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Mahamat Idriss Deby, son of late Chadian President Idriss Deby, attends his father's state funeral in N'Djamena.
What We’re Watching: Chad unrest continues, Brazil spikes Sputnik, Chinese population falls
Chadians reject "soft" coup: Street protests against Chad's new military-led government have turned bloody a week after the killing of longtime President Idriss Déby. Interim leader Mahamat Idriss Déby, son of the slain Idriss, has named one of his dad's former allies as prime minister, but the opposition says he has no right to do so because he took over in a coup (and neighboring countries agree). Meanwhile France, the former colonial power which backed Déby père for 30 years, was initially open to a civilian-military transition, but has changed its position and now wants a civilian-only government before a fresh election in 18 months. But as long as the younger Déby follows in his father's footsteps by remaining a strong ally of the West against jihadists in the wider Sahel region, Paris surely won't put up too much of a fuss.
China's falling population: The world's most populous country has a new and growing problem: too few babies. According to a Financial Times scoop, the 2020 census — which has not been released yet — shows that China's population has dipped below the 1.4 billion mark that it reached in 2019. Experts blame rising costs of living, education, and childcare. For decades, the Chinese Communist Party was worried about overpopulation, and in 1978 it imposed the infamous "one-child policy." But in 2016 the government relaxed those restrictions because of fears of sluggish population growth. (One side effect of the one-child policy was to encourage families to terminate pregnancies of girls, which has led to a male-female population imbalance among younger Chinese.) A stagnant or shrinking population could present serious long term problems for China's economic growth and the care of older generations. What can China do to convince more Chinese people to have... more Chinese people?
Brazil rejects Sputnik: On Monday, health officials in Brazil refused to approve the Russian COVID vaccine Sputnik V, citing concerns about the vaccine maker's quality-control processes, testing data, and information about potential side effects. This was the latest bad news for a vaccine that Russian officials say has been registered in more than 60 countries and distributed already in Belarus, Syria, Iran, and Argentina. The EU has raised similar concerns about the lack of information about the vaccine, and the government of Slovakia has rejected some shipments of Sputnik V on the grounds that the product they received did not share "the same characteristics and properties" as the Sputnik doses that were deemed "safe and effective" by the British medical journal The Lancet in February. Sputnik V's makers quickly accused Brazil's regulators of playing politics with the vaccine. This story reminds us that the true international reserve currency is trust.
Israel's highly charged election; EU-China deal at risk over sanctions
Ian Bremmer discusses Israel's election, the EU-China tensions over sanctions, and Putin's jab on this edition of World In 60 Seconds.
Will Israel's fourth election in two years finally provide the country stability?
Well, I mean, to be fair, the country is actually stable. Seven million people rolling out vaccines faster than any other country around the world. I mean, you know, life is relatively normal unless you're in the occupied territories as a Palestinian. But the politics are indeed problematic. It is very close, indeed. It is conceivable that Netanyahu will be able, by the skin of his teeth, to put together a very, very right-wing coalition, that could threaten democracy. It's also conceivable that no one can put together a coalition, it depends on small parties, in which case you could have a fifth election in two years. Yes, that could easily happen. There you go.
What will come from new EU and US sanctions on China?
Well, the Europeans are saying that unless the Chinese actually pull back on the sanctions against European MEPs, which they did in response to the US, the EU, the UK, and Canada, all putting sanctions on Chinese officials in response to treatment of the Uighurs - they really didn't like that - that the EU-China investment deal wouldn't get ratified. Macron really wants this to get done. Merkel really wants this to get done. There is some uncertainty, of course, in Germany, depending on what happens after Merkel and the government. On balance, I would argue that this investment relationship still ends up happening and the US and the EU have very different perspectives on China, but still overall a hardening of positions towards each other across the board, on the western side and on the Chinese side.
Finally, Putin is finally getting vaccinated. What took so long?
It is a little surprising. And he did not get vaccinated on television. We have to take his word for it. His daughter got vaccinated with Sputnik V very early. Maybe he wanted to make sure she didn't grow a second head or anything. I don't know. Look, I'm a little surprised because, I mean, Sputnik V has been peer reviewed. It's a worthwhile vaccine. It's being exported and it's quite effective. So, I mean, I would have thought that Putin would want to show some patriotism. But, you know, maybe he's skittish about needles. I literally, I find it kind of strange. And with Russia, at the end of the day, you'll never find out, you don't want to be in a position to.
The drug deal of the century
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While multiple Western countries ramp up coronavirus vaccinations with the Pfizer and Moderna jabs, Vladimir Putin's Sputnik V gamble is now paying off as developing nations increasingly turn to Russia's cheaper yet equally effective vaccine to inoculate their populations. Sputnik V — one of only three jabs which is more than 90 percent effective against severe COVID cases — has already been approved for use in almost 30 countries, most of them longtime Russian allies but also a host of other nations — like for instance Hungary or Mexico — that aim to hedge their bets if supplies of other jabs dry up. If the trend continues, can Russia win the global vaccine race against the West and China? We take a look at where Sputnik V has been approved for use or domestic production, and how many doses will be distributed and manufactured in each country.
The Graphic Truth: Russia's bid to vaccinate the world
While multiple Western countries ramp up coronavirus vaccinations with the Pfizer and Moderna jabs, Vladimir Putin's Sputnik V gamble is now paying off as developing nations increasingly turn to Russia's cheaper yet equally effective vaccine to inoculate their populations. Sputnik V — one of only three jabs which is more than 90 percent effective against severe COVID cases — has already been approved for use in almost 30 countries, most of them longtime Russian allies but also a host of other nations — like for instance Hungary or Mexico — that aim to hedge their bets if supplies of other jabs dry up. If the trend continues, can Russia win the global vaccine race against the West and China? We take a look at where Sputnik V has been approved for use or domestic production, and how many doses will be distributed and manufactured in each country.