Related Posts

In 5 Years, the Battle Over Cobalt is Going to Intensify… a LOT!

There are just five years left before the demand for cobalt, a critical metal used to make the batteries in electric vehicles, is going to outstrip the known supply of this strategically vital resource. And with 60-70% of the world's cobalt reserves located in ...

China Donates Vaccines to UN Peacekeepers and International Olympic Committee

China will donate COVID-19 vaccines to the United Nations for use by peacekeepers stationed around the world, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian at the regular press briefing in Beijing on Friday. Zhao did not mention how many doses would be offered or when they ...

China Takes a Lot More Risks in Loans to African Countries Than Other International Creditors

New research finds that China has a much higher risk tolerance in its overseas lending practices, particularly to African countries, compared to other major creditors from the U.S., Europe, and Japan. "There is a negative relationship between credit risk and Chinese development finance—a disproportionate share of Chinese ...

Pressure Mounting on U.S. and European Governments to Ease IP Restrictions on Vaccines — Both to Relieve Vaccine Inequity and to Counter China, Russia

Calls are growing louder in the U.S. and Europe for those governments to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines so developing countries would be able to manufacture their own jabs and narrow the current vaccine inequity gap.  These ...

Rwandan President Paul Kagame Channels the Growing Outrage in Africa Over Vaccine Hoarding by Wealthy Countries

There's a real disconnect in how people in the Global North and South are framing the vaccine inequity crisis. In the U.S., Europe, and Japan, the bulk of the news coverage on the issue focuses on the impact of Chinese and ...

The Economist: Half of the World’s COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Has Been Reserved for Just 15% of The Population

The Economist produced a compelling visual image that highlights the stark inequity in COVId-19 vaccine distribution around the world and how a disproportionate quantity of jabs are being hoarded by wealthy countries in the Global North. Click ...

China Benefits from the West’s Shortsighted Vaccine Policy

Focusing on China-Africa issues on a daily basis now means a daily dose of vaccine news (in lieu of an actual vaccine dose.) This morning I gamely waded into a great new Slate explainer on the vaccine crisis, only to promptly lose my mind. The article outlined ...

“Them” But Also “Us”

The recent striking images of Texans stuck in freezing temperatures without electricity and queueing for water were hard to process.  I felt much solidarity with them, especially when a blackout in Johannesburg made it impossible for me to join Eric ...

It May Be Too Late For the U.S. and Europe to Catch Up With China’s Vaccine Distribution Drive in the Developing World

The reality that China and Russia together have distributed almost a billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines lingered over Friday's virtual G7 summit. While attendees expressed concern about the unfair distribution of vaccines, ironically brought on by hoarding in their countries, the leaders from the ...

Vaccines Are the New Currency of Geopolitics

It looks like reality is starting to sink in among U.S. and European leaders that their unwillingness/inability to lead the global vaccine relief effort is going to generate some unpleasant outcomes. Sure, G7 leaders said all of the right things at last Friday's virtual summit, where vaccine ...

Yes, of Course, China’s Using Vaccines to Boost Its Soft Power

A lot of people in the U.S. and Europe are really struggling to get their heads around the implications of China's increasingly successful vaccine distribution push in the developing world. On the one hand, there's often (but not always) a begrudging ...

If China’s Vaccine Rollout Is the New Normal, What Was the Old Normal?

It's true, if redundant, to point out that if 2020 was the year of COVID-19, 2021 is shaping up as year of the vaccine.  Like every aspect of the pandemic, the vaccine rollout acts like an x-ray, revealing the bones of ...
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