50 Countries Ratify Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons

 Fifty countries have ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, according to the UN, as reported by the New York Times.  The US and other countries with nuclear weapons have refused to accept it.  

Leading Candidates to Be Biden's Secretary of State

 Politico lists the leading candidates to be Biden's Secretary of State:

• Senator Chris Coons of Delaware
• Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut
• Susan Rice, former National Security Adviser
• Anthony Blinken, former Deputy Secretary of State
• Samantha Power, former Ambassador to the UN
• Tom Donilon, former National Security Adviser
• Wendy Sherman, former Under Secretary of State
• William Burns, retired Foreign Service officer, former Deputy Secretary of State
• Nicholas Burns, retired Foreign Service officer, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs

State Department Needs More Science Specialists

An op-ed in The Hill newspaper calls for more scientists in the State Department

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/521444-the-state-department-needs-more-scientists

I was one of the first (and last) career science officers in the Foreign Service.  See my website.

Fareed Zakaria on the Future after the Pandemic

In his hopeful WP column on the world’s future after the pandemic, Fareed Zakaria cites Lawrence of Arabia and World War I peace terms.  From Lawrence of Arabia he cites, “Nothing is written” about the future.  For post-World War I, he cites the failure of the US to embrace the League of Nations, while Europeans imposed harsh terms on Germany. He does not mention that many of the harsh terms were perceived as coming from Jewish financiers, whether they actually were or not, and that this perception that Jews were trying to destroy Germany and the German people led in about a decade to the Holocaust. 

There is a danger that people will perceive the current financial crisis similarly as a K-shaped recession, benefitting the richest, many of whom are Jews like Jeffrey Epstein, George Soros, Larry Ellison, Sheldon Adelson, and many others.  They are at the top of the K, while many ordinary Americans are at the bottom of the K.  Will those Americans at the bottom of the K rebel in the future like the Germans did in the1930s.  Fareed basically hopes that the 2020s will be more like the 1950s than the 1930s.  Both periods were marked by the end of World Wars.  World War I ended with anger and oppression.  World War II ended with cooperation and generosity.  If the 2020 pandemic is similar to a World War, Fareed wants it to end like World War II, rather than WW I. 

The pandemic has gotten Europe to develop cooperation more strongly among the EU countries in the last few months.  Brexit is propelling Britain toward more separation.  Trump is distancing the US from Europe and most all of its long-term allies.  Fareed says the US need to develop a better relationship with China.

It is surprising to me that no one seems concerned whether the pandemic is some kind of Chinese plot against the West and the US in particular.  China seems to have almost completely recovered from the pandemic, presumably because of its authoritarian government, but also because it followed the advice of its scientists on how to deal with a pandemic.  The US may have been significantly weakened by its freer lifestyle.  Ironically, Trump and his conservative allies are saying maintain that freedom, while the liberal Democrats are saying that the US needs a more authoritarian approach to dealing with the pandemic.  Schumer and Pelosi believe America should follow the authoritarian Chinese model.  In any case, the Chinese will almost certainly emerge from the pandemic stronger vis-à-vis the US and the rest of the world.  Whether that is by plan or accident is still too early to tell for sure, although all the evidence available to date indicates that the corona virus release by China was accidental. 

At the moment I see the pandemic as a sign of worse things to come, but who would have seen the beginning of World War II as the beginning of the greatest growth in prosperity in the history of the world?  Maybe, as Fareed hopes, our better angels will take over, and we will be able to make something good out of something bad.