Corona and the Need for Regional, Global Cooperation

Strategic Council Online: The world has been in the throes of Corona Disease (COVID-19) since late 2019: A malicious virus, which can have many lessons for the vulnerable world. Within a short time, it crosses global boundaries and enters other spaces affected by economic entanglement and spatial functions. Ebrahim Romina, Assistant Professor of Political Geography and Geopolitics, Tarbiat Modares University

The global outbreak of the virus originated from a living organism (bat, or any other creature) in a micro space, namely the local market in Wuhan; however, the pattern of transmission, spread and pandemic and its destructive effects can be an experience for the international community for a joint encounter with similar threats in the future.

Globally, the pattern is pandemic. Even if different countries have a high degree of control over its release, they will only prevent its entry for a limited time, and the dire economic consequences and global dominance of the Corona fear cannot be ignored. At present, global economic activity is greatly reduced under the influence of this monster. The global production, distribution and consumption chains have been out of the natural process for at least a short time. Ecotourism around the world has seen significant declines, with international shipping companies’ upward charts declining.

The slowdown in the growth of the world economy and the collapse of the stock market in developed countries are worrying signs of pandemic Corona spread in the world. China’s entanglement with the world economy on the one hand, and its second place in the world economy, and its supply of the world’s major needs, are issues that will overshadow the entire world economy. Countries around the world are closing or tightly controlling their national borders to stay away from the virus. The modern world of the 21st century has been threatened by the smallest microscopic creature.

At the regional level, Corona started from Wuhan province in central China but did not become epidemic elsewhere in China thanks to rigorous policies that were adopted. Conversely, in some countries of the world, such as Italy, South Korea, and Iran, it quickly moved from the primary focus of the disease to other areas, causing unmanageable geographic contamination.

Internationally, countries that have initially reduced their interactions with the outbreak centre, China, or managed their spatial functions in the first stage of the virus spreading, have suffered less damage, and countries that did not take the virus threat seriously and extended spatial functions in a longer time interval were exposed to more harm.

According to official statistics, the pattern of the geographic spread of the virus worldwide has focused on the countries of South Korea and Japan in East Asia, Iran in the Middle East and Italy in Europe.

Countries involved in the disease face numerous challenges nationally. In most of the countries affected, their national economy has taken on a formal and informal Corona effect. The huge fund allocation to prevent, combat and provide medical supplies and medical care, has imposed enormous costs on their economies. On the other hand, the crisis in small and medium-sized businesses and large upstream firms have reduced national production and largely challenged the process of economic growth and development.

At the informal economic level, the boom of the black economy in fragmented economic systems has exacerbated their inefficiency under these conditions. This is even more critical in countries that are experiencing the extensive spread of the virus and lack adequate financial resources.

Just as medically healthy people with immune systems are less susceptible to the virus, at the national level, strong and resilient economic systems in such situations will be able to overcome the crisis and weak economic systems will face the big challenge caused by the Corona crisis.

Given what was said above, the Corona crisis is becoming one of the most unprecedented crises in the world in the last few decades and spreading at an unbelievably rapid pace. Irrespective of the origin of the virus its impacts and implications are universal. The virus spread over a short period, affected tens of thousands of people and killed several thousand. It has slowed down the growing trend of the world economy in developed countries and may lead developing countries involved in this phenomenon to bankruptcy or economic collapse. This dangerous enemy has neither weapons nor sophisticated equipment but has spread through human beings and their social-spatial needs and interactions. It has become the world’s greatest economic challenge in the short term and has minimized space operations

As stated above, countering the Corona threat calls for a new paradigm in human line of thinking that, despite the power-oriented enemy- making in the intertwined world, necessitates global cooperation. The fact is that even powerful countries do not have the full capacity to deal with the consequences of the Corona crisis or similar crises. Just as the Corona crisis is universal it needs a global thought to come out of it.  Although the impact of such crises on developing countries is much more severe than in developed countries, the economic-political consequences of such crises can also be fatal.

The key point is that, in the light of recent experiences, from the outbreak of similar diseases and the likelihood of their recurrence in the future the deliberate (terrorist) production and distribution of pathogens by humanitarian groups and organizations can become a likely behavioural pattern, causing serious harm to life and peace and human security and the world would enter a new and catastrophic period of insecurity.

The experience of this global crisis shows that the level of threat is far wider than the power of a political system to manage it and requires the full cooperation of governments. Therefore, there is no alternative to controlling it except relying on regional and global cooperation with the participation of all countries in the world. This crisis could form a model of global cooperation for emerging crises.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

LATEST CONTENT

Zionist Regime’s Post-War Map for Gaza

Strategic Council Online – Interview: An expert on Middle East issues said: After nearly 150 days have passed since the attacks of Israeli planes on Gaza and the unprecedented genocide in this city, regional and international efforts to end the Gaza crisis have intensified.

Reasons for Inaction & Inefficiency of Intl Organizations in Providing Aid to Gaza

Strategic Council Online: An expert on regional issues said: With the start of the Gaza war, many major powers and international organizations not only did not take honest action to support the defenseless Palestinian people, but instead, with their support for the actions of the Zionist regime, they caused their crimes to increase over the past five months.

France and the Two-State Solution in Occupied Territories

Strategic Council Online – Interview: An expert on regional issues said: The announcement of France’s agreement with the formation of two states in the Occupied Territories is a measure to raise the international image of France and reduce domestic pressure on the Macron government for inaction against the Israeli crimes in Gaza.

The Prospect of US Military Withdrawal from Iraq

Strategic Council Online – Opinion: Although most currents, politicians and even ordinary people in Iraq call for withdrawal of American military forces from their country, there are sometimes differences of opinion regarding the time of this withdrawal. On the one hand, Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, the Prime Minister of Iraq, is very serious in demanding the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. Still, he wants to achieve this goal through “negotiation and political deal”. On the other hand, the Iraqi Resistance groups want the Americans to leave this country as soon as possible. The American side is also talking about a military withdrawal from Iraq in the next three years.

Russia’s Multifaceted Relations with Neighbors

Strategic Council Online – Interview: An international affairs expert said: After Russia attacked Ukraine two years ago, the country’s relations with some of its European neighbors were severely disturbed in such a way that a clear future cannot be imagined for it.

Solution to Get Out of FATF Blacklist and Get Rid of Its Heavy Costs?

Strategic Council Online – Opinion: The Financial Action Task Force, FATF, announced on Friday, February 23, that the name of the Islamic Republic of Iran remains on the “blacklist” of this international organization. A decision that was not unexpected for the authorities of our country. According to the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, one day before the release of the FATF statement, due to the current sanctions, Iran is looking for its own FATF, as it uses other tools instead of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications). On this basis, it seems that while the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon were removed from the “Grey List” of FATF in the previous reviews in June 2024, the Islamic Republic of Iran is not trying to be exempted from the blacklist. But what kind of organization is FATF, and why are some in Iran against joining it? And what is the way out of this situation?

Loading

Últimas publicaciones

Zionist Regime’s Post-War Map for Gaza

Strategic Council Online – Interview: An expert on Middle East issues said: After nearly 150 days have passed since the attacks of Israeli planes on Gaza and the unprecedented genocide in this city, regional and international efforts to end the Gaza crisis have intensified.

Reasons for Inaction & Inefficiency of Intl Organizations in Providing Aid to Gaza

Strategic Council Online: An expert on regional issues said: With the start of the Gaza war, many major powers and international organizations not only did not take honest action to support the defenseless Palestinian people, but instead, with their support for the actions of the Zionist regime, they caused their crimes to increase over the past five months.

France and the Two-State Solution in Occupied Territories

Strategic Council Online – Interview: An expert on regional issues said: The announcement of France’s agreement with the formation of two states in the Occupied Territories is a measure to raise the international image of France and reduce domestic pressure on the Macron government for inaction against the Israeli crimes in Gaza.

The Prospect of US Military Withdrawal from Iraq

Strategic Council Online – Opinion: Although most currents, politicians and even ordinary people in Iraq call for withdrawal of American military forces from their country, there are sometimes differences of opinion regarding the time of this withdrawal. On the one hand, Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, the Prime Minister of Iraq, is very serious in demanding the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. Still, he wants to achieve this goal through “negotiation and political deal”. On the other hand, the Iraqi Resistance groups want the Americans to leave this country as soon as possible. The American side is also talking about a military withdrawal from Iraq in the next three years.

Russia’s Multifaceted Relations with Neighbors

Strategic Council Online – Interview: An international affairs expert said: After Russia attacked Ukraine two years ago, the country’s relations with some of its European neighbors were severely disturbed in such a way that a clear future cannot be imagined for it.

Solution to Get Out of FATF Blacklist and Get Rid of Its Heavy Costs?

Strategic Council Online – Opinion: The Financial Action Task Force, FATF, announced on Friday, February 23, that the name of the Islamic Republic of Iran remains on the “blacklist” of this international organization. A decision that was not unexpected for the authorities of our country. According to the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, one day before the release of the FATF statement, due to the current sanctions, Iran is looking for its own FATF, as it uses other tools instead of SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications). On this basis, it seems that while the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon were removed from the “Grey List” of FATF in the previous reviews in June 2024, the Islamic Republic of Iran is not trying to be exempted from the blacklist. But what kind of organization is FATF, and why are some in Iran against joining it? And what is the way out of this situation?

Loading