While the Covid-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the globe, foreign policy machinations continue unabated with global alliances and battlefields being reshaped by the unrelenting crisis. We scanned the globe once again with General Dan Christman delving into the pandemic’s geopolitical impact:
- US-China: General Christman covered the most critical issue by far; A call between Trump/Xi lowered temp for near term; but the strategic relationship, already worsening before Covid-19, is accelerating downward - both strategically and economically.
- Middle East: Covid-19 made the environment more attractive for jihadists and is the U.S. refocusing policy interest on the homeland, not troubled overseas regions.
- Europe: we discussed the fissures (north-south, east-west, new-old) exaggerated by virus; and whether or not the U.S. would play a role in the leadership vacuum.
- Emerging nations: Christman suggests the next storm attacks here, and except for Southeast Asia, they aren't prepared, especially Latin America and Africa.
- Cybersecurity and the November elections: with social distancing and remote learning/video meetings, the U.S. is now a "target-rich" environment; November elections THE strategic target.
- Multinational institutions (WHO, WTO, G-7, G20): We cover a major gap between global "arrangements" and global challenges; the gap was growing long before Trump.
- Intelligence community leadership: Christman cites the need - now more than ever - for unbiased intelligence assessments; harder than ever to get them.
You can listen to the replay here.
Coming up the week of April 27th:
Join me and Hedgeye Co-founder and President Michael Blum next week as we take a walk around the world to examine how various governments have dealt with lockdown policies so far and what their respective plans are going forward. Michael lived and conducts business in many countries in Asia and across Europe.
We’ll start with Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. Each of these has their own “special” relationship with the PRC and are in close proximity to the epicenter of the outbreak. Then we will take a look at New Zealand – how their isolation and political leadership is impacting the fight against the virus. We’ll look at Sweden and its unique path as well as insight into Germany, France and Italy.
