COVID19

What is the US looking for in Thailand amid pandemic?

What is the US looking for in Thailand amid pandemic?

PEJOURNAL - Thailand, one of the first countries to be affected by the outbreak of coronavirus, ranked high in the fight against corona and has not had a single new case of infection in the last two months. In this regard, the Corona Fighting Headquarter in this country has created very strict rules and protocols for people and foreign tourists, and this decision has been very effective. On August 3, at 7:00 AM, 71 U.S. troops from the island of Guam flew OAE6555, a privately-owned passenger aircraft, to U-Tapao Airport in Sattahip District, Thailand. The U.S. troops, under Alternative State…
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Foreign Policy:  The Pandemic Could Be the Crisis Liberalism Needed

Foreign Policy: The Pandemic Could Be the Crisis Liberalism Needed

BY: Matt Warner* , Tom G. Palmer* PEJOURNAL - The world may be reaching a dangerous inflection point for liberalism. According to the latest reports from Freedom House, over the last 15 years the share of unfree countries in the world has risen while the share of free countries has dropped. Today, government deficits are spiking in response to the public’s demand for intervention to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and some warn that authoritarian leaders are seizing the opportunity to expand their control. Still, this may be a time when liberalism starts to gain ground, not…
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Reuters: Asian markets struggle to digest coronavirus spike

Reuters: Asian markets struggle to digest coronavirus spike

PEJOURNAL - Asian shares are showing a mixed picture on Tuesday after a volatile day in U.S. equity markets amid persistent concerns over the record number of new coronavirus cases worldwide and signs of an economic rebound. Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures lost 0.76% in early trading, Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures added 0.22%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures rose 0.39%. E-mini futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.21%. After a strong start in the United States, equity markets sold off when California announced it was slowing the state’s reopening, shutting bars and banning indoor restaurant dining statewide in response…
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Political Economy Journal: Piracy in 21st Century

Political Economy Journal: Piracy in 21st Century

BY: Valeria Rodriguez PEJOURNAL - The United Kingdom and Venezuela are in a legal conflict over the Bank of London's refusal to the government of Nicolás Maduro who requested the repatriation of $ 1 trillion in gold bars found in their vaults. The Central Bank of Venezuela had to resort to legal actions so that the gold, which the Bank of England held in its name, was released to be able to spend it in the coronavirus crisis of the Latin American country. It should be noted that in May of this year, Venezuela agreed with the United Nations to…
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Is Europe ready to face this new financial crisis?

Is Europe ready to face this new financial crisis?

BY: Elena Lazzaro* , Luca Carelli* PEJOURNAL - The Covid-19 crisis has shaken the global economy putting many countries on their knees. Although this isnot the first pandemic in human history, Covid-19 presents a number of characteristics that make it a uniqueevent. First of all, much like with natural disasters, this virus comes from exogenous factors uncorrelated to countries’economies; however unlike these, it does not remain circumscribed to a specific area.Additionally, when comparing the current economic recession to that of 2007, it appears clear that the formerdoes not present a sheer financial nature; however, as in the case of the…
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EU’S financial policies in post Covid era

EU’S financial policies in post Covid era

BY: Stefano Grasso* PEJOURNAL - The coronavirus pandemic has been causing a very strong and very hard recession. Indeed, it has been impacting on people’s health, jobs and well-being.  According the latest projections of OECD the GDP of Euro area will decrease up to -9%. The global outlook is highly uncertain. The OECD’s outlook focuses two scenarios: one in which a second wave of infections, with renewed lock-downs, hits before the end of 2020, and one in which another major outbreak is avoided. In these weeks, in Germany and in Portugal, the Governments have limited some areas of their country…
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Asia Times: Why Iran won’t be broken

Asia Times: Why Iran won’t be broken

BY:  PEPE ESCOBAR PEJOURNAL - So what’s going on in Iran? How did the Islamic Republic really respond to Covid-19? How is it coping with Washington’s relentless “maximum pressure”? These questions were the subject of a long phone call I placed to Prof. Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran – one of Iran’s premier, globally recognized analysts. As Marandi explains, “Iran after the revolution was all about social justice. It set up a very elaborate health care network, similar to Cuba’s, but with more funding. A large hospital network. When the coronavirus hit, the US was even preventing Iran…
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DER SPIEGEL: The Italian Resort of Rimini Opens Carefully to Summer Tourists

DER SPIEGEL: The Italian Resort of Rimini Opens Carefully to Summer Tourists

PEJOURNAL - Germans are finally able to travel to their favorite holiday destination again: Italy. In the tourist city of Rimini, hosts are setting up lounge chairs and putting out the umbrellas, but even so, this summer won't be the same. Italy's borders have been open again since June 3 and the German government's blanket travel warning has been lifted as well, including for Italy, a country that was especially hard-hit by the coronavirus. Germans will once again be permitted to travel south - if they dare. But will they? That's the question people along the Adriatic coast want to…
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The Economist: America rediscovers the joys of vegetable-growing

The Economist: America rediscovers the joys of vegetable-growing

PEJOURNAL - From a selfish perspective, this hot, quarrelsome month has brought two great joys to your columnist. It gave him his first opportunity to take part in American democracy, in the form of a local election for which his foreign citizenship was no bar. (The contest was also fiery, of which more shortly.) And it was the first June in which he has overseen a vegetable garden ripening at New World pace. Zucchini seedlings planted in late May provided their first sleek squashes to Lexington’s table this week. Tomato seedlings that went in at the same time are now…
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The pandemic in Africa is not just a crisis of public health or the economy, It’s a political one, too.

The pandemic in Africa is not just a crisis of public health or the economy, It’s a political one, too.

Writing in The Economist, former senior UN official Alan Doss and founder of Celtel Mo Ibrahim argue that the pandemic threatens the democratic progress made in Africa in recent years."Hard times often make people especially vulnerable to the siren song of populists and extremists trading on communal enmities," they write.At least 18 African countries are expected to hold national elections this year. But unless proper laws are in place, suspending elections amid the pandemic could erode democracy.To prevent this from happening, Mr Doss and Mr Ibrahim explain, there are several steps African governments and the public can take
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