The good, the bad and the ugly

Namık Tan writes: One likely consequence of the COVID-19 crisis will be a new Cold War between the United States and China. Perhaps the most worrisome of all, is the fact that no real contingency planning exists for a crisis of this magnitude that could help us leverage the good, mitigate the bad, and prepare for the ugly.

Friday April 24 2020 02:03 pm

Duvar English

Retired Turkish Ambassador Namık Tan said that one likely consequence of the COVID-19 crisis will be a new Cold War between the United States and China. "Perhaps most worrisome of all, is the fact that no real contingency planning exists for a crisis of this magnitude that could help us leverage the good, mitigate the bad, and prepare for the ugly," he added.

In a piece he penned for YetinReport, Ambassador Tan argued that large-scale unemployment followed by the current crisis will will lead to an increase in crime and other societal problems across the world.

"A simple GDP calculation tells us that if we return to normal now, it will take us at least 3 years to go back to the pre-coronavirus economic levels. The real question is when can we go back to normal and realistic estimates of normalization vary from early to late 2021," Tan wrote.

According to Namık Tan, COVID-19 has generated some good as well as the appetite for financing a civil war has plummeted together with the profits of fossil fuel exporters like Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran causing less bombs to fall on innocent civilians in Yemen, Libya and Syria.

Namık Tan's piece in full can be reached here.