Henry Kissinger: Corona virus will change the global system forever

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger saw in an article in the Wall Street Journal that the Corona pandemic will change the global system forever.

Kissinger explained that the damage caused by the outbreak of the new Corona virus may be temporary, but that the political and economic turmoil that has caused it may continue for many generations.

He said that the exceptional circumstances that the world is going through now due to the deadly epidemic, he returned to his mind the feelings that occurred when he was a soldier in the infantry division during his participation in the Second World War in late 1944, where the same feeling of imminent danger prevails not now targeting any particular person, but rather It targets all randomly and destructively.

Despite the similarities between that distant era and what we are living in today, Kissinger says, an important difference is that the endurance of Americans at that time was reinforced by the pursuit of a great national goal, while the United States needs, in light of the political divide that it lives today, to an efficient government And after looking to overcome the unprecedented obstacles in terms of size and global scope of the epidemic.

Prepare for after Corona
Kissinger noted that world leaders are dealing with the crisis caused by the epidemic on a purely national basis, but the repercussions of social disintegration resulting from the outbreak of the virus do not recognize the borders.

He said that efforts to confront the epidemic, despite its magnitude and urgency, should not distract world leaders from another urgent task of launching a parallel project to move to a post-Corona system.

He stressed that no country, even if the United States, can overcome the virus with a purely national effort, and that dealing with emerging needs now must be accompanied by the development of a vision and program for international cooperation to confront the crisis, adding that failure to work on the two axes at the same time may result It has bad results.

Failure may ignite the world
Kissinger urged the US administration to focus on three main areas to face the repercussions of the epidemic locally and globally, the first of which is to enhance the world's ability to fight infectious diseases, through the development of scientific research.

As for the second area, it is the relentless pursuit to address the damages caused to the global economy due to the outbreak of the epidemic, which humankind has never seen before in terms of speed and amplitude. He also urged the American administration to protect the principles of the global liberal order as the third area that should be focused on.

Kissinger concluded by saying that the historic challenge facing world leaders today is managing the crisis and building the future simultaneously, and that failure in this challenge may ignite the world.