The U.S. editor for the "Financial Times” writes a devastating critique of the President’s Covid-19 performance.
——Marvin Zonis

The Middle East has now suffered two devastating blows — the Covid-19 pandemic and the collapse in oil prices. Further instability seems inevitable.
——Marvin Zonis

By Marvin Zonis

Arundhati Roy, the controversial Indian born novelist and essayist, recently wrote:

“And in the midst of this terrible despair, it offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves. Nothing could be worse than a return to normality. Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.

We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.”[i]

The pandemic will have major consequences on people, governments, countries and their relationships. But those consequences will be less the result of “imagination” and more to do with forces unleashed by Covid19.

Three such forces stand out: Petroleum, Population and Protectionism.

This study shows the conditions under which mid-term elections can predict the outcome of the next presidential election.
——Marvin Zonis

By Marvin Zonis

Senior U.S. officials are advancing policies to deal with Iran that will not succeed in accomplishing American goals.

By Marcus Aurelius (121-180)
From his “The Meditations”

Here’s a welcome optimistic construal of the effects off the Coronavirus
--Marvin Zonis

By A Former Student

I don't doubt the accuracy of your forecast. But if I can be so bold: What is to be done? What prescription follows from it?

A startlingly original piece by a former student. Your comments are very welcome. Please respond to marvin.zonis@chicagobooth.edu
-- Marvin Zonis

By Marvin Zonis

Zalmay Khalilzad, Special Representative for Afghanistan, has pulled off a peace deal with the Taliban. There are obvious benefits for the United States. But the outcome for Afghanistan and for all of South Asia is much more dire.

Over the last few month’s I’ve been working with Lawrie Philpott of Philpott Black in London to create a brand new website totally dedicated to the demanding and complex subject of leadership in today’s world - and, equally importantly, leadership in the future.

This week we’ve launched the site and I want you to be aware of it and, hopefully, to look it over and also to tell your friends. Here’s an overview of what’s on offer:

There are good reasons to imagine that when the epidemic is over, President Xi will liberalize China’s economy to restore economic growth. This is a time to hang tough and even buy the dip.
——Marvin Zonis

President Trump has released his FY 2021 budget. While unpacking the numbers for all military related expenditures is tricky, it appears that U.S. expenditures on war will exceed $1 trillion.
——Marvin Zonis