Weekly Round-Up

4/12/20
Is Yemen’s ceasefire for real?
By Annelle Sheline
The National Interest, 4/10/20

Saudi Arabia has announced a unilateral two-week ceasefire in Yemen. Unfortunately, it is unlikely to succeed; even if the Saudis maintain the ceasefire and eventually withdraw their forces, Yemen’s civil war will continue. The ceasefire does seem to indicate, however, that Saudi Arabia is ready to end its involvement in the war. Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has needed a way to exit Yemen without admitting defeat, and COVID-19 may provide a sufficient excuse.
The acting Navy secretary stepped down and a ship’s captain was fired. This question remains about the USS Roosevelt.
By Stacie Goddard, William Cameron, and Pierce MacConaghy
Washington Post, 4/11/20
 
On Tuesday, acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned, attempting to end the uproar over a coronavirus outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the dismissal last week of its commander, Navy Capt. Brett Crozier.

But significant questions remain about what led to the crisis — specifically, the decision to proceed with a March 5 “port call” in Vietnam.
Why retribution against China for coronavirus would harm America and the world
By Rachel Esplin Odell
War on the Rocks, 4/9/20
 
As the human and economic toll of the coronavirus mounts, some U.S. officials are threatening retribution against Beijing for enabling the pandemic. Sens. Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley rolled out a bill last week authorizing sanctions as a way to “make the CCP pay for contributing to this global emergency” and force China to “foot the bill” for the economic fallout. This bill also echoed the type of retaliatory approach endorsed by James Kraska in a recent article in War on the Rocks.

READ HERE
The difference between America’s coronavirus response and Norway’s: a conversation with Ann Jones
By James Carden
The Nation, 4/3/20

The appalling response to the coronavirus pandemic on the part of the administration, Congress, corporations, and certain segments of the public should be cause for a serious reconsideration of our priorities as a country.

The current crisis highlights, as little else has, a lack of social cohesion among Americans: Clearly, we are not all in this together. The startling lack of civic solidarity has only been exacerbated by the stunning incompetence of the Trump administration.
Confronting COVID-19 with the wrong tools
By Catherine Lutz

Political leaders keep saying that America is at war with COVID-19. But the military is the wrong tool to control the virus, even if war spending is – in part – what got the U.S. into this health crisis.

As Costs of War Co-Director and Quincy Institute board member Catherine Lutz explains, we need to fundamentally rethink what national security means so it can focus civilian solutions toward very real societal risks many are currently experiencing — ill health and inequality.
 
 

MORE. MORE. MORE. 
DONATE

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.