Irrespective of how hard the virus will hit African countries, they will be strongly impacted by the global economic recession. The US and Europe will suffer the strongest recession since the twenties of the last century. And some African countries who have redirected their exports towards China will feel the consequences of the economic crisis that is hitting China too. In the last years, Africa showed promising developments. Being rich in resources and having a young energetic population can be assets that could and should be developed and nourished by responsible leadership. And slowly, some such leaders have appeared on the political scene. In a recent special report, The Economist spoke of “The African Century”.

It is certainly not normal to restrict our daily movements and the chances to see our families and friends. It should not be normal to go around with masks over our mouths and noses. It is not normal that our schools are closed - even if some pupils are happy about it - for some time. But not everything we did in the past should be seen as normal and self-evident. Therefore, already now, we should think what kind of normality we should aspire to.

The new coronavirus and the subsequent worldwide crisis is once again forcing the issue of a Third Way between neoliberal capitalism and authoritarian systems onto the global agenda. Especially as we have “two failing superpowers” in China and the US, as Martin Wolf recently wrote in the Financial Times. Whether we live in a bipolar world or without any strong pole or even in a chaotic global system, Europe should take the chance provided by the present crisis to develop a new global strategy — a strategy that should not imitate any of the existing ways to deal with global issues such as the coronavirus.

In the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, developments toward peace in the Middle East seem to be moving backwards. President of the IIP Hannes Swoboda comments on US-Iran relations and the recent formation of a government in Israel.