Here is today’s Foreign Policy brief: U.S. one-day coronavirus deaths break 1,000 for first time since May, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Denmark, and Pakistan targets TikTok over “obscenity, vulgarity and immorality.”
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Death Toll Begins to Catch Up on Explosion in New Cases
On Tuesday, the daily coronavirus death toll in the United States exceeded 1,000 for the first time since May, as the effects of a recent explosion in the number of cases is becoming clear. Deaths were highest in Arizona, Florida, Texas, and California, the four states who have recorded the majority of new cases.
Even as the U.S. death toll increases, it still did not record the most deaths worldwide on Tuesday. That infamy lies with Brazil, where 1,346 deaths were reported. Of the ten countries with the highest one-day death toll on Tuesday, six were in the Western Hemisphere (Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Colombia join Brazil and the United States on the list).
What the White House is saying. Faced with a problem that is not going away, despite his predictions, U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to acknowledge the dire situation the country is now in. “It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better—something I don’t like saying about things but that’s the way it is,” Trump said during a White House press briefing. He also urged Americans to wear masks, echoing a tweet sent from his Twitter account on Monday.
How Uruguay dodged the worst. While other countries in the Americas founder, Uruguay has found a way to keep its epidemic in check, recording just over 1,000 cases over the past four months. Writing in Foreign Policy on Tuesday, Milagros Costabel tells the story of how Uruguay, against long odds (including a border with Brazil), has avoided the worst of the pandemic.
Another Coronavirus Casualty: Remittances
The great recession of 2008 caused a 10 percent dip in the amount of cash migrants sent home in the form of remittances. As mass unemployment looms, the World Bank is predicting an even bigger crash following the coronavirus pandemic: a full 20 percent drop. In Foreign Policy on July 20, Zuhumnan Dapel outlined the damage such a shortfall will have on developing economies.
What We’re Following Today
Pompeo in Denmark. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visits Denmark today for talks with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen that will include discussions about China and the coronavirus pandemic, according to a State Department statement. Pompeo will also meet with Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod, Faroese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Education Jenis av Rana, and Greenlandic Minister of Foreign Affairs and Energy Steen Lynge before returning to the United States.
Ethopia, Egypt, Sudan agree to keep talking on Nile dispute. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that his country, along with Egypt and Sudan had come to a “major common understanding which paves the way for a breakthrough agreement” on a dam development that is causing tensions in the region. Ethiopia had been suspected of over-filling the reservoir at the $4.6 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile river, potentially depriving the countries downstream of much needed water. Ethiopia maintains the rising water levels are due to heavy rains. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said the leaders had agreed to “give priority to developing a binding legal commitment regarding the basis for filling and operating the dam.”
U.S. indicts two Chinese hackers. The U.S. Justice Department indicted two Chinese men for their role in cyber espionage campaigns that stole data from U.S. defense contractors, nuclear power facilities, and most recently coronavirus vaccine research over a ten year period. Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi are alleged to have been contracted by China’s Ministry of State Security who provided assistance in the hacking campaigns, U.S. prosecutors said.
Pakistan next to ban TikTok? Pakistan could follow India as the next South Asian country to ban the popular video app TikTok after it issued a final warning to the company over “obscenity, vulgarity and immorality” on the platform, according to a government statement. On Tuesday, Pakistan blocked the streaming service Bigo, citing similar threats to public decency.
Keep an Eye On
Suu Kyi running again. Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi will stand again as a candidate in the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for November 8. Suu Kyi currently holds the position of “state counselor” as a law prevents her from becoming president. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party is expected to win the election, but the size of her alliance could be dented by the government’s poor performance in empowering the country’s ethnic groups.
Tanzania vote date confirmed. On Tuesday, Tanzania’s electoral commission set October 28 as the date for the country’s presidential election. The challenger to the incumbent, President John Magufuli, has yet to be decided. Opposition figures have accused Magufuli of obscuring the true nature of the country’s coronavirus pandemic. On Monday, Magufuli declared the country open to tourists and coronavirus-free.
Odds and Ends
Venice’s famous gondoliers have reduced the maximum number of people allowed on their boats, citing the problem of “overweight tourists.” The new measures bring the capacity from six to five on smaller vessels, and 14 to 12 on larger ones. “Unlike in a lift, where there’s a message that says ‘only six people or a maximum weight’, we don’t have scales to weigh people, and so we reduced the number of passengers,” Andrea Balbi, president of Venice’s gondoliers association, told the Guardian. Raoul Roveratto, the president of the association of substitute gondoliers was more blunt. “Advancing with over half a tonne of meat on board is dangerous,” he told La Repubblica.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was forced to record a video recommending a 2005 Joaquin Phoenix-narrated documentary on animal cruelty in order to help free 13 citizens being held hostage in the town of Lutsk. The demand was made by Maksym Kryvosh, an animal rights activist who had seized a bus and began an armed standoff with police with the 13 hostages on board. Shortly after the hostages were all freed, Zelensky deleted the video.
That’s it for today.
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