Coronavirus: The Great Geopolitical Leveller

Monday, April 6, 2020

A Mass in Rio de Janeiro honors coronavirus victims around the world on March 18. Brazil's Christ the Redeemer statue was lit up with flags and messages of hope in solidarity with countries affected by the pandemic. Wagner Meier/Getty Images

Coronavirus: The Great Geopolitical Leveller

Johanna Ross, journalist based in Edinburgh, Scotland

Coronavirus is indiscriminate. We have seen young and old affected, rich and poor. In the UK alone, we have seen the Prime Minister himself succumb to it and even Prince Charles. But this pandemic has repercussions beyond our nation states. In a short time, it has paralysed the ‘developed’ world and threatened its very existence. Capitalists have become socialists overnight. And in this way, it has brought nations, whatever their political systems and belief systems, together.

The unipolar world as we know it is being questioned like never before. Nations demonised in the West - Russia, China and Cuba - have been the very countries sending aid to the West. Never has one witnessed a more ironic act than the US accepting aid from Russia, its arch geopolitical enemy and ‘the primary threat to American interests’ - according to a survey published last year by a US think-tank. The Antonov An-124-100 cargo plane delivered vital medical equipment and masks from Moscow to the US on Wednesday at a time when the country is struggling to cope with coronavirus. There are already 333,173 cases and 9536 deaths in a nation whose leader Donald Trump initially refused to recognise the severity of the situation, claiming it was ‘like the flu’ before excusing his administration’s inaction by saying ‘Nobody knew there would be a pandemic or epidemic of this proportion’.  The outlook is pretty grim for the US.