Mark Galeotti, Moscow Times
Putin is clearly eager to avoid being identified with the pandemic and the difficult measures being adopted to fight it.
Ian Bremmer with Jeremy Cliffe, New Statesman
Geopolitics guru Ian Bremmer offers an optimistic scenario for the coming years.
Biren Nanda, Lowy Interpreter
Peter Drysdale, East Asia Forum
The global economy has taken a huge hit as the world’s major economies shut down activity in turn to fight the spread of COVID-19. The GDP of China, Australia’s largest trading partner, dropped 6.8 per cent in the first quarter this year. Its total trade fell 6.4 per cent (exports 11.4 and imports 0.7 per cent). In that period, Japan’s gross domestic product dropped 3.4 per cent and the United States’ fell 4.8 per cent. The crisis hit China first and hard.
Pete Sweeney, Reuters
HONG KONG (Reuters Breakingviews) - China could be the hero of the developing world if it took the lead on restructuring their debts. But when it comes to aid, Beijing likes playing poor at times, rich at others, and opacity deters coordination with other creditors. If it wants to seize the opportunity, transparency is the price.
Neil Hauer, Center for Global Policy
Russia has several options for escalating its involvement in Libya’s civil war, but the West could make continued intervention too costly for Moscow’s liking.
C. Odendahl & J. Springford, CER
COVID-19 is not a ‘symmetric’ shock to Europe’s economy. The economic costs of lockdowns, and the continued social distancing measures that follow them, will be different across countries and regions. And some governments are better able to offset the costs of these measures than others – and to stimulate their economies once the virus is under control.
James Palmer, Foreign Policy
Beijing’s influence within the organization means the results of a review into the origins of the coronavirus are likely to be delayed—and compromised.
Anatole Kaletsky, Project Syndicate
The proposed sum for the recovery fund proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is small change in an era when politicians and central bankers conjure up trillions almost daily. But, if adopted, the proposal might be remembered as the moment when Europe became a genuine political federation.
M. McDowell, IT
German constitutional court has always been clear on limits of EU power
