"The coronavirus graphically demonstrated that even recognized risks can catch the world off guard. SARS and Ebola had alerted the world to the danger of a zoonotic virus. Just last year, governments and international agencies issued clear and repeated warnings. The U.S. government ran simulations of an outbreak code-named 'Crimson Contagion' that highlighted the threat. An international panel of experts convened by the World Health Organization warned explicitly of the pandemic threat to human life and the global economy. Yet when [...]

"Daniel Russell, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, sees Xi’s fulfillment of a domestically popular mission to unify the motherland as one of several echoes of Russia’s 2014 move on Crimea. The 'muscular assertion of sovereign power at a moment of weakness at home' is another. Putin had been struggling with low approval ratings since returning to power two years before and could ill afford to appear weak, after losing a struggle to keep [...]

"Daniel Russel, a former senior Obama administration official who dealt with Asia, said that American diplomats traditionally have been able to acknowledge U.S. struggles when dealing with foreign audiences. That dash of humility, however, was coupled with a sense of U.S. credibility – that America could be relied upon to help the oppressed in other countries as they fought for democracy, human rights and other ideals... "'The willingness of people in other countries to stand with you rests in large part [...]