Our Finest Hour

Javier Solana, physicist, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister of Spain, Secretary General of NATO, the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary General of the Council of the European Union and Secretary-General of the Western European Union, is in hospital in Madrid after testing positive for COVID-19. In this missive from his hospital bed, he reflects on a crisis of historic proportions, in which the mobilisation of state resources to battle the virus goes hand in hand with the demobilisation of most of the population. Reflecting on the experiences of Winston Churchill in WW II, he warns us to distinguish between strong leadership and dangerous, inflexible leadership; to ensure that patriotic responsibility does not degenerate into xenophobic nationalism; and to ensure that the socioeconomic landscape after the virus has receded is as accommodative as possible of the needs of  those most vulnerable. This requires preventive, not reactive, design for effective joint response to the crisis, and the redesign of globalisation to enhance its virtues, and minimise its debilitating consequences.
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/global-socioeconomic-landscape-after-covid19-pandemic-by-javier-solana-2020-03 ;

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