Geopolitics doesn’t stop during a pandemic, even if life as we know it does.
Before the new coronavirus, the United States was fighting trouble on several fronts at once, from Eastern Europe to the Middle East to East Asia. Since the outbreak began, American energies have been diverted, but the challenges have hardly ceased. Coronavirus is reminding us that the U.S. can’t do well in the world if it isn’t doing well at home; it is also showing that the longer the U.S. is hobbled, the messier that world will get.
To compare domestic and foreign affairs today is to observe a remarkable disjuncture. Countries on every continent have deliberately brought their economies and societies to a standstill. The pace and frequency of normal interactions have slowed to a crawl. Yet in the realm of international politics, the normal patterns of competition haven’t necessarily stopped or even abated.