The spread of the coronavirus is becoming the third major crisis of the post–Cold War period after the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 financial collapse. While it calls for a cooperative international response, the dark global political climate has exacerbated the problem, Thomas Wright and Kurt Campbell argue.
Separately, Bruce Riedel discusses the challenge the virus poses to a Saudi Arabia marked by the impulsive and exclusive leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
With U.S. and Taliban negotiators signing an agreement in Doha last weekend on a plan for ending the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, Brookings President John R. Allen, Bruce Riedel, Michael O'Hanlon, Vanda Felbab-Brown, and Madiha Afzal discuss the implications.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in stronger shape after the country's third election in a year than after the previous one, but the pro-Netanyahu camp still narrowly lacks a Knesset majority. Natan Sachs examines the political possibilities and reiterates the high policy stakes.
That the coronavirus has been able to spread to the highest levels of Iran's government is "symptomatic of the revolutionary state's highly ideological and often inept approach to governance…This is entirely a leadership failure."
A road to nowhere. Brookings President John R. Allen, who led all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan from 2011-13, writes that "the so-called 'Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan' will not only not be honored by the Taliban, it will also not bring peace."
Fix the mess. Bruce Riedel argues the deal is fundamentally flawed by the exclusion of the Afghan government. He writes that direct Kabul-Taliban negotiations should be prerequisite for future withdrawals of the international coalition.
Silver linings. Michael O'Hanlon finds reasons for hope despite a problematic deal and recommends using uncertainty about the long-term U.S. commitment to Afghanistan to prod both Kabul and the Taliban to compromise.
The next 14 months. Vanda Felbab-Brown examines immediate issues as U.S. troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan and analyzes the Taliban's strategy.
Europe
Merkel's would-be successors. Constanze Stelzenmüller discusses the background of the three men running to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel as leader of Germany's center-right.
Right-wing populists and Islam in France. Catherine Fieschi examines the relationship between right-wing populists and Islam in France, stressing the importance of the republic's secularism, colonialism and decolonization, and the country's history of anti-Semitism.
Self-reliance for Syrian refugees. On the Dollar & Sense podcast, Kemal Kirişci discusses his proposal for supporting Syrian refugees in Turkey by pairing EU trade concessions with economic inclusion.
International affairs
Nuclear arms control. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) went into effect 50 years ago this week. Brookings experts assess its successes and the prospects for further disarmament.
A historic appointment. President Trump's naming of openly-gay Richard Grenell as acting director of national intelligence is a landmark, James Kirchick writes, as not long ago the U.S. intelligence community not only denied employment to LGBT Americans but purged them from its ranks.
China's 'preventive repression' in Xinjiang. Sheena Greitens, Myunghee Lee, and Emir Yazici write that in responding to China's massive human rights violations in Xinjiang, Washington and the world must engage — carefully — with China's counterterrorism arguments.
Iraq's militias. Ranj Alaaldin explains why the death of Shiite militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in the U.S. attack that also killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani matters and the impact of his absence on Iraq, Iran, and the region.
Brookings is closely monitoring developments with the global spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by a novel coronavirus.
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