The fight against COVID-19 is unlike a typical interstate conflict. The enemy is not a human or a state, but a virus. This ought to be a time for countries around the world to come together to confront a common enemy.
But that is not what is happening in the world. Antagonism between the United States and China is deepening to the point of becoming irreparable. The whole world has scrambled to procure ventilators and masks. With the global supply chain ruptured, states are placing medical products and other strategic resources and components under national control.
The United Nations Security Council is incapable of addressing the crisis and a politicized World Health Organization is losing its credibility. Meanwhile, the European Union has once again demonstrated that it cannot deal with crises effectively. With cyberspace awash with fake news and disinformation, Russia and China have launched their own forms of information warfare. We are witnessing the rapid collapse of the postwar liberal international order.