering needed medical supplies -- albeit that its sales favored states where it sought geopolitical gains, often bore high prices, included defective products that could undermine defenses, and drew on CCP surpluses bolstered by January purchases of world supplies at pre-pandemic prices. In Southeast Asia, Beijing proved "relentless in exploiting the pandemic," a respected, former high-level Filipino bemoans, as it pushed its "illegal and expansive" territorial claims. Inside China, the Party seized the moment to round up leaders of Hong Kong's democracy movement and reassert unilateral efforts to curtail the city's special, self-governing status.Even after the virus began to spread inside China, events might have taken a different course. Many had once hoped for better from CCP leaders. Dreams of a mellowing CCP had floated widely among academics and policy elites, perhaps buoyed by the way such illusions avoided, rather than imposed, hard choices. Some yet hold to such views. The benign CCP of their reveries would have alerted others promptly as the novel virus's dangers became known, shared information, welcomed foreign scientists, ceased reckless practices, and guarded against the pandemic's spread.Indeed, under different leadership, China could have followed such a path. Traditions of humane governance, venerable and Confucian, are not alien to that land. China's ancient text, the Tao-te Ching, favors just such a response:> A great nation is like a man:> > When he makes a mistake, he realizes it.> > Having realized, he admits it.> > Having admitted it, he corrects it.> > He considers those who point out his faults> > As his most benevolent teachers.The learned will debate how much such leadership would have eased the wider world's suffering. Metrics and estimates will vary, but the consensus will be clear enough: The harm would have decreased manyfold.Such openness and grace have not been Xi's way. As he built up islets in the South China Sea, he promised never to militarize them, then dishonored his promise, disregarded international rulings, and dispatched ships in packs to intimidate neighboring states and expand Beijing's writ. Pledging to protect intellectual property, he enabled ongoing theft and coercion, ineluctably undermining industries of the advanced democracies, and then pressed forward on China's newly gained advantages. His BRI professes to aid, then exploits poor countries' weaknesses. Citing the betterment of all in the cause of greater China, he has imprisoned Uighurs, undermined Tibetan culture, and threatened the peaceful regional order that had enabled China's rise. He violates treaty commitments to curb Hong Kong's freedoms. Behind an anti-corruption façade, his prosecutors ruined scores of his rivals, as he consolidated and extended his personal powers. These wrongs he continues still. Xi's are not the ways of grace and remorse.An angry narrative drives this man. Under his hand, the CCP highlights Chinese suffering and humiliation roughly a century ago under Western and Japanese imperialists, while eliding the democratic world's helping hand and Japan's benign democracy over four generations since. He slides past the Chinese millions massacred in the intervening decades by the CCP and Mao -- China's legendary leader who spread cruelty and death as he judged useful. In imitation of Mao, Xi has issued his own "little red book" of wisdom. Mao's iconic image looms over Tiananmen still. Coveting Mao's autocratic power, Xi strove and won it; now he dare not let it go.The bitter recall of ancient Chinese glories; resentment of past humiliations; insecurity bred by corruption and illegitimacy; disdain, even hatred of America's easy ways -- these are the pathogens coursing through Xi's circle. A fever for Chinese primacy burns among them. For a time, they might pander to a Western-inspired, rules-based order, a liberal conceit; but this is not their dream. A historic economic rise, technological mastery, a rapidly expanding navy, all causes to be proud of, have freed them to be brazen. Xi now bares the teeth Deng Xiaoping's smile hid. From South China Sea islets to the New Silk Road's arid ends, the CCP, ruthless and defiant, pounds the stakes it holds to advance its aims. For Xi's CCP, it is the fate of small states to bend to the strong.Rules should soon be theirs to set, the CCP believes, and not without some reason. Before Trump, a subtle and experienced Chinese diplomat confessed, CCP leaders marveled at America's ineffectual response. In the South and East China Seas, on India's long border, Beijing's hostile and determined quest had followed Lenin's line: "Probe with bayonets, if you find mush, you push; if you find steel, you withdraw." It is to our shame, Trump observed on China's unfair trade practices, that Beijing had not been held to account by prior administrations. Unanswered, history has shown, the ambitious calculate and, at times, miscalculate.In past American forbearance, CCP leaders have seen a once great power on the wane. In foreign capitals they confided, inside China they proclaimed: It will soon be America's turn to bend. They claim their own version of the right side of history.The keys to victory, Sun Tzu counseled, lie in knowing your enemy and deceiving them. The cunning men of Beijing have taken heed. They have an instinct for a divided, self-doubting, and weary West. Cloaking their aggressions in ambiguity, they weigh the likely costs against desired gains.Straining to contain COVID-19, President Trump and Secretary Pompeo rightly extend a hand to international, including Chinese, cooperation. But in post-pandemic days to come, the democracies must carefully take the measure of the CCP and hold it to account, crafting strategies for what it is, not what they wish it to be. That is leadership's task.The late, great professor Fouad Ajami warned, "Men love the troubles they know" -- too ready to slip into a comfortable neglect, too reluctant to face strategic change. Some cite an arc of history, he lamented, to hide behind, hoping it might bear the burdens they would rather shun.With all doubts resolved in their favor, the untouchable leaders of the CCP have much for which to answer. Perhaps in reality, even more.In a time of death, Ajami cautioned: "There is no fated happiness or civility in any land." As a great river may abruptly rise or fall, "Those gauges on the banks will have to be read and watched with care."
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| Torment in Ecuador: virus dead piled up in bathrooms Posted: 28 Apr 2020 06:42 PM PDT  Front line medics in one of Latin America's coronavirus epicenters are lifting the lid on the daily horrors they face in an Ecuadoran city whose health system has collapsed. In one hospital in Guayaquil overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, staff have had to pile up bodies in bathrooms because the morgues are full, health workers say. Ecuador has recorded close to 23,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 600 deaths, with Guayaquil by far its worst affected city.
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| Maduro taps US fugitive to revamp Venezuela oil industry Posted: 27 Apr 2020 12:44 PM PDT  President Nicolás Maduro on Monday named a powerful ally sanctioned by the U.S. as a drug kingpin, along with a cousin of the late socialist leader Hugo Chávez, to revamp Venezuela's oil industry amid massive gasoline shortages. Tareck El Aissami was appointed oil minister and Asdrúbal Chávez tapped to head of state-run oil giant PDVSA.
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| The U.S. and Iran Are Headed for a New Proxy War in Afghanistan Posted: 28 Apr 2020 01:46 AM PDT  KARACHI—While the United States military and the White House are girding for a confrontation with Iran on the high seas or in Iraq, Afghanistan is an even more likely battleground.U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted last week, "I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea." The tweet followed the dangerous maneuvers on April 15 by Iranian naval vessels near U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. The leader of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) promised a "crushing response" to any such action.The incident and the threats that followed show that even if most of the world's attention is focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a devastating impact on both Iran and the United States, the symptoms of a war in the making grow stronger by the day.Almost forgotten by the general public is the rocket attack on Camp Taji in Iraq last month that killed two American soldiers and one British serviceman. The camp hosts anti-ISIS coalition troops and NATO personnel. On the ground, the U.S retaliatory strikes against weapons storage sites in Iraq belonging to the pro-Iranian militia Kata'ib Hezbollah kept the war-fever high.On April 1, Trump said Iran was planning to attack American troops in Iraq."Upon information and belief," he tweeted, echoing FBI legalese, "Iran or its proxies are planning a sneak attack on U.S. troops and/or assets in Iraq. If this happens, Iran will pay a very heavy price, indeed!"But Americans are even more vulnerable in Afghanistan, and it is likely to be the favored theater for Iran's proxy attacks on U.S. personnel for several reasons.Trump, Afghanistan, and 'The Tweet of Damocles'One of the first is that the head of the IRGC's Quds Force, General Ismail Qaani, has experience there dating back almost a quarter of a century. The Quds Force spearheads Iran's operations outside its borders, most often by training and organizing militias which are used in combat, covert ops, and terrorist activities to support Iran's regional objectives. These include the influence, subversion, intimidation, or control of potentially hostile neighbors and the expulsion of outside forces.For years, the head of the Quds Force was Gen. Qassem Soleimani, known for his high-profile activities in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon—and his cult of personality inside Iran itself. When he was blown away by an American drone while on a visit to Baghdad in early January, Trump gloated, "He should have been taken out many years ago!"Qaani was appointed immediately to succeed Soleimani, whom he had served as deputy commander since the late 1990s. But while Soleimani had focused mainly on the countries to the west of Iran, Qaani worked on those to the east, especially Afghanistan.Today, Qaani is unlikely to miss the opportunity to strike the U.S. at such a vulnerable point. The Americans are currently battling to salvage the peace deal with the Afghan Taliban that would give Trump an exit from the "endless war" there before the U.S. elections in November. But the Taliban already have warned that the peace deal announced in February is near the breaking point. Iran does not have to push too hard to shatter the agreement amid growing violence and bitter differences between the Taliban and the Afghan government. Qaani, appointed as the deputy commander of the Quds Force in 1997, worked to back the Northern Alliance in the civil war against the Taliban in the 1990s at a time when the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was trying to work with Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud as well. Al Qaeda's murder of Massoud two days before its September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States turned all these relationships upside down. It's not clear what role Qaani or Soleimani played at a time when Iran was cooperating with Washington to try to stabilize the Afghan situation in late 2001, but after then-President George W. Bush declared in early 2002 that Iran was part of the "Axis of Evil," diplomatic rapprochement came to an end, and covert action, if it ever subsided, was renewed.More recently, Qaani made some trips to Afghanistan when the Liwa Fatemiyoun, sometimes known as the Fatemiyoun Brigade or Afghan Hezbollah, were at their height in 2018. Organized four years earlier, they were deployed by Iran to fight in the Syria war supporting Tehran's ally Bashar al-Assad. Qaani visited Kabul in 2018 and held talks with Afghan government leaders President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, formerly of the Northern Alliance.Following the signing of the peace accord forged in Doha, Qatar, the U.S. has struggled to push the peace process forward. The U.S. and NATO allies agreed to withdraw all troops within 14 months in return for security assurances by the Taliban that Afghanistan would not be allowed to become a launching pad for global terrorist attacks. The U.S. has to reduce its forces in Afghanistan from about 13,000 to 8,600 within the first 135 days of the accord, but as the New York Times reported last month, that schedule has been complicated by coronavirus and quarantine concerns.On its face, the Quds Force-Taliban relationship is complicated given Iran's previous backing for the Northern Alliance, but that was a long time ago, and ever since 9/11 Afghanistan has seen changing client and proxy relationships, some of them public, some not."An open alliance between Iran and the Taliban would surely be viewed as a betrayal by many Afghans, even if shifting alliances is the nature of Afghanistan," Sam Hendricks of the Lowy Institute in Sydney told The Daily Beast."On the whole," Hendricks said, "Iran has been remarkably restrained in its dealings in Afghanistan since 2001—and its own betrayal by the U.S. after Iranian support in defeating the Taliban and convening the Bonn process [to build a stable government], soon after which it was labeled part of the Axis of Evil."Now, said Hendricks, Iran "seems to have an opportunity to strike the U.S. at a very vulnerable point." Among Qaani's tools are the thousands of fighters from the battle hardened Liwa Fatemiyoun, made up mainly of members of Afghanistan's Shi'ite Hazara minority, in addition to any tacit or covert cooperation with the Taliban themselves.More than in Iraq, more than in the waters of the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, Iran is positioned in its eastern neighbor to make the Americans suffer as they try to extract themselves. The only real question is whether Iran wants them out of Afghanistan sooner or later.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Southwest says it could take more than 5 years for business travel to get back to normal, as the airline reports its first loss since 2011 because of the coronavirus Posted: 28 Apr 2020 12:40 PM PDT  Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said that past recessions have shown business travel is slow to recover, but that the coronavirus crisis could be worse.
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| 50% Say Mass Student Loan Forgiveness Unfair to Former Borrowers: Survey Posted: 29 Apr 2020 06:17 AM PDT |
| Turkish president backs cleric who said homosexuality 'brings disease' Posted: 28 Apr 2020 08:06 AM PDT  The cleric claimed thousands of people are exposed to HIV annually due to homosexuality and adultery and called on worshipers to fight "this kind of evil."
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| China accuses Australia of 'petty tricks' as dispute over coronavirus outbreak inquiry intensifies Posted: 28 Apr 2020 09:43 PM PDT  China has accused Australia of "petty tricks" in an intensifying dispute over Canberra's push for an international inquiry into the coronavirus outbreak that could affect diplomatic and economic ties between the countries. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his proposed inquiry into how the coronavirus developed and spread would not be targeted at China but was needed given Covid-19 had killed more than 200,000 people and shut down much of the global economy. "Now, it would seem entirely reasonable and sensible that the world would want to have an independent assessment of how this all occurred, so we can learn the lessons and prevent it from happening again," he said. Australian government ministers have repeatedly said China was threatening "economic coercion" after its ambassador, Cheng Jingye, said this week that Chinese consumers could boycott Australian products and universities because of the calls for the inquiry. The head of Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) called Mr Cheng to express concern. The Chinese embassy then released a statement detailing what it said was discussed on the call, prompting another rebuke from DFAT. The Chinese embassy today returned fire, saying on its website that details of the call had first been "obviously leaked by some Australian officials" and it needed to set the record straight. "The Embassy of China doesn't play petty tricks, this is not our tradition. But if others do, we have to reciprocate," an embassy spokesman said in the statement. Chinese state media has fiercely rounded on Mr Morrison, with Australian studies scholar Chen Hong writing in the Global Times tabloid today that Australia was "spearheading" a "malicious campaign to frame and incriminate China". And Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the paper, which is affiliated to the Beijing-controlled People's Daily newspaper, said on Chinese social media that Australia was always making trouble: "It is a bit like chewing gum stuck on the sole of China's shoes. Sometimes you have to find a stone to rub it off." The Australian government has been highlighting that the trading relationship with China, its biggest trading partner, was mutually beneficial as the diplomatic tensions escalate. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that about 60 per cent of China's iron ore imports come from Australia, and told Sky News the country wouldn't respond to "economic coercion". An Australian iron ore mining magnate who built his fortune in China, Andrew Forrest, backed the idea of an inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic but said it should be held after November's US presidential election so it was not seen as political. Mr Forrest, founder and chairman of Fortescue Metals Group , said the government's call for an international investigation was "common sense". "But it is not to be a Chinese inquiry, that would make it instantly political," he said. "If this is held after the US presidential election, then let's just say there's not going to be a political dog in this fight."
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| France Reports the Most New Coronavirus Cases Since April 18 Posted: 27 Apr 2020 11:09 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- France reported the most new coronavirus cases in more than a week on Monday, while deaths linked to the virus rose for the first time in five days.The number of new infections rose by 4,326 to 196,069, the biggest daily increase since April 18, according to data published by the health ministry. Fatalities linked to the outbreak rose by 437 to 23,293, after the country on Sunday had reported the fewest deaths in more than a month.France is preparing to ease its confinement after May 11, and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is set to present the government's plan to begin the return to normal life on Tuesday. Lockdown measures across Europe have started to decelerate the spread of the coronavirus, slowing the number of new deaths in Spain and Italy.Patients in intensive care because of the virus, which French health authorities consider a key indicator of the outbreak's impact on the country's hospital system, fell by 74 to 4,608, the lowest since March 29. Hospitalizations fell by 216 to 28,055.France's daily coronavirus figures have fluctuated amid inconsistent reporting from nursing homes -- first included in the tally this month -- including a downward revision of the data last week.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Medicare applications raise anxiety for seniors in pandemic Posted: 28 Apr 2020 09:20 PM PDT  At greater risk from COVID-19, some seniors now face added anxiety due to delays obtaining Medicare coverage. Advocates for older people say the main problem involves certain applications for Medicare's "Part B" coverage for outpatient care. It stems from the closure of local Social Security offices in the coronavirus pandemic.
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| U.S. faces tough U.N. battle if it pushes plan to extend Iran arms embargo Posted: 27 Apr 2020 03:22 PM PDT  The United States faces a tough, messy battle if it uses a threat to trigger a return of all United Nations sanctions on Iran as leverage to get the 15-member Security Council to extend and strengthen an arms embargo on Tehran, diplomats said. Washington has shared its strategy, confirmed by a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity, with Britain, France and Germany, who are council members and parties to the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that prevents Tehran from developing nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief.
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