Putin’s poll spectacle and Pakistan’s defence budget hike during pandemic & other Covid news

As the Covid-19 pandemic shows no signs of letting up, ThePrint highlights the most important stories on the crisis from across the globe.

File image of Russian President Vladimir Putin | Andrey Rudakov | Bloomberg

New Delhi: The coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate several countries across the world — the latest count is over 1.08 crore cases and more than 5.18 lakh deaths.

Russian President Vladimir Putin directs a constitutional referendum during a pandemic. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is increasingly acting like a “wannabe dictator”. Meanwhile, Pakistan is increasing its military spending during a pandemic.

ThePrint brings you the most important global stories on the coronavirus pandemic and why they matter.

Cases surged by 50% in June, led by states that reopened first

The US witnessed an increase in coronavirus cases by 50 per cent during the month of June, and a large portion of these cases came from states that were the first to lift lockdown restrictions and reopen their economies, reports the Washington Post.

“More than 800,000 new cases were reported across the country last month, led by Florida, Arizona, Texas and California — bringing the nation’s officially reported total to just over 2.6 million, according to data compiled by The Washington Post,” states the report.

Earlier, these states were among the least-affected in the country.

“States that took an aggressive approach to reopening led the country in infection spikes — along with California, the nation’s most populous state, where leaders have been more cautious,” adds the report.

At latest count, US has over 27 lakh cases of coronavirus and more than 1,30,000 deaths.

Putin directs a voting spectacle during a pandemic

Russians have overwhelmingly voted in favour of constitutional amendments giving President Vladimir Putin the ability to serve till 2036, reports the New York Times.

Early results of the plebiscite have shown that nearly three quarters of voters have backed the constitutional changes. However, analysts are wondering why Putin required mass public approval during a pandemic, especially when the Russian parliament and state legislatures had already ratified them.

“From a juridical point of view, this whole exercise is insane,” Greg B. Yudin, a sociologist and political theorist at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, told the New York Times.

However, he added, “it is not at all a meaningless procedure” because Russia’s system depends on the “appearance of popular support” to confer legitimacy on decisions he has already made.

“It is theater, but very important and well-played theater,”  added Yudin.

Bolsonaro, the ‘wannabe’ dictator

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is using the pandemic to erode democracy at home and often invokes the words and style of Mussolini, reports a feature in Le Monde Diplomatique.

“Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s president since 2018, joined a rally on 31 May calling for the army to shut down the Congress and Federal Supreme Court (STF). It was the fourth time he had called for a military intervention since the World Health Organization, of which he is highly critical, declared Covid-19 a pandemic on 11 March,” notes the report.

“Until the pandemic, Brazil’s mode of government had seemed to be what Adam Przeworski calls ‘stealth authoritarianism’ a gradual erosion of democracy characterised by slow progression, superficial respect for the rule of law and implementation by elected leaders rather than forces external to the political. Bolsonaro took advantage of the crisis to speed democratic erosion,” it adds.

Covid stranded Palestinians abroad, politics kept them there

The travel restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus outbreak meant that many Palestinians were stuck in foreign lands, but unlike citizens of other countries, their ability to return home is influenced by a strange combination of international politics and the pandemic, reports the Washington Post.

As Palestine is not recognised as a state by most of the world, its travelling documents are issued by an entity — Palestinian Authority — as opposed to a country. “The pandemic has served to illustrate how little power the Palestinian Authority holds, said Tareq Baconi, an analyst for the London-based International Crisis Group,” notes the report

The pandemic has made Palestine’s already weak travel document, even weaker. As most countries refuse to allow travel based on that document, it has stranded several Palestinians abroad.

Why is Pakistan spending so much money on defence?

Pakistan with over 2 lakh infections, one of the fastest rates of coronavirus cases, has increased its defence spending by 12 per cent during a pandemic. A new opinion in Al Jazeera by scholar Ayesha Siddiqa tries to explain the rationale behind this move.

“Islamabad allocated $7.85bn for defence and merely $151m for health in the budget for the financial year 2020-2021,” writes Siddiqa.

“The military believes that a reduction in the funds available to the armed forces would affect its ability to counter the multiple threats facing the country. This is why it is unwilling to limit its spending,” she argues.

“By claiming more and more funds in the name of ‘national security’ the military is simply trying to grab greater political, economic and social space for itself to the detriment of millions of struggling Pakistani citizens,” Siddiqa adds.

Middle East at ‘critical threshold’ of pandemic: WHO

As most Middle East countries relax lockdowns, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said the region now faces a “critical threshold”, reports Al Jazeera.

“’We are at a critical threshold in our region,’ the WHO’s Middle East head Ahmed al-Mandhari said in an online press conference. More than 80 percent of all deaths in the region were reported in five countries: Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, according to the WHO,” notes the report.

“The number of cases reported in June alone is higher than the total number of cases reported during the four months following the first reported case in the Region on 29 January,” said Al-Mandhari.

High price of cheap meat in Germany

Germany is witnessing a fresh coronavirus outbreak after thousands of infections emerged from the country’s slaughterhouses in West Germany. This has forced the country to reassess the true costs of cheap meat, reports Der Spiegel International.

“The coronavirus outbreaks in the meat plants — with 1,400 cases in the Rheda-Wiedenbrück factory alone, combined with lockdowns this week in the regions surrounding the towns of Guterslöh and Warendorf — is forcing us not only to address the question as to why the virus is able to spread so quickly in slaughterhouses. It is also shining the spotlight on the industry as a whole: What actually goes on in the meatpacking industry? What conditions are workers forced to endure? And is it worth it for a couple slices of ham on your breakfast sandwich?” notes the report. 

Pandemic dashes hopes of China’s peaceful rise

Since the reforms initiated by former Chinese President Deng Xiaoping, the country has propagated the rhetoric of “China’s peaceful rise” for years. Now, in the midst of a pandemic, the country’s political leadership has ditched that rhetoric, and its actions are beginning to worry several Asian powers, reports the Nikkei Asian Review.

“When Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivered the government work report to parliament in May, the word “peaceful” disappeared from the part that touched upon reunification with Taiwan. China has been vocal in proclaiming that it will not hesitate to use force to prevent Taiwan’s independence,” notes the report.

Throughout the pandemic, China has been flexing its muscles against several South East Asian countries, Hong Kong, Australia, and India.

What else we are reading: 

Chile’s finance minister navigates coronavirus, recession and protests: Financial Times

A Virus Walks Into a Bar: The New York Times

The Rabbit Outbreak: The New Yorker

No going back to business as usual: Le Monde Diplomatique